Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

easy solution:

get 'em all! There is no such thing as one format is better than all.

IMHO

...well as long as they keep making 4 string basses as well as 5ers or what ever the amount of strings does it for ya, everybody is happy.

As long as they keep making 4 string basses I will have instruments to do 4-2-5 conversions on ...

...yeah, that too Jeff!! LOL

I've been missing my 5-string 3000 coversion since it's now part of the "3080" double neck project. It didn't take me long to get used to the spacing and it was actually a bit confusing going back to a four string. Now I've decided I can't wait to get my 5-string back so I'm taking the plunge and converting my main axe(a custom 3000 shaped like a 620 guitar) and doing a "425" conversion on it. The nut was already a custom fit production 4003 vintage nut so I filled in the A and D string slots with e-poxy and used nut files to re-groove it. Mike Parks is sending my 5 M4 Scallers to convert it with since the vintage Schallers wont work without re-drilling and filling a hole(not gonna happen on the new fire glo finish). I've got an extra brass 5-string custom bridge to fit a RIC bass tailpiece whice I dremmel to replicate what RIC did to these at the factory. I use RIC humbuckers so string spacing and pole pieces is not an issue. The string tension is right at the limit with the old style truss rod system but the lower tension of a shorter scale gets me in just under the wire.

Oh...and the horseshoe is long gone now too. Got $360.00 for it on e-bay and the humbuckers sound better.

for me there is nothing cooler than playing a jetglo 4003 with a low B ...

Unless it is a 5-string Laredo, or a Cheyenne, or a Fireglo 5, or a 2030 5-string...right, Jeff?

when I gig I usually take a 4003 4-2-5 and a 4004 4-2-5 ... I start with one and the I play the other ... when I'm playing the 4003 I start thinking "man this bass is awesome" ... then the next set I play the 4004 4-2-5 and then I think the 4004 bass is totally awesome ...

Too bad ya can't play them both at the same time Jeff. LOL

I have the perfect solution. A double neck 5 string fretted and fretless! The best of "all" worlds!

I wasn't happy with a lot of the fives I played, so I made my own!



The bass on the right with the maple top was my main bass... I made that one with the string spacing at the nut the same as a Fender P-bass... I thought I would like it, but after a while my hand hurts! The bass on the left is now my main axe, and the string spacing at the nut is about the same as a 4003.

Originally I wanted to make a 6 string, but I'm glad i didn't. I think these 10 and 11 string basses are just silly.

I agree after awhile the string thing just gets to crazy. However... I dont remember his name. But we have talked about him on here before. He plays a 9 string. And i really liked how it played it. At that point it didnt seem so silly to me.

I think a really amazing guy is Charlie Hunter. He plays an 8 stringed hybrid bass/guitar (the three bottom bass strings and the top five guitar strings). He plays the bass and guitar parts simultaneously! I wasn't sure if he plays it like a Chapman Stick or like a regular guitar, but from looking at his website it looks like he plays it like a guitar. Scary!

But for "regular" bass players, I don't think many can touch Jeff berlin... and he plays a 4 string.

I measured the nut on my 5 string Hohner and it is 1 3/4 inches. That is a lot more narrow than the looks of your basses dave?