Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Some of my stand out favorite Rick bass necks have been '85 4003 (YG, IIRC), '79 4001 (SC), and a Shadow. A few years ago I used to have a Mar. '73 that had a super thin neck which I liked, but the sound it produced was paper thin when A/B's with my 4002 (chunksville), so I sold it. The Dec. '73 I recently scored is a far and away new all-time favorite, though. I'm sorry I don't know much details of dimensions and shapes, just "I know what I like" and "that one ain't so hot."

Easily my 1976 4001FL. 1 & 5/8'' nut and a really shallow profile so it plays very easily. I also like it because it has very little "neck dive" at all--most basses I play have at least a little but I guess this one has a heavier body.

Easy: my old '74 4001MG. Amazing...the back of the neck looked round but felt flat in your hands. It was the ultimate...

Others on here have confirmed that '74 was a very good year for necks.

I love the necks on all my Ricks, but if I had to pick a very favorite, it would have to be the neck of my '05 4004Cii Blueburst. It has pre 2010 4004 neck width, which I like very much, but has a slim profile front to back. It fits in my hand like RIC custom made it for me.

rickenbrother wrote: It has pre 2010 4004 neck width, which I like very much, but has a slim profile front to back. It fits in my hand like RIC custom made it for me.

Cool - I too prefer a wide nut width and a slim profile.

sloop_john_b wrote:

rickenbrother wrote: It has pre 2010 4004 neck width, which I like very much, but has a slim profile front to back. It fits in my hand like RIC custom made it for me.

Cool - I too prefer a wide nut width and a slim profile.

It's also the lightest of all my Ricks. The 4004's are light to begin with, but this one is really a featherweight, even in comparison to my other 4004's, but it sounds like a heavyweight!

So it's not for sale then?

sloop_john_b wrote:So it's not for sale then?

NOPE! Love it too much!
It's considerably darker than the Bluebursts that followed. I like the darker blue better.

Wow very nice!! Beautiful fretboard too. The grain of the whole instrument seems to flow together as one.

Red dot 74 simply perfect, 75 4080 gets real close and non stripe 72 also, super thin with more width, but the 74 wins easily.

My favorite neck?

Probably this one: Oh, you mean bass guitar neck! Hmm. Not so easy a choice.

Hard to argue Paul.

My '86 4003 MID/BT/BH has my favorite 4 string neck, with the '73 4001 MG as a close second. Both my 4004's play very light but are wider.

This is a bit OT but I am curious. . .

How do the necks on the current production 4003s compare to those made, say eight years ago?

The last time I tried a Rick bass was probably about 2004. . . are the newer ones wider or narrower? Deeper or more shallow?

beatlefan wrote:My '86 Shadow has a nice , slim neck and is a joy to navigate.....but a close second is the '67 4005....both are slim at the nut up to the 7th fret or so.....

My '09 4003 is slim AND flatter on the bottom than any other basses I've owned....nice to play , not necessarily better, just different.

+1 on the 86 Shadow neck!!

Sepp