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[cassius987]

I love the body binding, and my body never touches it. Elbows out = neutral wrist = no injury.

Amen, why does this not get mentioned more often? Binding or no, you aren't supposed to rest your arm on the body.

[Tarrbot]

I have to say that I can understand why some might not like Rickenbackers at first. The way the neck meets the headstock is very different than a F**der, and the normal thumb rest that the usual Jazz or Precision pickup provides is absent. Personally, I was more than happy to embrace a bass that I had desired for almost 20 years, and more than willing to put up with the idiosyncrasies. But a lot of people aren't. Oh well, so what! Let them stick with their run-of-the-mill, generic basses, whether original or clones! I am more than happy to play interesting basses, whether Rickenbacker or Alembic or Gibson or what have you.

It's funny that you should bring up "interesting basses" and wanting one for decades.

My situation is similar but almost polar opposite from that description.

I guess I got lucky and didn't pay a lot of attention to what people played but rather what they sounded like. Ignorance is bliss sometimes, I guess.

Anyway, I had never heard of Rickenbacker until the day I saw one. The day I took one home.

The bass just felt right. There was no other way to describe it. It sounded right and felt right. Oddly, this bass had been sitting at that dealer for months and I had probably walked right past it (or they had it somewhere else) and on that day, I met my first "interesting bass". And because it had been sitting there, I got a good deal on it.

I guess I got lucky and didn't build up any preconceived notions and just took the bass at face value.

Later, I felt like a fool for not knowing that McCartney, Lee and Squire (among others) all used them.

20 years later, they still are "interesting basses" and I still want more.

Go figure.

[cassius987]

I'm similar to Scott--I had never heard of Ric after seven years of playing bass, then found out TOOL's first bass player used one, then ordered one, and when it got in my hands the next week and I gigged it that very night I was certain it was the perfect bass. The sound floored me and everyone else in the band, and the crowd too--I have proof, the show was recorded, and the audience was constantly cheering.