Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Is the main difference between the different 4004 models just cosmetic?

Others may know more, but the body wings of the Cheyenne are a maple/walnut/maple sandwich (front to back), with a neck-through center of maple. The Laredo body wings are solid maple. The Laredos are heavier than the Cheyenne. Gold hardware comes with the Cheyenne, chromed hardware on the Laredo. I believe the electronics are identical. Also, the trans red, trans blue, and trans green colors are available only on the Cheyenne.

The CII has a walnut core in the body.

EDIT,, I've must of been typing at the same time as Paul..

Paul and Dave thanks for the FAST responses. I'm thinking about getting a 4004 this year, but having never played them, or ever seeing one in person, it's going to be a hard decision.

Ditto what they said. I'm very happy with my Laredo, but is a little more "honky" than my 4001. I have the "intermediate" PU placement, which apparently makes truss rod removal difficult at best. When I compared the 4001 and 4004L recently I came to the conclusion that moving the PU's closer to the neck (as the were originally and are now) would add a little more bottom...

A few have expressed severe disappointment with the sound, especially the Cii. Not sure why that is, maybe the walnut sandwich accentuate more lows...also the neck is wider than a 4001/3, so some don't like the "chunky" neck.

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Btw, I bought my 4004L sight-unseen, never having actually seen a 4004 in person. It's a Rick, so you can be sure it has top notch workmanship. It is different from a 4003/1, so if you expect it to be a slightly different looking version of those basses you're be disappointed, because it does have a very different sound. Maybe that's why some don't like the 4004 that much.

I have 2 Cii's - they're the only Ricks I play anymore.

No issue with the sound here - could never figure out what people are complaining about…

They are the most versatile bass RIC has made to date IMO. Put your P bass away when you get a 4004...

Wow, it seems like a lot of people are reading this on a Saturday (AM here on the east coast USA.)
One of my 4001's has EMG J pickups on it (ducking) it still retains the Ric sound but it has something different which I like. I wonder if the 4004 is similar.

"A few have expressed severe disappointment with the sound, especially the Cii"

Try toasters!

I am also a 4004 convert. If they made a 4004L/8 I'd only have 4004 series Rics.



I was somewhat disappointed with the tone from a stock 4003 (puts flamesuit on)....it wasn't bad at all but I wanted more low end. I ended up using Bartolini replacement p/u's and that gave me the tone I wanted.......very Ric-like with a slight kick to the lows. I mention this because when I got my 1st 4004 (LK) I found it sounded virtually the same as my Bart equipped 4003's plus I have grown to appreciate the unbound/dot neck look. Since you like the 4003 with swapped out p/u's you may, like me, find the 4004's to be perfect. The Ric 4004 humbucker p/u's have excellent response and retain plenty of the traditional Ric bite/growl.

I understand that some may prefer the traditional 4003 tone to that of a 4004 but to say that 4004's sound muddy or unusable just makes me think that some people have no idea how to adjust a preamp to get the most out of an instrument.

the CI model has more growl and sounds warmer ... the old L models with the maple fretboard are colder sounding ... the CII model is somewhere in between the other two ... the CI is very light ...

I really prefer the 4004 with volume, volume, tone controls it brings out the subtleties of the bass better ...

and like all of my other Ric basses I convert them to 5 string basses and run them into my bass pod ...



http://www.3dentourage.com/425/93-4004L-5.htm

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/98-4004ci5.htm

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/2002%204004cii5.htm

Understand that the Cheyenne has gone through changes. The original is like the ones shown in Jeff and Brian's photos, with the walnut body and headstock wings. That design started in '93 and was superceded by the Cheyenne II (Cii) around '98-2000 which has maple top and back over a walnut filling -- the sandwich. Jeff Scotts' with the toasters is one of them. There was a time for a while where the Cii had a maple top, and the middle and back were walnut (not counting the center neck-through here). These are relatively hard to find, and some of them had beautifully quilted tops -- even harder to find.

Oops. Also the fingerboard on the original Cheyennes and early Laredos was maple. When the Cii was developed, RIC went over to bubinga wood as on most of the other basses/guitars. This change was also made to the Laredo. The other differences to watch out for are the position of the pickups which started out closer to the fretboard, then moved back (as in JS's), and are now back against the fretboard. The walnut wings on the Cheyenne headstock disappeared for a while, replaced by maple, but now (as of autumn '05) all Rick basses have walnut headstock wings.

Would it be feasible to simply replace the stock knobs with stacked knobs (volume on bottom, tone on top), and still keep the toggle switch? It'd be like a 4003, but consolidated.

Practicing for your book, Paul?

The middle years!



I know, Jared is in agony over seeing this!