Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have an old 480 that is in "...gigged" or "... player" condition but still nice. Not the nicest (or even prettiest) Rick I have by any stretch but still a neat little guitar.

I took it to the local music store to have a set up and some other stuff done on it and when I take it out of the case, some guy standing over at the counter goes "... there's a cool old Rick." Everyone within earshot kinda looks over and the guitar tech says "... yeah I love Rickenbackers."

Kinda cool. And you know it wouldn't have happened with even my coolest Strato.

So, I told the guitar tech to reshape the headstock, route the body for Seymore Duncan Humbuckers and install an '80's style whammy bar with a locking nut.

Kidding.

I am having a set up, some initials buffed out of the heel, replacing the tuners and some electrical refurb.

Just thought I'd share the warm fuzzy experience.

JKC

That happened to me once too. I brough my 4001 to a place here to get it set up and one guy behind the counter was like "Wow, a Rickenbacker. Those are nice. You're not going to sell it, are you?" I was happy it got noticed. I said no to selling it and he said "Good!" Well I am going to sell it now but I'm replacing it with a 4003.

Cool. Nice to get an ego stroke every now and then. I just got my 4001 put back together and I'm going fiddle with bass guitar for a bit.

Good luck on your next purchase.

JKC

My Azureglo 4001 always attracts a crowd...

I've been making the rounds with my Fireglo 4003 trying out combo amps, and its amazing how many people will walk over to comment on the looks and sound.

People just get tired of the warwick, fender, ibanez, musicman, peavey routine I guess. A nice Rick walks in, and its like a breath of fresh air.

I suppose... But with a 480? Ricks are really an interesting breed of cat.

JKC

I agree, people are sick of the same brands all the time. I used to bet my friend $10 if a bass player in a band in a guest spot on TV (Leno, Letterman, Conan) had a Fender. I usually won and he would get really mad. Now the occasional Musicman would come up, but that's about it. Fender and Musicman. The bass player in my Uncle's band has a Schecter and a Kramer, but he still has a Fender J on stage. The Rick is the only bass I own right now and I'm proud to have it. I'd rather have one Rick than have 5 Fenders (even american made) or 5 Musicman bassses. I would like to own a Fender but that is just because I haven't had one yet. It would probably turn into wall art if I don't rip it apart and put petter parts on it. I've played a few Fenders and I laughed. My friend that owned a Maxican J said it was better than my Rick! Hahahahahahahahaha.

I have never seen a Rick in a music store. the only one I have seen was mine. Of course I'll get attention. It's the only one in there. The Rick is the best bass I've played. I havn't had any high end basses, the 5 string Dean I had was amazing though, but The Rick still comes out on top. I cant wait for the 4003. I'll probably own at least one Rick for the rest of my life. You just can't compare it.

Hereya go, Nattiep:

Our favorite chain, G***** C*****, has cheapie Fender (Squier) P-Basses on sale for $180.00 this week, your choice of black or red. As long as you're gonna upgrade the parts (Bartolini would be my choice of pups), that's chump change.

Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Heh. I don't like P basses. I was gonna get a Geddy Lee and but black parts on it. Black badass bridge, tuners, neck plate, pickguard, control plate, Moses graphite neck, and new Pickups. That'll cost alot but it'll look cool and sound better. And it won't say Fender on it.

Well, it would certainly look better than Geddy's personal version. But, then again. "Geddy" and "pretty" don't go well together, anyway.

Oh, my god. LOL! Well it could be used like "Geddy is a pretty good bass player." Other than that, nada. Well, unless you're really hammered.

The bass would look like this when I'm done... just not fretless.

Gotcha now. That's a piece of modern art.

Talking in strictly sculptural terms, the frets would spoil the strong horizontal element of the neck...

Hard to believe that it came from such modest beginnings. I'm so used to those contrasting pickguards, Nat.

It's very nice. Where can you get the black hardware?

I did a search.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/103-5829582-0349400?_encoding=UTF8&node=11968091 has a replacement parts kit with all black hardware. It also has a black control plate in black by it self.
Still has a white guard but http://www.pickguardian.com can take care of that.
If you don't want that http://www.bestbassgear.com/ has J bass preamps in black, as well as new pick-ups, black hipshot tuners, Black Badass 2 bridge.


http://www.stewmac.com/bass has the black neck plate and string retainer. http://www.mosesgraphite.com/ has the graphite neck. I think http://allparts.com/ sells them also. More black tuners at allparts. It's not a rick but hey, it's like building your own bass. I only want the Geddy Bass just to have the other parts in case I want to sell it as stock or use it's parts on another color body. Nothing like having a Geddy bass in red, blue or sunburst.

I could also do it fretless. Or just save up enough money for both necks and switch them out every now and then. My only problem is I would need the fretless lined to know where I'm going.

I know for sure it'll take me at least a year to get enough money for all the parts.

You are a resourceful researcher and a wealth of information on this.