Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Heard a salesman call it a “40-0-3” today.
I always called it “4003”.
Which is correct?

Also, even though it is pronounced “Rick-in-backer”, I call it “Rick-en -bach-er”. The former sounds like a Wisconsin way of saying it.

Nothing wrong with wisconsin accents, of course. I just like the “bach” sound better.

I did a survey years ago to ask Forumites how they interpreted "4001" (or 4003), and IIRC, most preferred "Four Thousand One."

The company prefers Rickenbacker as it became the anglicized pronunciation after the wars with Germany.

And when it comes to Wisconsin accents, all bets are off. Milwaukeeans pronounce Becher Street "beecher" instead of the Germanic "becker."

bassduke49 wrote:I did a survey years ago to ask Forumites how they interpreted "4001" (or 4003), and IIRC, most preferred "Four Thousand One."

And then I always think "Four Thousand and One... a bass odyssey!"

I haven't heard anyone in Australia say anything but Four Thousand and Three. But then most Aussies I have heard call them Ricky more often than the full name. Goes with our slang. Heck my nickname has a Y on the end.

I've often (but not always) called them "four double "O" one" etc..
I never really thought about really..

For decades, I always pronounced it Four Thousand Five Duble You Bee!

And, Rick-en-back-er it is; that's how Adolph wanted it so that's what it is.

Benjamin wrote:

bassduke49 wrote:I did a survey years ago to ask Forumites how they interpreted "4001" (or 4003), and IIRC, most preferred "Four Thousand One."

And then I always think "Four Thousand and One... a bass odyssey!"

Which is interesting, because Arthur C. Clarke preferred Twenty-oh-one: A Space Odyssey.

IIRC: UK tends toward Four double oh one and Three Two Five, where in the US we would say Four thousand one and Three twenty five.

That sounds like the usual British/USA differences.
I think 4thousand sounds cooler.

I like to call this year "twenty eighteen." I mean, we didn't call 1918 "One thousand nine hundred and eighteen" did we?

But I think I'll forever call a Rick bass a "four thousand one (or two, or three, or four, or five, or eight . . . unless it is a 4003/8 which is different because of . . . ).

It's practically a drinking game when watching YouTube videos from legit guitar shops or channels pronouncing it "RickenBOCKer."

I think every time that happens, a puppy dies somewhere.


Oh, and it's absolutely "four-thousand-three," it sounds silly any other way.

it never really mattered to me.... I usually know what someone is talking about.... Communication is a beautiful thang indeed!

collin wrote:It's practically a drinking game when watching YouTube videos from legit guitar shops or channels pronouncing it "RickenBOCKer."

I think every time that happens, a puppy dies somewhere.


Oh, and it's absolutely "four-thousand-three," it sounds silly any other way.

I don't think forty-oh-three sounds silly at all.

Thread resurrecting time!

Just to put the cat among the pigeons... I've always said it as "double-oh". I play a 4 double-oh 3. It's the bass James Bond would play. Licensed to thrill.

espidog wrote:Thread resurrecting time!

Just to put the cat among the pigeons... I've always said it as "double-oh". I play a 4 double-oh 3. It's the bass James Bond would play. Licensed to thrill.

What would Maud Adams call it?