Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I know more about Gibson and Fender than I do Rickenbacker. And I know that there are great and terrible eras of Gibson and Fender production.

Are there any such contentions about Rickenbacker basses?

I hear 1978's are hit or miss.

Anything mid 90's to late 00's will have a thicker neck than other eras.

Nice thing about nearly any Rickenbacker is that they didn't really have a "bad" era like Fender/Gibson/Gretsch etc did, in respect to declining quality standards.

They have many variations, but they're generally only spec changes, not related to quality. So - figure out what features you want and it will help you narrow down a year to shop for.


Personally, I think what they're making right now are some of the best made in the last 30 years.

There was a brief period around '04 when a number of MID-finished basses and guitars suffered from finish bleed - the colour bled over the binding in places.

Like Collin said, pick your favorite spec's and then try the bass, ( members will help with detailed info on neck sizing etc once you have picked some years out), sound wise you can't fail with a 64

I own a 78 4001. I never liked the pups, and I just replaced them with a Ric toaster and horseshoe--the bass sounds like what I've always wanted it to sound.

I do have a small amount of clear coat chipping, but I've been playing it since 78.

In my experience Rics are "hit or miss" in some way shape or form from every single year/vintage I've played (spanning from 1972 to 2012 IIRC), but on the whole, they mostly tend to be winners. I've only played a couple that I would call total lemons, a 1977 (who knows what abuses it had suffered by the time I got to it) and a 2004 (same). I've played several dozen Ric basses in total so that's a pretty good batting average for quality, really.

cassius987 wrote:In my experience Rics are "hit or miss" in some way shape or form from every single year/vintage I've played (spanning from 1972 to 2012 IIRC), but on the whole, they mostly tend to be winners. I've only played a couple that I would call total lemons, a 1977 (who knows what abuses it had suffered by the time I got to it) and a 2004 (same). I've played several dozen Ric basses in total so that's a pretty good batting average for quality, really.

I would totally with that.

Over the 11 I have owned, one was a lemon (which was also a 77 in Burgundyglo), two were OK, the others are great. I excluded the 2 restoration projects from the count.

With Ricks I think it would depend mostly on how they were treated during the years. I had a 78 that was really nice. I owned many and have never had what I would call a lemon, I bought a new V-63 once with a weak neck pickup but the bass itself was very nice. All it needed was a new pickup. I prefer certain eras of them but each to his own. I like the later 70's and early 80's 4001's.

To this day I insist that a mid-70s JG 4001 that I had to borrow was significantly different from my early 70s FG 4001. The mid-70s was much lighter in weight and had very low output. No body in the sound as compared. I even cracked the pickguard trying to raise the neck pickup in desperation. I think I already have been beaten up here before about my experience but it was VERY true. The mid-70s was a different bass. I actually could not believe the difference!

DavyR wrote:To this day I insist that a mid-70s JG 4001 that I had to borrow was significantly different from my early 70s FG 4001. The mid-70s was much lighter in weight and had very low output. No body in the sound as compared. I even cracked the pickguard trying to raise the neck pickup in desperation. I think I already have been beaten up here before about my experience but it was VERY true. The mid-70s was a different bass. I actually could not believe the difference!

I had a 75 Fireglo 4001 that sounded and played great, they're all different. There are a lot of individual variations in these basses, especially from back then,

Weren't one or two years prone to electrical problems, after the switch to lead-less solder? Seems to me I heard of a few cases like that.

Each is different but IME 1986 was a good year.

I used to have a '74, it was fantastic (if I ever see it for sale, I'll buy it back). I've got a '76 with is also fantastic. As is my '84. My basses from 2008 are... well... fantastic. And so are the ones from 2009 & 2010.

I can't say anything about the '90s 'cause I've never owned one, but the rest of the decades all seem pretty darned good to me...