Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

At last, some pics of my newest acquisition:





When I spoke to the guy at the store, he said there was some checking in the finish on the body. The checking doesn't come out in pictures - it's much more visible in person. And there's a lot of it! Body, headstock, even fingerboard! But I bought it as a player, not as a collector (though of course the collectability factor is there), so I'm happy with it.

I really like the flame in the neck - on the shot from the back you can really see it, plus the wings are visible.

Now I know for a fact - I am much more comfortable with this string arrangement (I call it "octave on top") - Ric changed to the reverse ("octave on the bottom") with the 4003S/8. For me, octave on top works better with a pick, but it's also much more comfortable for my fretting hand.

Another nice thing about this bass - you can't really tell from the pic, but the bridge has the extra screws to prevent lift.

In relation to the recent discussion about "what makes an 'S'", this one has some of the features of the S - dots, no body binding - but it has the Rick-o-sound jack and a bound neck. So not really an S.

These pictures were taken inside with incandescent light (and the incandescent light setting on my camera) - if possible, I want to take some pictures in natural light, and I want to take pics of it next to my Autumnglo for comparison.

Finally, I hope to have some soundclips within the next couple of days.

Harry, was it shipped from a cold climate?

Really nice FG burst. I look forward to your sound clips - you always have interesting clips to share and I look forward to them. And I want to hear the 8-banger!

Very nice Harry, congrats and enjoy it! I could really use a Rick 8 string right now, not just to round out a collection. It would be quite useful in my latest music project.

Nice one, Harry. I bet the checking is similar to that on my 370/12RM Fireglo - easy to see in person but hard to capture in a picture.

Awesome bass...I really want an 8 string ric.

Very nice, Harry!

What's the difference between a 4008 and a 4003s/8?

Ric-O,

neck binding, reversed octave strings,

"dremel-cut" bridge (early models)

oh yeah,

Harry-nice score!

better dremel view;

Interesting to see that Ric put the strings
that way up, making it potentially only work properly as an 8 string on upstrokes.

The way it could have been is like this:
Bear in mind that's a 12..

If in doubt about how it sounds, you could
always get your nut replaced and have it
"right way up".

Nice Harry..

Is that the one from Rumbleseat?
Neat store.

Great FG finish!

I'd think that having the octave strings on the bottom would facilitate finger style playing, while having them on the top would be best for using a pick.

Or is using your fingers out of the question?
Obviously, I've never had the opportunity to try an 8 or 12 string bass.

First of all, thanks everyone, it is a sweet bass, I spent at least 2 hours last night recording with it. Boy are my fingers sore this morning! I haven't had much chance to play lately, been too busy with work.

RE: the string order - I just want to make clear that the 4008 string order is like the 12 string pic that 12stringbassist posted (which is how "most" (non-Ric) 8-string basses are set up), while the 4003S/8 is "backwards." However, I seem to remember reading (here?) that the reason for all the tuning pegs being the same size is so that the order can be reversed. I also seem to remember a comment from John Entwistle regarding the string order in that recent book about his guitar collection.

I'll post more when I finally come up with a soundclip that's post-worthy.

4008-octave top

S/8-octave bottom