RIC selling one-of-a-kind experimental finish 4003 on eBay!

[ilan]

4003SPC red-to-black burst, checker bound:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-4003SP ... dZViewItem

This should be very interesting. $3,501 already, 6 days 9 hours left...

[ben_brown]

Damn!

[jwr2]

This is a great way for Ric to make a nice profit on one off basses ...

any 5 string basses coming off the line?

[edski]

This is a great way for Ric to make a nice profit on one off basses ...

any 5 string basses coming off the line?

I think the finish would look better on a 4004...

It is stunning, even if only a 4003.

[s4001]

Holy jumping catfish!!!!

[scotty]

Beautiful.

[ilan]

I don't really like the finish on that bass. It will fetch a good price just because it's a one-off.

[jingle_jangle]

I'm inclined to agree with you on this, Ilan, although you don't state any specific reason why you are not liking the finish, and with few possible reasons why, it comes down to color, I believe. I've seen black-to-red bursts done before many times. I haven't ever done one, nor have I had any requests for any. I think that this one will go high because of its one-of-a-kind, built-by-the-factory status.

I tend to make "rules" whenever a system is required, and deviations from systems or procedures cause difficulties or time penalties. I don't like to make "rules" about things that are related to impressions or creative freedom. If it looks right, it is right, is one "rule" that serves me well. Bursts are one area that I've come to realize have some general parameters within which they work well for the great majority of viewers. I spend a lot of time painting samples and trying out combinations of colors and shadings, and here's what my own eyes tell me:

First, bursts look best when they're done entirely in transparent (dye-based) colors, so that the wood grain shows through, no matter how subtly. Opaque (pigment-based) colors can be used, but a whole lot of restraint is necessary to keep them from looking like Campbell's tomato soup cans (meaning that the colors are too direct and basic).

Next, bursts should not have any reflective quality in any of the paint colors. This means no pearlescents, metallics, or (God forbid) sparkles in either the light or dark colors. I have done a couple of bursts with tiny--almost undetectable--bits of diamond dust was in the lighter color, and the effect is surprising, but generally you don't know they are there, as you might see ten or so sparkles in a six-inch-square area. An exception to this could be the copper-to-white bursts seen on Danelectros; for some reason this combination had aged well to my eye, though I realize that this might be personal.

Personally, I dislike any burst with a transparent or translucent center and opaque edges. A while back a RRF member wrote me asking how a Blue Boy-to maple burst would look on a guitar, and I was very negative about it. (first-off, the BB is lighter or the same value as maple, so it would just look unsettling and would photograph in black and white as an almost continuous tone, whereas the visual appeal of a burst comes from the transition and contrast). I feel the same way about the black-to-red thing. The colors are just not subtle enough, and there's no nice secondary play of colors in the shaded area; it's merely a muddied dark red. I feel the same about the Burns black-to-green burst, also used by the Japanese in the '60s.



Fender two-tone bursts don't look as good as their three-tone bursts, because the transitional area of the two-tone is just that--an unappealing mix of the warm black edge with the Fullerplast yellow center. The three-tone, although it does have opaque black edges, also has a warm red transitional area, which makes it look pretty nice.

I remember lots of cheaper Japanese guitars from the '60s and early '70s that had black-to-red bursts, and they looked cheap and nasty. And I've never seen a guitar that looked really nice with this finish.









DISCLAIMER: I do own and play a CIJ Fender Jaguar in Antigua. It's dreadful...a solid pea soup center with solid avocado shading. Antiguas were not this color when new back in the '60s, but they've aged to a subtler version of this awful vivid Japanese reinterpretation. They must've matched it from photos. I keep it because it's kitsch.

This one'll bring high dollars because it's a one-off. But it doesn't get my vote for COY.

[ajish4]

I'm with you on this one Paul,

It is neat because it is a one off, and the CB doesn't hurt but not for me.

My daughter likes it though.

She has a Yamaha in this color and they called it "Wineburst".

Nice, but I REALLY like the 360 Amber Monty A LOT....THAT one is NICE!

[RIC_FACTORY]

I'll say this, the pics do not do this bass justice and I guarantee you'll never see another color like this from us. After all, it is a one-off kind of "Well, we got these double bound bass bodies laying around, let's make something cool with them..." situation, so the winner should know this is a product of whimsy.

[wints]

It's somewhat similar to the rare late '65 / '66 dark FG that you sometimes see every now and then.

I'm with Paul all the way on this one, but you know there are many out there who will love it, and that's without it being a one off...

Like Antigua's too...

[dswp]

"we got these double bound bass bodies laying around"

4002 pallet?

[jingle_jangle]

[incubus2432]

Imagine the financial crisis many of us would get ourselves in if Ric released that pallet of 4002's through their outlet.

[bassduke49]

"Double bound" meaning the checker strip enclosed by the white strip. For a second I thought there might be binding on the back of the body.

Ben, will there be more one-off basses coming? Will you be listing them before the holiday, or do you plan to stretch them out over a few months? Thanks for doing this!