Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Mortivan, don't forget to adjust your OLP trussrod as the humidity falls. I have already had to dial in 1/6 turn tighter on my trussrod as the unfinished fretboard gains and loses moisture a lost faster than a RIC bass that has a heavy varnish finish. Not really a problem with me, as the OLP truss rod nut is always available for instant adjustment, and they saw fit to include the necessary tool. I think the lightly finished neck is a big part of the good sound, but it does mean a lot of seasonal change as it soaks up or loses moisture quickly compared to a RIC bass.

Samick manufactures guitars in Korea and Indonesia, and OLP is made in China, so I wonder what the name of the Chinese factory is that makes the OLP basses.

BTW, I adjusted my OLP MM2 bass for "nickel" action. It is nickel height at the 12th fret on the G string, and the action height stays constant from the 12th to 20th fret. A nickel provides a light drag as it is inserted between the string and fret, while a quarter should provide no drag at all. In other words, it is somewhere between a nickel and quarter in height and I adjust the truss rod to keep it there at all times. The G string is a bit higher, but is still less than 2 dimes at the 20th fret, and just barely over a nickel at the 12th fret. It would be interesting to see what kind of action you have been able to achieve, and how it compares against the RIC basses. I set my action for a moderately aggressive style with minimal buzzing. My MM2 has the lowest action of any bass I ever owned. My 4004L is in need of some neck work in order to get it in the same ballpark, and no, just making a truss rod adjustment will NOT do the trick as there is a set near the heel that I will have to remove with heat and a bending jig. That is the beauty of maple necks: you can bend them in a jig and set the bend with heat if you know what you are doing. Maple bends and holds the set better than any other wood, as far as I know.

I did some tonewood research recently, and basswood was rated second only to spruce in velocity of sound propagation. Therefore, it works better than maple for making a bass that has a midrangey "poppy" sound, such as the Sting Ray, and balances the low V.O.S. propagation that heavy maple has (maple/basswood is considered one of the best tonewood combinations for electric guitars among modern luthiers). All maple is what you want for a really subterranean bass such as my 4004L, since it has a very low V.O.S. rating. Walnut also has a low V.O.S. rating. However, the website said that other factors besides wood were more important to the final sound.

I meant that the E string is less than 2 dimes at the 20th fret, and just realized my mistake. It's still a fairly low action at just over a nickel height at the 12th fret.

Thanks for the tip. I actually haven't had to adjust anything yet, and although I haven't measured it, the action still feels great - it came very low.

Also, I have the natural finish, so mine's elm. But, it does have a great sound.

John, you might want to look at Ernie Ball's new Bongo bass. It seems Ernie Ball did some backwards engineering and adopted the basswood body from the MM2 on their new premium bass. I like the Bongo body and headstock design even better than the StingRay. Like Rickenbacker, nobody will mistake it for anything else. I rate it about equal to my 4004L in attractiveness, but those dual neodymium humbuckers with the 4-band EQ and the graphite acrylic resin-coated body cavity really get my attention. Make mine the lava pearl finish!

The only common tonewood wood with a higher V.O.S. rating than basswood is spruce, or maybe cedar. A natural cedar body would be pretty. I know that Parker uses spruce in their bass bodies (capped with maple), and the lightweight wood bodies will probably catch on bigtime. Fender uses basswood in their new Aerodyne bass. I picked up an old P-bass with what seemed a poplar body once (very similar to basswood in characteristics), and it was like 3 pounds lighter feeling than my all-maple '75 P-bass. It was from the Leo era at Fender, and blew my P-bass away in every regard.

Different woods are being adopted into guitars and basses now, so I will have to keep my eyes on elm. If I got an MM3 some day, that's the one I would want, elm with natural finish. I personally don't think I would warm up to a 5-string bass very much, so I will only experiment with a cheap one.

Hmm. Interesting!:

John, I just placed a bid on an OLP SB4 with quilted maple top and transparent red finish. Really neat looking bass, at a fraction of the Spector price. The small basswood body should keep it light, and the EMG pickups should make it sound right.

Hey Phil, did you get it?

Yeah, John, I got it. Seems that Music123 has lowered the price on OLP basses and guitars. I got it for $252 delivered with full warranty and return privileges. There's another one up for bid on eBay from Music123 just like it. They were $299 delivered the last time I looked several weeks ago. The MM2 like mine has been lowered to $190 and $22 S&H, or $212 total cost. I will post a review next week when it comes in. YAHOO!!!!! I got a bass that's as good a copy of a Spector NS4 as my MM2 is of a MusicMan StingRay. The Spectors are rather heavy bodied, so I'm expecting the basswood in the SB4 to lighten it up to weigh about the same as my MM2 or RIC 4004L, as well as richen up the tone a bit compared to the sterile sounding active EMG pickups on the Spectors.

I found one review recently where one guy actually preferred the sound of his passive MM2 over a real StingRay. Being a Rickenbacker site, a lot of the people here will think we have lost our minds over **** basses. Since you own a MM3, I know that you need no convincing. I'm hoping the SB4 is something like a real Spector, and can get a really bright tone without getting harsh like active StingRays can. I'm wanting a bright tone that can complement my deep dark 4004L tone. The MM2 can get quite twangy at times, but never really harsh.

John, while you are looking around some day, you might want to go to www.rondomusic.bigstep.com and check out their Agile guitars and Brice basses. I stumbled across them on Harmony-Central and decided to read more reviews. Most people rave about them.

My theory is this: Fender and Gibson are generally overpriced. Their imports are about as good as their American production, but they are overpriced also in comparison to the copies that other companies make. Why not buy the no-name copies and save your money? That way you can get the Gibson, Fender, Music Man and etc. jones out of your system and have more money left over to buy a Rickenbacker if you want to. I'm looking at one of those Agile Telecaster copies for my dad. The H-C reviews say they are better than the MIM Fender Teles, and a lot cheaper to boot.

Hey Phil, thanks for the link. $250 for a LP copy? Interesting...

John, my OLP SB4 came in yesterday, and it is a doozie. Too soon to write a complete report on it yet, but it seems to have the low end grunt of a Rickenbacker 4004 and the high end punch of an Ernie Ball StingRay. You might say it has Rickenbottom and Ernie balls. It's pretty, and the wood is real quality. The quilted maple top looks good, and everything is decent quality. I would say the sound is modern and tight. It makes me want a REAL Spector. I think I'll like it better than the MM2. It's worth the money.