Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Can someone describe the differences between the original Cheyenne (the Ci) and the later one (Cii)?

Neck shape? Pickup location? Bridge? Body?

Thanks!

Hi Len

The Cheyenne i has a tapered neck, wider at the body end, maple neck & body centre and fingerboard, and a solid figured walnut body and head wings, with an oiled finish, and gold hardware.

early Cheyenne ii'is were available either with exotic figured maple veneered top and translucnet finish, or the usual variety of standard RIC solid finishes. Later models have their pickups closer to the bridge, and a body sandwich of maple/walnut/maple, with unfinished bubinga instead of maple fingerboards. Later still, a two-piece neck was introduced and a chechen fingerboard, with a Schaller bridge instead of the ABM model and a more parellel neck instead of the taper.

They're both great basses and I wouldn't be without my Jetglo Cii, as they do sound a lot "darker" than the 4000-4003 range.

Ash

The Cii differences mostly involve the wood structures. The Ci only came one way: maple neck with maple fingerboard and walnut body and head wings. The structure of the Cii changed. At first (1999) the structure was the same except for a quilted maple laminated top. Also at that point, they switched over to a bubinga fingerboard and moved both pickups about an inch "south" toward the bridge. The next change was to the maple/walnut/maple "sandwich" construction of the body wings by 2000. As far as I know, the electronics never changed, with the two HB-1 humbuckers, selector switch, and one volume and one tone knob. The pickups were moved back to the original positions sometime in 2004. The switch to the two-piece 4003-profile neck came in 2011 along with the switch to chechen wood on the fingerboard. The bridge was the ABM from the beginning until 2007 when they switched to a Schaller unit. Much more on these and 30+ other Rick bass models in the book!

There is a series of threads on RRF that detail each model... I think they're called "Anatomy of..." or something like that... Paul, didn't you do those? Can you link them?

Joey placed all the links to these "Anatomy Of A Rick" threads by Ted Staberow in a Sticky thread of their own - this list is at the top:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=388361&p=665879&hil ... my#p665879

Certainly one of the most useful, informative and interesting series of threads here, OMHO.

Ash

To add to the list of some of the differences,i'd say that the Ci has the most highly contoured body wings of any 4004 models. The walnut body wings also account for at least a pound less weight. Along with the oil finish,it makes the Ci the most comfortable feeling Rick you'll ever strap on. I've taken a bit of time adjusting to the sound of my Ci,as i prefer the sound of the pickups further back,but it is such a joy to play. The "dark" sound can be addressed with changing out pot/cap values on these basses,too.
I own an '98 Ci,i think that they were made pretty consistently the same throughout their production years,something you can't say for the Cii,or the Laredo,which had quite a few changes over the years. I also have a Cii,and a Laredo,both from 2004,with the "lowered" pickups. (The Laredo's pickups were lowered all the way, )
Family picture.

Ted Staberow did the "Anatomy" series and it is excellent:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=388361&hilit=Anatomy+bass

I started other threads like "model of the week (or was it day?)" (I can't find them now) and "color of the week" and invited others to post photos.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=300847&hilit=Color+ ... k+Burgundy

*sigh* I have to do everything around here...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=414038&p=850086#p850086

Please nominate for sticky.

Well, I did at least provide the link that you asked for Jason, though no-one apparently noticed....

Ash

Ashgray wrote:Well, I did at least provide the link that you asked for Jason, though no-one apparently noticed....

Ash

You're right, you did, thank you! I forgot that the Anatomy and Model serieses were different thingies.

Thank you all for your comments.

In general, is the Ci's neck width at the nut narrower than the Cii?

woodyng wrote:Family picture.

Woody: You have an unusually handsome family!

Not at the nut, as far as I know. The taper was different (wider on the Ci and early Cii and L) than current, but I believe they all start with the same width at the nut.

LenMinNJ wrote:

woodyng wrote:Family picture.

Woody: You have an unusually handsome family!

Woody, I don't think I realized (or maybe I forgot) that you were the owner of that goldguard fireglo "1957 reissue" 4004. That is one sweet looking bass, and one of my faves from Paul's book. I believe Dane had a hand in creating that one, dinnithe?

LenMinNJ wrote:Thank you all for your comments.

In general, is the Ci's neck width at the nut narrower than the Cii?

Is the "measure your girth" spreadsheet still linked somewhere on here?