Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ok. So the 4000 series basses are clearly based on the 400 series guitars (or is it the other way around?).. so why is the 4005 clearly based on the 300 series guitars? Shouldn't that bass have been the 3000s?

nattiep wrote:Ok. So the 4000 series basses are clearly based on the 400 series guitars (or is it the other way around?).. so why is the 4005 clearly based on the 300 series guitars? Shouldn't that bass have been the 3000s?

Eh. Don't look too much into the model numbering schemes.

About the only thing consistent is that the basses have a four-digit model number (4001, 4004, 2060, etc.), the guitars a three-digit model number (360, 260, 481). Beyond that, it gets confusing.

No, you got it the wrong way around. The 4000 series basses date back to 1955 for the first prototype and 1957 for the first production instruments. The 400 series guitar was introduced in '73. The 4005 started in 1965 and was probably based on the second body style of the 360. The 4005 is not truly a 4000 series bass.

rickfan60 wrote:No, you got it the wrong way around. The 4000 series basses date back to 1955 for the first prototype and 1957 for the first production instruments. The 400 series guitar was introduced in '73. The 4005 started in 1965 and was probably based on the second body style of the 360. The 4005 is not truly a 4000 series bass.

That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you.

sloop_john_b wrote:Eh. Don't look too much into the model numbering schemes.

Despite the bass numbering scheme being a bit difficult to pick, the guitars are pretty well organised.

300s are hollow-body
310-325 small body, short scale neck.
310 two pickups
315 two pickups, vibrato
320 three pickups
325 three pickups, vibrato
330-345 standard sized body, full scale neck
330 two pickups
335 two pickups, vibrato
340 three pickups
345 three pickups, vibrato
360-375 standard sized body, full scale neck, deluxe features
360 two pickups
365 two pickups, vibrato
370 three pickups
375 three pickups, vibrato

Various newer models slotted in between (350, 355, 362, 366, 380, 381... etc)

400s are solid-body with large pickguard (pickups mount through guard)
420 single pick-up
425 single pick-up vibrato
450 two pickups,
460 two pickups, deluxe features

newer models with nigher numbers (480, 481)

600s are solid-body with small pickguard (pickups on body)
610-615 standard features
610 two pickups
615 two pickups, vibrato
620-625 deluxe features
620 two pickups
625 two pickups, vibrato

New models with higher numbers (650, 660)

Despite the odd few out of place, the guitar numbering scheme is fairly structured...

bails wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:Eh. Don't look too much into the model numbering schemes.

Despite the bass numbering scheme being a bit difficult to pick, the guitars are pretty well organised.

300s are hollow-body
310-325 small body, short scale neck.
310 two pickups
315 two pickups, vibrato
320 three pickups
325 three pickups, vibrato
330-345 standard sized body, full scale neck
330 two pickups
335 two pickups, vibrato
340 three pickups
345 three pickups, vibrato
360-375 standard sized body, full scale neck, deluxe features
360 two pickups
365 two pickups, vibrato
370 three pickups
375 three pickups, vibrato

Various newer models slotted in between (350, 355, 362, 366, 380, 381... etc)

400s are solid-body with large pickguard (pickups mount through guard)
420 single pick-up
425 single pick-up vibrato
450 two pickups,
460 two pickups, deluxe features

newer models with nigher numbers (480, 481)

600s are solid-body with small pickguard (pickups on body)
610-615 standard features
610 two pickups
615 two pickups, vibrato
620-625 deluxe features
620 two pickups
625 two pickups, vibrato

New models with higher numbers (650, 660)

Despite the odd few out of place, the guitar numbering scheme is fairly structured...

Yeah right..... NOT!
Basses are so much easier to remember...
4000, 4001, 4002, 4003, 4004 and the 4005

What I'd like to know is why they skipped over 4002, 4003 and 4004 back in the 60's as model numbers, only to use them later. After all, they'd gone 4000, 4001 and then jumped straight into 4005. Did they just hold on to them out of forsight?

now that we look back on the numbering system our hindsight is 2020 ...

That's the series that throws me. They started the 2000 series as replacements for the 3000 series (?), producing two models, the 2030 (unbound) and the 2050 (bound). OK, then they changed them a few years later with electronics that seem similar (if not identical) to the 4004 series, designating the two as 2020 (unbound) and 2060 (bound). So why did they go down in numbers with one, and up with the other (2030 -> 2020; 2050 -> 2060)? Why not go 2030 to 2040? And to make it a little stranger, the Glenn Frey signature edition that came out at the time of the 2020/2060 was set up the same as the 2020 but was designated 2030GF. There is one page in RIC literature that shows the GF signature models as the 230GF (guitar) and the 203GF (bass). That typo can be confusing, too.

jwr2 wrote:now that we look back on the numbering system our hindsight is 2020 ...

2020-05.jpg

Now THAT was funny.

I am glad somebody got that joke ...

I got it back when you first posted it - I though everyone did....

Forgotten is the Model 1000, the short-scale student model six-string guitar.

jwr2 wrote:now that we look back on the numbering system our hindsight is 2020 ...

2020-05.jpg

Nice one Jeff...