Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

While scanning eBay over the years I've come across a couple of Ric basses that have 2-piece pickguards (see link below). Is this after-market or was it a factory feature, and if factory, on what models/years does this appear? Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1985-VINTAGE-JET-GL ... dZViewItem

Didn't the early 4003 have the trussrod adjustment at the body end? The 2 piece guard would allow you to adjust the rods without disassembling the bass.

58super wrote:Didn't the early 4003 have the trussrod adjustment at the body end? The 2 piece guard would allow you to adjust the rods without disassembling the bass.

Yup. The 4003 had the two piece 'guard from 1980-1986.

I can confirm that, my 1985 4003 had the two piece pickguard.

The early 4003's (1980ish) had the truss rod adjuster nuts at the body end just in front of the neck pickup, so when they needed tweaking,
rather than remove the whole pickguard, it was split into two handy pieces for this purpose.

I personally didn't like the look of it, but in 1985 new 4001's were thin on the ground up in bonny Scotland.

I'm not sure when it happened, but later on the truss rod system was redesigned and went back the other way with the nuts where the
TRC was, come to think of it, shouldn't the TRC be renamed on the early 4003's, any suggestions?

The early 4003's also had the famous 7 screw tail piece to help minimise the dreaded tail lift syndrome, which again I didn't like the look of,
and again it was changed back to the the older 5 screw design, maybe when the tail pieces were reinforced a bit.

RYB

rickysyurbass wrote:...come to think of it, shouldn't the TRC be renamed on the early 4003's, any suggestions?
RYB

Technically, RIC has always called it a nameplate.

I stand corrected jps, but I think lots of folk refer to them, incorrectly perhaps as TRC's.

There's nothing much more disapointing than removing the nameplate on your early 4003 and finding
nice shiny paint where you would expect to find the nuts for the truss rods. Someones nicked them!!!!!!

Thats what happened to me when I got my first 4003 and had a look under the nameplate and found hee haw.
I now know better than to worry about such things as there's usually a good reason for it.

RYB

sloop_john_b wrote:

58super wrote:Didn't the early 4003 have the trussrod adjustment at the body end? The 2 piece guard would allow you to adjust the rods without disassembling the bass.

Yup. The 4003 had the two piece 'guard from 1980-1986.

Thanks for the info - just trying to increase my RQ (Rickenbacker Quotient).

I once had a couple of '81 4003 basses which had the two piece pickguard. I prefer the look of the one piece pickguard and the convenience of the adjustments at the headstock.

Yes, I can imagine that the body end truss rod adjustments were difficult.

I had a '86 4003S with the 2 piece guard. I didn't like the way it looked so I made a 1 pc for it.

I love my '80 4003, I've had it 20+ years, its 2 months older than my wife! Several years ago I considered switching to a 1-piece 'guard, especially since its been probably 15 years since I needed to adjust the truss rods, but I decided to keep it stock and I'm happy I did.

it's no secret that i adore the 2pc guards.

Some (very few) of the 75 4000 basses had a two piece pickguard as well. I have no idea why...
emac.

Hey Ronn, i'll bet that 4003 of yours sound great through a Behringer Bass V-Amp thingy!.

Thanks for the info Ronn, its great.

RYB

rickysyurbass wrote:Hey Ronn, i'll bet that 4003 of yours sound great through a Behringer Bass V-Amp thingy!.

Thanks for the info Ronn, its great.

RYB

It does sound great, no thanks to me.
Kinda semi-funny story: A couple years back I was in an original band playing SXSW in Austin, on a bill with a bunch of Euro bands. I had my 4001CS going thru the Behringer set to a cool chorus sound, I was playing up high on the fingerboard, like I do at at least some point in most tunes, and after the set a lot of the guys from the European bands were calling me "Hooky". I didn't know what they were talking about so I asked them and they said I sounded like Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order, who I'd heard OF but never really listened to. After buying a couple JD CDs I heard what they were talking about. Anyway, the Behringer reminds me of that story.