Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

yep there are a lot of basses that look like fender basses but don't really deserve the logo ...

My first jazz bass was a '72 that came with an p-bass A cut neck which is the same width as the 70's jazz bass neck. I eventually pulled that neck in favor of a '73 rosewood p-bass neck that was converted to fretless with maple shims filling the fret slots. The early 70's Fenders were the last of the halfway nice ones. Around '77/'78 the quality began to drop sharply. IMHO 80's models were mostly ****. The recent Fenders I have played are just laughable junk. Lots of bad necks and ****** neck pockets. It is sad to say but Fender is not a name you can trust anymore. The Fender guys on Dudepit often comment that you have to try 10 to find 1 or 2 good ones. That is a shame.

Ted,I totally agree with you on the decline in quality of Fender basses after the early '70's. My first bass was a Univox Hi Flyer, when I finally brought my first "real" bass home, which was a brand new '76 Fender Precision, the Univox out performed it by far. The neck of the Fender would shift in the pocket and those dead spots on the neck!! I can't believe the money '70 's Fender basses can go for now. I wouldn't pay $50 for one in good condition.

"My first bass was a Univox Hi Flyer..."

Mine too! I still have it.
http://www.freewebs.com/tim4003/Evmp0467.art

When I want to make a jazz bass sound like a Ric I roll off the bridge pickup volume and turn the tone up ... this gives it more of the single coil growl like a Ric ... but it still sounds different ...

The old 70's fender basses had good mid response ... better than the 70's ric basses ... the modern 4003 bass has great mid response ...

Until last April, when I got my V63, I played exclusively my '65 Jazz Bass for the past 15 years. It's a great bass. Probably the best Fender I've ever played, which includes a number of 60's basses. I've also owned and or played a few Ricks, an Alembic, an EB3, a Dan Armstrong, and a 60's Hofner.
This V63 is by far the best bass I've ever had in my hands! It's got Big Bottom!


Now about Geddy. I started playing bass because of Sir Paul and John Paul Jones. But, when I got my first bass, 2112 had been out for a short time. My oldest brother bought that and Fragile for me. Some inspirational music I guess! I would sit in my bedroom playing 2112 over and over on my Hofner! I still love and prefer the 70's Rush albums.

yep the modern rics have more bottom and more volume ...

Regarding Fender Jazz bottom end:

I play a 2001 American Jazz bass with TI flats and I wasn't happy with the bottom end either, but the neck is to die for,so I swapped out the pickups to Seymour Duncan Hot Jazz. That helped a bit, but I still wasn't happy. I read about a mod at Talk Bass where you wire the pickups in series and tried it. That is THE tone-plenty of bottom and a much richer sound IMHO. For you guys who have a Jazz in your arsenal, I highly reccomend it. I have it hard wired at the moment but am going to have my luthier install a push/pull pot so I can have the standard Jazz tone if needed.

FC

Brian May used a serial wiring plan for his Red Special. I have never tried it but you just piqued my interest. Sergio: any thoughts on that?

I installed a Tele 4way switch in a guitar I recently built. It goes from bridge, to both in parallel, to neck, then both in series. It has more gain and a definite growl. Of course this is a guitar and not a bass. Keep one thing in mind that you sacrafice individual volumne controls for each pick up for this to work properly.

Is serial wiring done just as it sounds? Does the return lead from one pickup go right into the hot lead of the next?

Hi Ted,

There are a few threads on this subject that can be found at: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111547

They can explain it better than I can

Ken is correct, with the bass wired in serial you will only have one volume control.

Best of luck!

FC

Yeah, Geddy Lee is definitely THE reason I play bass. There were some others who had a (somewhat lesser) influence on me, like John Deacon and Roger Waters, but 99% is Geddy.

He actually said once, I remember from an interview, that, just before starting the recording sessions for Power Windows, he was thinking about pulling the Ric back out to use in the studio, and to keep using the Steinbergers on tour because they take roadwear like champs. However, someone recommended Wal basses to him, and he decided to check them out, and ended up playing those in the studio (and some on tour) starting with Power Windows through Roll the Bones. To think that he was THIS CLOSE to coming back to the Ric . . .

Honestly, though, everything Geddy plays is gold, and all his basses sound amazing. It's just that the Ric makes him so much more . . . Geddy!

Someone here once said "Tone is in the player" which to me is the single most important reality in being musician.

Can't really argue much with that. One quick non-Rick related example I can think of is Jaco on his Modern Electric Bass video, where he plays JJ's fretless (Carl Thompson?) - still sounds unmistakeably like Jaco.