Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Here are my five examples of the Rickenbacker 4004 family found commiserating at a reunion on my front porch. From left: The newest arrival, an '04 Laredo in Turquoise; the well-traveled '03 Cheyenne II Mapleglo converted to a five-string; the second Rick bass I ever bought, a '93 Cheyenne modded with vol/vol/tone; the long-awaited '08 Blueburst Cheyenne II; and a '97 Fireglo Laredo with vol/vol/tone and swapped TRC.

Hey! No smoking on the porch!

bassduke49 wrote:Here are my five examples of the Rickenbacker 4004 family found commiserating at a reunion on my front porch. From left: The newest arrival, an '04 Laredo in Turquoise; the well-traveled '03 Cheyenne II Mapleglo converted to a five-string; the second Rick bass I ever bought, a '93 Cheyenne modded with vol/vol/tone; the long-awaited '08 Blueburst Cheyenne II; and a '97 Fireglo Laredo with vol/vol/tone and swapped TRC.

Hey! No smoking on the porch!

Nice lineup Paul. A lot of pretty wood that makes great music. Interesting, my second Rick was a Cheyenne also.

Nice to see someone else on the forum enjoys the Cheyennes as much as I do.
Here are my 4 stringers. I'll have to get a shot with the Cii/5s too

Nice, I really like the pickgaurd there, is that from Pickgaurdian ?
I notice the black one has the older style pup positions, do you prefer the sound, or the current positioning. It looks like it might be easier to play slap style with that space between the pup & neck.

Thank you Christian and welcome to the forum!
The pickguard on the Jetglo Cii was made by forumite Dane Wilder (aceonbass).
Though the two pickup positions of the Cii's sound a little different, I really don't have a preference. I appreciate the sound of both pickup positions. There's a little bit more J-bass-like growl from the bridge pickup with the pickups closer to the bridge.
As far as slap style, I don't do it too often. In opinion, slapping should be accents in a song, not be the whole bassline. When I go to the bass section of a music store and hear some bassists playing slap style, some do it tastefully and I like it. With some others, it seems like their accomplishment is more athletic than musical and it sounds like someone wearing alot of bling falling down a flight of stairs.
I also think that if you can't slightly modify your playing to get around a pickup, you ain't tryin' hard enough.

rickenbrother wrote:When I go to the bass section of a music store and hear some bassists playing slap style, some do it tastefully and I like it. With some others, it seems like their accomplishment is more athletic than musical and it sounds like someone wearing alot of bling falling down a flight of stairs.

Joey you put that perfectly!

Nice lineup Paul!

I think the turquoise finish looks best on a 4004. Congratulations!

great looking group,there Paul!
#1 to what Joey said about the pickup placement-my only real experience with that is my cii has the pickup positions towards the bridge,and the bridge pickup is in my sweet spot for fingerstyle playing,and coincidentally getting that jazz bass honk ala jaco,which i love the sound of. i can get a pretty similar sound on my 4000 with the tone rolled off,though,as long as i play just in front of the bridge,too.

Do all current 4004's have the pickups shifted closer to the bridge? If so when did this happen

Jake, the current 4004's have the pickups shifted towards the neck like the original 4004's. RIC went back to using the original position in '04-'05. With bass pickup up next to the neck, it's easy to replace the truss rods if needed.

Nice family portrait there, Paul.
And welcome to the Forum, Christian !

rickenbrother wrote:Jake, the current 4004's have the pickups shifted towards the neck like the original 4004's. RIC went back to using the original position in '04-'05. With bass pickup up next to the neck, it's easy to replace the truss rods if needed.

Awesome, thanks Joey. I have yet to get my hands on a 4004, although I keep searching. I have a feeling I would really enjoy those pup positions!

bassduke49 wrote:Here are my five examples of the Rickenbacker 4004 family found commiserating at a reunion on my front porch. From left: The newest arrival, an '04 Laredo in Turquoise; the well-traveled '03 Cheyenne II Mapleglo converted to a five-string; the second Rick bass I ever bought, a '93 Cheyenne modded with vol/vol/tone; the long-awaited '08 Blueburst Cheyenne II; and a '97 Fireglo Laredo with vol/vol/tone and swapped TRC.

Hey! No smoking on the porch!

I'll take the blue one please!

My wife walked in while I was looking at that first collection. I heard the "gasp" behind me. Then the "Oooooooooooh". "Look at the wood on the blue one"!!!!! Busted looking at Rickenporn again.

Yeah, but at least she was enjoying looking at it, too!

Here's some more: