Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Gareth congrats! That is one sweet looking bass - great score!!

Ron, if weight is an issue convert a 4004 to an 8 - light weight and huge sound!

the weight factor was just an observation. i've had heavier basses. the headstock weight was an issue as the upper horn was pulling forward on my shoulder...but, was not my bass, so not my problem.

One of the guys on the Ric corporate forum send me a PM that he was selling his a couple of years ago. At that time I was interested in one, but had already acquired one of the original Hagstrom 8 strings by then. The history is that apparently Ric was first to show an 8 string at NAMM in the mid-60's, but it wasn't a production model for some time. The Hagstrom H8 ended up being the first production model.

an the rick would have been a 4005/8 with potato head.

The Hagstrom 8 … man that was the one that had me obsessing about an 8 string bass. Played one (seems like forever ago) and said ‘self you need one of these.’! Couldn’t afford it then nor could I later afford a Ric 8 (whatever flavor). So a little while ago providence and my wife smiled upon me; and I had a 4004L altered into a 4004L8 under the watchful eye of fellow fourmite Dane. I too was worried about the headstock doing the head dive thing as Ron alludes to. So went with a modified Gumby/potato-head look (Again Dane’s design)… and have never looked back!

harry said...Also, according to the Bass Models article at the Rickenbacker Register Page, the 4008 was in production from '75-'83, while the 4003S/8 was from '87 until early 2000s.

i have a letter from john hall dated june 18,1985 stating that "the model 4008 has been regretfully deleted from our catalogue so brochures are no longer available (i had asked for one). as soon as the one or two left in stock are sold, no more will be available."

i had always wondered if they had binding . the thread bass shows otherwise.

as far as the hagstrom 8 string goes, kiss played moncton, new brunswick in 1976 with a band called "hammersmith". the singer introduced the bass player and the hagstrom "this is an eight string bass guitar and is a very difficult instrument to master !" ?????????? i guess we were stupid farmers or something as everyone swallowed that line. this was the first time seeing and hearing one, but did not make an impression on me...i was there to see kiss ! wooooooo !

there's a shot of a red one in the "genesis, from one fan to another" book by armando gallo on page ...hey...there are no page numbers ! ok, left page saying january to june 1977...left lower pic.

Yeah I remember seeing footage of Noel Redding playing one... they are back:
http://www.hagstromguitars.com/news_hb8.html

I have a Fernandes Gravity 8 string . The Fernandes has a HUGE sound and is elegant in black and gold but............That FG RIC 8 is Beautiful !! Congratulations.

Considering these and 4003S/5s appear to have been made up to 2002, I'm quite sorry that I didn't even know RIC existed until early 2007 when I made my first order. In 2002 I was a freshman high school and made decent money at my minimum wage job by virtue of not having to pay any rent... I was "blowing" my money on Fenders and MusicMans that are still available to this day! ****!!

It really looks great and I bet it sounds that way too! Congratulations Gareth!

I love octave added basses (I have 4 of them) I have wanted an 8 string Rickenbacker since hearing "Going for the one"
I find that 8 and 12 string basses extend the range of the bass without really having to learn anything new. (Great for slob players like me)

I usually play my Waterstone 12vers but would happily trade my 74 4001 and one or two of my Waterstones for a shot at an S/8.

Congrats Gareth, have fun with it!

or you can use a digitech whammy pedal and get the octave up and it sounds great ! i have a mutron octave divider that i used back in the day to get octaves with my '64 4001s but when my singer in the "DWaRfS" bought me an ibanez mc980 eight string for $400.00 , the mutron went into the closet. that hagstrom 8 is a new design and not like the gibson sg copy they used to make.

BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS wrote:or you can use a digitech whammy pedal and get the octave up and it sounds great !

EHX POG's are great for this too.

Or, you can always do 8-string into an octave pedal!