Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I kinda posted this in another thread about buying this guitar (the "Which one?" thread), but since this is really getting into a different subject, I'm moving it to it's own topic to hopefully get a bigger audience to help answer a couple of questions I have. So, at the risk of being repetitive, here goes.

Anyway....

I cheated

I opened 'er up without waiting the full 24 hours! OK, I'm a nerdy engineer type, my music room is kinda unheated, I measured the temp in and out (see the 23 months thread for a more in depth discussion on measuring temp )...........

OK........



WOW!!!!!!

I originally thought that the flame might be a bit too much... NO WAY!!!!

It's not near as ostentatious as the photographs show it. It's there, it's got a LOT, it's vivid and yet subtle at the same time. I can't even begin to describe it. It's just about perfect! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!!!!

OK, enough of that. Yeah, I plugged 'er in too. The neck? Weird, I can tell it's a bit wider, but it's GREAT! Once again, words fail me, it's definitely not the baseball bat that the '09 4003 was. I know it's not my '76, but still, it's good! I think it feels better than my '84 4003, really!

As for sound, pretty good too! I'll have to do some playing since my amp setup is totally geared towards running Ric-O-Sound so this bass is just using one amp channel (the treble channel as it turns out), but some quick adjustments and I can tell this bass will scream! It sounds different, but it still sounds like a Rick.

Now, the big thing I noticed is when switching pickups. Either one alone sound kinda the same, not the huge difference that you get on a 4003 or 4001. I don't know if this is normal or not. The weird thing is when both are on, it's noticeably lower in volume! That was unexpected, is that normal too?

CJ, when both are on, you're getting some cone-filtering... doesn't this happen on all your basses?

Congrats!!

I haven't really noticed it... hmmm, OK, that makes perfect sense! I've pretty much been running my 4001's (and now 4003) since the mid 70's in Ric-O-Sound mode! So, no, I wouldn't notice it would I?

The cone-filtering thing is actually pretty cool because it gives you a whole other sound you can use. On my 4003FL it produces an extremely mwah-heavy tone.

You could add a capacitor push-pull if you wanted to bypass the cone-filtering sometimes (and clarify a pickup). Or you could link one of the coils to the tone knob, making it go single coil when you dial it down.

How do you like the sound so far? Similar to your 4001s or different?

man that bass was just too freakin gorgeous in the pix,i can only imagine in person.....interesting comment about your pickups,and something i had been curious about for years. there is a huge difference in the tones i get out of my 2 pups,but then, they are positioned differently from the current layout. i get a rather jazz bass-ish treble tone from the bridge pickup,which is also perfectly positioned for me to pluck over...

Before they pushed the pickup back against the neck, was it at the 1'' spacing?

cassius987 wrote:How do you like the sound so far? Similar to your 4001s or different?

It's different, but like I said before, it's kind of hard to tell. I really need to reconfigure my amp setup for mono. I didn't really spend a whole lot of time with it last night, it had only been about 9 hours since I brought it in, even though the temperatures were close between the room & the box, I wasn't sure about the core of the wood, so I figured a few minutes would be OK, but didn't keep it out of the case too long (plus, it was getting late and us old guys tend to not handle late nights like we used to ). I'll have to get my trusty '76 4001 out to do a side by side comp of the two.

Other impressions:
The fretboard isn't finished in the thick CV that 4001/4003 basses are. I wasn't aware of this when I bought it. It's different, but OK. I'm really used to the CV covered fretboards, this one looks quite different, not as much depth to the look of the grain and it looks lighter in color. It feels different too, I'm not sure how to describe it though, not bad, just different. No binding on the edges of the fretboard, different look, seeing the ends of the frets looks a little odd to me, but it's just 'cause after 30+ years of looking at a bound fretboard, that's just what I expect to see. I do miss the triangle inlays though...

The body seems very thin and even small, almost like a miniaturized version of a 4001/3. Now, I haven't compared them side by side so I'm not sure if the body is actually smaller, it just seems smaller and thinner. It could just be the shape, the rounded edges instead of the binding making it seem smaller and thinner. I actually think the body is thinner, it's supposed to weigh about 1lb less than a 4003 and it definitely feels lighter.

Also, there's no treble pickup cover to get in my way so I don't have to take it off and leave a great gaping hole

yes josh,the pickups on my 04 cii are 1 inch off the fretboard,and even more importantly (to me), the "bridge" pickup is actually near the bridge. (not as close as my old 4002,but it will do) . it's one of those inconsistencies that for me at least is a happy one....cj,my observation is that even with that wider neck,i preferred playing my cii to a v63 that i had,one that actually had a slim neck as well,and the cii body is just so streamlined and is several pounds lighter than the v.

I loved the tone of the bridge pickup in the '03 era Cii basses, also. I would buy another 4004 series bass if that pickup were moved back again, leaving the neck pickup against the neck.

I knew the neck pu moved, but I didn't know about the bridge pu. How much of a difference is there?

Congrats on your new Cii, CJ. It's really a beauty, enjoy it! The more you play it, the more you'll fall in love will it.

jps wrote:I loved the tone of the bridge pickup in the '03 era Cii basses, also. I would buy another 4004 series bass if that pickup were moved back again, leaving the neck pickup against the neck.

Those do produce a great J-bass like growl, which I think sounds better than a J bass bridge pickup. If I could pick up another new Cii or even a Laredo, I would route the body for a third pickup. I comtemplate doing that to my Blueburst Cii. But I'm not sure if I'd want to modify a COY Rick.

teeder wrote:I knew the neck pu moved, but I didn't know about the bridge pu. How much of a difference is there?

I have never measured it (those who can, please do!) but I think the two pickups moved in lockstep with each other.

jps wrote: I have never measured it (those who can, please do!) but I think the two pickups moved in lockstep with each other.

I haven't measured it yet, but I'm certain you're right about that.

Congrats on your new Cii, it is a wicked, wicked, wicked, bass guitar, like Rickenbrother said, the more you play it the more you are going to love it, do you have a Larado yet?, if not then you are going to want to one of them two, trust me, have the complete set,Cii and Larado will make you invinceable. all the best with your new girl, "HAPPY RICKEN"