Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi, I have a question about the ricky 4003, so I imagine this is the place to ask it! I'm interested in buying a ricky 4003, having wanted one for years and totally loving the tone other artists produce using it. I've never played one, and no shops near me stock them, so before I commit myself to a long drive to test one out, I need to ask a question regarding playing fingerstyle. I play 99% of the time near the bridge, thumb resting on the pickup and strings. Playing near the neck is basically a no-no for me. Obviously the pickup cover is a big problem, I can either take it off and play, or put a thumb rest between the rear pickup and the bridge, perhaps spoiling the appearance of the beautiful 4003! So do any of you guys play the same style as me on a 4003, and how did you get round the problem? Also, what is the distance between the rear pickup and the bridge on a 4003? Thanks in advance

thomas, i actually rest my thumb on the top of the treble pickup[ with the cover removed]i own a 60s ric at the moment my only bass-ive owned 4001-4003s my 67 is hard to finger pick becouse the horseshoes get in the way.

My 4001 has the rear pick up cover removed for now, but I'm planning on putting one back on.

I play with my hand in basically two positions; with my thumb on the rear pickup surround or way up front with my thumb on the neck, right where it joins the body (similar to how McCartney plays it in the "I Am the Walrus" video.).

I find both positions equally comfortable and useful.

Thomas - I've had a similar problem adjusting to playing my 4003. I have alternated between removing the rear cover, adding a reversible thumbrest, and even purchasing a pickup plate from Pickguardian to accommodate playing above the rear pickup. However, I now have the cover back on and the thumbrest removed. I've just learned to rest my thumb on the scratch plate and play just in front of the pickup cover. I use the cover as a sort of anchor for my pinkie finger. I think you'll find a wide array of opinions and options on this forum. Welcome!

I play exactly the same as Ken. Thumb on the p/up & always have done. It doesn't seem to do any damage to the p/up & IMO gives the best sound.....not too hard & not too soft. Just buy one, whip the cover off & enjoy it! There is NO better bass.

BTW Thomas, welcome to the forum.

Thanks for posting guys, I've taken it all on board. One last thing though; can anyone get a ruler out and measure the distance between the bridge and the nearest point of the rear pickup? Thanks a lot!

From the rear edge of the pickup surround to the bridge (actually the mute cavity area but you can't play any further back) is 2.25". To the rear of the pickup itself is about 2.5" but you would need one of those Pickguardian plexi pickup surrounds to make using the pickup itself as an anchoring point an option, IMO.

I play fingerstyle only and generally anchor my thumb on the rear pickup surround and have plenty of room. I do remove the pickup covers as soon as a I acquire a new Ric since they do tend to get in my way now and then.

I learned to play on my first 4003 back in '94. I left the pickup cover on and play with my thumb anchored on the edge of the pickguard and pluck fingerstyle right in front of the pickup cover, like Jason does. There is another RIC player here in town that does similar too, even though he has removed his pickup cover.

4003's rule. You will be surprised by the quality for the buck, and love the tone and feel. Also, I love having a bass with a pickup selector switch. We do a couple of songs with a gentile intro switching to power bass later in the song ("Beautiful Day" by U2 is a good example), and having that switch to flip from mellow neck pickup to grittier bridge pickup right on the fly is very cool.

Try one out!

Jason, where does one get a reversible thumbrest?
I never heard of them.

Ken,
If that horseshoe pickup gets in your way, I'd be glad to swap you a high gain for it!

I meant a reversable modification for the thumbrest. My brother in law made one from acrylic that used the existing screw holes for the pickguard. It was rather long and cumbersome, but it helped me out until I could get comfortable w/o it there.

I usually play a 4001 / 4003 bass with my thumb on the treble pickup, but the previous owner of my '73 installed a thumbrest on it. Since it has the thumbrest, I'm able to play it fingerstyle and leave the pickup cover on.

Beautiful bass there Joey. That was actually the picture that started my mind turning on installing a thumbrest. The one my brother-in-law came up with actually went from the top of the pickguard screw to the bottomw screw, running parallel to the strings. As I said before, it was rather long. I think Jeff Rath refered to it as a thumb rail as opposed to a thumb rest. And it was rather ugly to boot. However, it did not require me putting any additional holes in the pickguard or the bass itself. BTW, my bass looks exactly like yours - except for the front pickup spacing, and the checkerboard binding, and the creaminess of the white binding, and well....you know

I play 4003's and 4001's fingerstyle, off with their covers!! haha! The cover severely hampers most fingerstyle players especially if you are coming from a bass that had none. The cover is right over the sweet spot for me where the tension of the strings against your plucking fingers and the sound is the best, not too thin, not too thick. When I anchor my thumb it's against the E string, to play the E I automatically pull my hand back a little and go right back, that way you can move your hand back and forth from near the bridge all the way to near the neck for different tones and feels even in the same song if you want. For example if I play harder in a certain song I will go closer to the bridge, it has more tension there so is less sloppy when you are really digging in and also is a little more trebly and cuts through better. For a bluesy tone I might play closer to the neck for a deeper tone etc. You make your own sound eventually, the bass is an extension of what you want to sound like, I happen to think Ric's are one of the most versatile basses around for different sounds if you are willing to experiment with techniques.
I started out on an old Fender that had a thumbrest on bottom, took it off was useless to me, next Fender I bought had one on top like the above, same thing, I bought my first Ric, first thing I did when i got it home was to take off the cover. Anything that makes you anchor your thumb is one place or keeps you from playing in an inch wide section of the plucking area is going to severely hamper your technique, IMHO of course.

Bob, you make a good point about the plusses of having the full string length available for plucking. That option leaves a bigger variety open to the player.

I guess that the thumb anchor approach gives me a comfort zone, especially when multi-tasking (trying to remember lyrics, singing parts, moving around, looking at the crowd, etc.). Having one consistent location and string tension helps my accuracy/precision of the right hand and seems to remove one variable from the multi-tasking process. To me it's easier to vary my attack rather than position, although that doesn't give the fullest range of sounds. I guess if I could pull everything off and vary right-hand position too I would be even better off.

I've seen both approaches sounding good from some guys and some sound bad both ways, too. Lots of variables to a player's sound....

Picks can be cool, too, and I will sometimes do that, depending.

I like your point about making your own sound, too. And... I like my Rics for that!