Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm looking at the differences between the 4001S and 4003S. I know the 4003 are neck-through. I'm looking for the model with the least wide nut. So far all the 4003S look wide, as much as 1.75". The 4001S look to be in the 1.5 range. Any narrow nut 4003S basses ever made ? What years ?

I really doubt you can chart this accurately. My 4001FL is 1 & 10/16ths, all of my 4003s are 1 & 11/16ths, and my friend's 4003 is 1 & 12/16ths (yet the same year as one of mine). Variation is probably greater the further back you go into RIC chronology, therefore I just don't see how it's possible for anyone to say, "A 4001S will be this and a 4003S will be that." It's probably much more case-by-case than that, right?

In general I think most 4001s had thinner/smaller specs than the early 4003s, at least from what little reading I've done related to that, so if I simply had to guess I'd think a 4001S would be the better bet.

Are they different in width than "normal" Rickenbacker basses? I find this posible but unlikely for the 4001, but making different necks for the 4003's just does not make sense at all to me.

Nutwidth for my '93 4003S is 1 mm bigger than my '81 4001S (41 mm compared to 40 mm). Does not seem much, but it does make a difference.

I haven't noticed much difference in nut width from my earliest Rick (Jan '71) to my latest (2007) and I've had 25 or so, pretty evenly spread out in terms of years. Pretty sure My late 70's 4001's are just a tad narrower than my '71, and pretty sure my late 80's 4003's are just a tad narrower than my 1994 and later basses. The differences are only around 1/16" at the nut IIRC.

But what I notice more is the string spacing at the nut. The nuts used to be hand filed up until the mid 90's or so and can vary a bit in slot location. From the late 90's until the present, the V63's, C64's, and 4003's are all getting nuts that are pre-slotted by machine. The good thing about that is that they are much more standardized. But the newer nuts have wider spacing. I've noticed that from center to center E to G the newer (than 1997 or so) Ricks have around 1/8" wider spacing at the nut than my 4001's and earlier 4003's.

Somebody needs to make a nut joke here.

It just wouldn't be the RickResource Forum without one!

I don't have the golf "balls" to make a nut joke.

My '89 4003S and '92 4001CS are both 1-5/8''. FWIW, my '93 4003S/8 is 1-11/16''.