Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have on order a 4003 in Montezuma Brown which will arrive mid September. I noticed in the local store this weekend a new 4003 in MapleGlo and there were no foam mutes in the bridge. It still had the screws though. Are the new Rics not shipping with the foam mutes installed??? Do I have to order them seperately? If so how do you install them?

John,
No worries. The foam mute is standard on all 400X basses if you ordered through a reputable dealer.

I wouldn't shop in that store you mentioned. Who knows what else the store has taken away from their instruments for sale? Maybe a customer asked to buy a RIC mute pad before you stepped into that store? And who knows if they inadvertantly broke the ground wire that was connected to the foam mute's baseplate in the process of disassebling/reassembling the tailpiece?
I've witnessed in my local stores that parts, wrenches, spare parts and manuals were deprived from new instruments to be sold for extra profit or given for free to the owner's or salesperson's nephew. Those are stores I rank immoral and never buy things from.

someone else said this ages ago,,,,but the newest 4003's seem to often have mutes that dont work properly. My bass is a 1991, but i ordered a new tailpiece for it. The mute on that new tailpiece is very stiff, the rubber pad too wide to fit the cavity, and when its totally screwed tight, the E string is not completely muted.

At the local guitar center ... some of the employees would take stuff and sell it on ebay ... some of it was stolen ... some of it was a lay away scam ... and some stuff just dissapeared out of the store ...

God .. I hate the mute and ric-o-sound ... stupid features on a cool bass ...

> I hate the mute and ric-o-sound ... stupid features on a cool bass ...

I second that

I agree with with Jean and Jeff. Back in the 70's we were ripping the mutes out of our P's, J's and Ricks. However, to be fair, I suppose it is a good marketing/customer relations strategy to give the buyer a choice of using a mute or not. As a player though, I got a Rick for its beautiful sustain. Why would I mute it ?

Well, I believe the hardest job for the RIC company is to change anything on standard models. Even with useless bells and whistles, we love them the way they are, don't we ?

Well mutes do have a purpose now and then on a Ric(ask Paul McCartney) and darn it I want them on my bass for the option!

all this mute talk brings me to a problem ive been having with my 4003 lately, and to another problem with the "fantastic" bridge/tailpiece.....

Why is the string ground wire connected to the mute plate? In order to make contact, the mute plate contacts with the thumbscrews, which contact with the tailpiece, which contact with the bridge plate etc etc.

I keep getting static crackle, and keep having to retighten the thumbscrews to make the contact proper. This is a replacement tailpiece i put on recently, the strings would not ground at all until i scraped of the coating ( black im my case ) from th elittle pits where the bridge height screws sit into.

Removing the plastic washers on the thumb screws helps somewhat.....but how can i make the ground connection reliable

Just recieved my 4003 Montezuma Brown. Yes the mute pad was included. I agree with Paul you have to watch buying from places like the one mentioned (and especially e-bay!). I think the mute and the ric-o-sound do serve some purpose, just not for me!

> I think the mute and the ric-o-sound do serve some purpose, just not for me!

Same for me. I'm a lot into the punchy and sustained tones à la Geddy Lee or Chris Squire, so the mute pad is quite useless for me. As far as I remember, I used the Ric O Sound once with my first 4001 (this means in the late 70's), and never used it again.

All the best,
JL

Yes I have played around with the ric-o-sound also. I still have the kit though I may sell it. It hardly ever gets used anymore! And yes, Chris and Geddy rule!!!

I use the mute occasionally although it decays a little fast for my taste, I prefer my palm for a mute. I had a white Ric with black hardware and I too had to scrape the paint out of the little holes where the bottom of the allen screws for the bridge went in. I got a lot of noise, the strings weren't grounded at all, acting like a radio antenna picking up lights etc, but it quieted right down after I did this. And I bought this when it was 6 or 7 years old. I used to use the Ric O sound into two channels of an SVT, sounded great but was noisy and hard to control (two volumes, would be more practical with a master volume, in fact even with mono, I would like the two volumes and a master, I do not like blend controls) I ended up completely shielding two basses, but then again I never tried a Ric O sound box, they are supposed to quiet them down.

Yes, the box is shielded so no noise whatsoever! Even around my computer and the lighting and all the other things in my studio that causes noise it remains quiet. I also prefer to palm mute. Much easier that the mute pad!