Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi guys!

Its time for an NBD (or should that be NRD?) post from me

Id been after one of the new 4003S's for a while but getting hold of them in the UK at the moment is a bit like trying to find golddust... particularly if you want Jetglo or Fireglo. Finally came across one at a dealer's (Nick's Guitars in Wetherby, top marks to him - great dealer experience) and took the plunge. Its a great bass indeed... but what really sold it to me was the fretboard on it. Dont think ive ever seen a nicer looking board on a Ric - the first photo with less flash shows how the dark grain sets it off a bit better, but the picture of all 3 Rics together really shows off the "swirly" effect on the fretboard at its best.

With no further ado... the pictures! Only a few, and my camera skills arent that great, apologies for that. Obviously had to include one of me giving it a thump (hadnt even taken the sticker off, haha!) and a little shot of my collection all getting acquainted together.

Steve

Steve, Thanks for posting those two close-up pictures. No complaints about the rest of the instrument, but that fingerboard is as nice as I've ever seen !!

Congrats, Steve! Yes that CR fingerboard is quite lovely.

Congratulations! A fine looking instrument!!! loving the fretboard too!!

Nice bass, Steve, and great photos of them!


I picked up a Fireglo 4003S in 2015, and I gotta say I love the fretboards they are producing these days with "Caribbean Rosewood" or whatever it is called.
I had a couple of older v63s that had some NICE boards that were made in 1993 and 1997 respectively. They were elegantly sanded and polished, so that the figuring of the grain really jumped out on them, but this new board material really seems to be more figured and richer than those basses. I really like my new 'S', it plays and looks like a dream, but I'd like to know what the differences actually are between the old and the new stuff.

Ric moved away from bubinga and started using Caribbean rosewood (CR) towards the end of 2011, presumably, in response to the upcoming at the time, and now enforced as of 1/2/2017, new CITES II listing of "all rosewoods". How does CR fit into this?