Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello there,

I want to know that is there any factory made fretless 4080 or other Fretless bass from Rickenbacker ? How they sounded ? I want to listen too much.

Thank you,
Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul

Mustafa Umut Sarac wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 11:19 am Hello there,

I want to know that is there any factory made fretless 4080 or other Fretless bass from Rickenbacker ? How they sounded ? I want to listen too much.

Thank you,
Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul

Can't speak about 4080 or 4005 or any of the 20XX series as I have no useful knowledge of them but there are definitely plenty of fretless 4001 and 4003 out there. Have a search on YouTube for demonstrations. FL 4000, 4002 and 3080 also exist but are rare. I imagine the newer series (Laredos, Cheyenne etc) also have fretless versions too.

Try searching for FL in the registry, that'll give you a taste of what's out there.

Mustafa Umut Sarac wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 11:19 am Hello there,

I want to know that is there any factory made fretless 4080 or other Fretless bass from Rickenbacker ? How they sounded ? I want to listen too much.

Thank you,
Mustafa Umut Sarac
Istanbul

This is the '04 4003FL I used to have (another forum member has the bass these days). I have the bridge toaster pickup solo'd in the recording. played fingerstyle with an old set of D'Addario Chromes (40-55-75-95). I used the preamp section of an Ampeg PB250 into a Korg D1600 Mk II recorder.



The bass in question:

I have two, both 4003 FLs. No idea why the photo is sideways btw, it isn't like that in my photo library.

Let me turn it up for you.

Yes, Mike Parks aka The Rickenbacker Page aka the-music-connection.com had a 4080/12 MG that was factory special ordered with a fretless bass neck but then changed to have frets.