Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

New Ric 4003W arrived today. Gig tonight, so no time for a full report. Details tomorrow.

You know what they say... pictures, or it didn't happen!

Congratulations on the new bass... if I could afford a brand new bass, I think I'd go for walnut!

I wasn't sure I could afford it, either. The original plan was to sell my transgreen 4004Cii, but the members of one of my bands insisted I keep it and play it as my main bass in that band. That band actually makes some money, so I gave in and kept it. Perhaps fortunately, it took a year and a half for the bass to finally arrive, so I had time to save up some money.

Isaac wrote:New Ric 4003W arrived today. Gig tonight, so no time for a full report. Details tomorrow.

So-it's tomorrow now.

How did ya like it compared to your Cii?

Isaac wrote:Perhaps fortunately, it took a year and a half for the bass to finally arrive, so I had time to save up some money.

15 years ago I ordered a 650 Dakota and was told it would it would take 6 months or so, and I figured I had the time to save up. Instead it arrived 2 weeks later and nearly broke me!

Good luck!

Pics? You want pics, beyotch? I got pics!

Look! I got a box!



See there on the top, where it says, 4000 series?

Not good enough for you? Okay, how about this?



4003W, right there on the shipping label!

Isaac wrote:Pics? You want pics, beyotch? I got pics!

Look! I got a box!

Isaac, you really should add more drama to your pics.

These were my opening shots when I got my 660 75th Anniversary guitar.

You're probably right, but i just don't have your flair for the dramatic.

I'll have to settle for suspense!

What was in the box, you might ask? A bass case! A Rickenbacker bass case!



It's the plastic case. I'd prefer Tolex over plywood, but I can't really complain.

Suspense works, too.

All right, you guys know what they look like, anyway, right?





First impressions. The wood grain on the back is beautiful. The front, less so, I'm sorry to say. I'm not used to a non-gloss finish on a Ric, so it feels unfinished to me. Very smooth, though. The neck is fairly thin and narrow, as I expect a Ric neck to be. Woody, you asked how it compared to the Cii. The Cii neck feels much thicker, which I don't care for. Same with my 3001. This feels much more like my 4000 and 4001s. Nstuff Music did a very good job on the setup.

I'm looking forward to trying it out with my bands.

Took it to rehearsal this afternoon. Notes.

Complete consensus: it's beautiful. It sounds great. It plays like buttah. Even tuned to E♭, there was very little fret buzz. Tons of low end, brilliant highs. In short, the exact kind of wide range, hi fidelity sound I expect from a Ric.

I didn't mention before that it came with roundwound strings. That surprised me a bit. I didn't know Ric was shipping them that way. The pickups are surprisingly hot. I haven't done an A-B comparison with any of my other Rics, but my impression is that they were noticeably hotter than the SDs on my 4000. One of these days, I'll do a direct comparison with my old 4001 with stock high gains.

As the rehearsal went on, the smile on my face just kept getting bigger.

Looks really nice. You'll get used to the finish.

I think I'm used to it already!

Has anybody besides me noticed that a guitar shipping box, with its relative proportions of the thickness to the width to the height would remind someone of the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly in Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "2001, A Space Odyssey"?

iiipopes wrote:Has anybody besides me noticed that a guitar shipping box, with its relative proportions of the thickness to the width to the height would remind someone of the Tycho Magnetic Anomaly in Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "2001, A Space Odyssey"?

Yep!