Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey guys. I'm new here and to ricks. But I'm looking to buy a rick and i just wanted to know if theres anything i should look out for on them. Iv heard about them being the 1st neck thru bass and that they had some problems with some. But mainly just everyone plays different. But i didnt know if there was any problems that pop up more often then others. Thanks for the help.

Some people have had problems with the early 70's 4001. The steel used for the truss rods was a bit soft, some of the necks are thin. From the mid 80's the 4003's are very solid, as are the 4004 from the early 90's.

You should be able to get a new 4003 for about $1100, but you might have to wait if you are hell-bent on a specific finish. If you take what you can get, you should be able to find a fine 4003 around somewhere. If you get a hankering for a 4004, well they take a bit more looking around to find. But you can get lucky. I found a Fireglo Laredo a couple of months ago and only had to wait a week for it to get to me.

Certainly the older 4001's can have some issues. Mine has had some neck issues (a long time ago, and they've been fine in the 20 years since it's been fixed) and the mono output is fritzy. Apparently the plug issue is somewhat common, and it seems all I really have to do is clean the contacts with sandpaper...

The sound can sometimes be elusive, especially if you are looking for "the Geddy" or "Squire" sound. I find it best to just look for "my" sound-occasionally the stars align and I achive a tone close to some signature sound. But I'm one of the 1/3 or so players who use flat wound strings on my Ricks (actually, the Laredo still has stock RW's on it), so expecting my 4001 to sound exactly like Squire or Geddy is stupid.

Good luck! Welcome to the board.

Ed, you'll note that the steel used on the 4003's truss rods today is the identical steel used since the 60's. It's the configuration of the rods that's quite different, which among other things, allows the threading to have a bigger, more secure bite, which is the issue I think you really were referring to.

Using harder steel alloys including stainless completely change the harmonics and overtones of an instrument, and not for the better unfortunately, so it's a bit of a tradeoff. Now if we could figure out how to hold threads in lead, that would be a perfect truss rod!

With regard to the jacks, given that these are and have always been top of the line Switchcraft components, I'm going to say that the problem you've encountered is the typical one- an Asian plug which often have slightly different size and shape was inserted, bending the switching contacts. Use a quality cord with American made plugs and the issue will likely go away.

If the american cord doesn't work, I wouldn't sand the contacts, use de-oxit or something like that. Contacts oxidize after a while and need to be cleaned but not with sandpaper, you'll sand them right away after a while.

OK, good points...didn't know the steel was the same in the TR's...thought I had read that somewhere. But hearing from the man himself...

I did that also a few times until someone warned me about that, bye bye contacts.

if you have a problem with the jacks it is very easy and inexpensive part to replace ... it you have a 25 year old bass with a bad jack then spend $3 to swap it out ...

I prefer the newer 4003 basses ... 1986 or later ...

The new truss rod system is very strong and easy to adjust ...

Thanks alot.