The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Rickenbacker Basses => Topic started by: Blazer on February 10, 2009, 05:00:37 PM
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A friend of mine has his eyes set on a Rickenbacker 4003/5 five string in jet-glo.
(http://www.elderly.com/items/images/55U/55U-3487_front.jpg)
I promised him that I would enquire about those basses and so I ask of you guys what can you tell me about Five string Ricks, what should we look for and what should we look out for?
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They were discontinued, and since the 4004Cii/5 was also discontinued, it's been several years now that Rickenbacker don't offer 5-string basses of any model. So the 4003S/5 is sought after and prices on eBay are going steadily up.
S/5's were basically modified 4003S's (the non-deluxe model, with dot markers, no binding on the neck and body, and mono output). Tailpieces are modified 4-string units, with a 5th hole drilled between the A and D string holes. The necks were the same width (or almost the same) as the 4-string 4003, so string spacing is tighter than other modern 5-stringers. Some owners have modified the bridge to slightly wider spacing, by using new saddles and putting the slots off-center.
Over at the RickResource forum there's a picture thread on S/5's (http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=386927&sid=2fd36568124118c4d7ba7f26b7ef22b2).
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4003S/5 - The necks are skinny and the strings are too close together for most people, myself included.
4004Cii/5 - Super rare, very wide neck, pickups aren't wide enough, so you get weak B and G strings.
Buy a Spector! :o
And this is coming from a huge Ric geek. ;)
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ilan, does Jeff Rath not post at RickResource anymore?
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He was banned from the RRF since September.
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What do you have to do to get banned!?!
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Buy a Rickenfaker maybe? :P
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I have one of them. The close string spacing is a matter of taste, as a pick player I don't mind. Yes, the neck is a tiny bit wider and thicker, the headstock larger. Still balances ok, kind of levels out in horizontal mode. But both the B string and the G string are noticably weaker than the other three strings and no amount of pick-up tilt tinkering will cure that to full satisfaction. Perhaps not the greatest idea to turn a bass that is not even regular long scale into a five string, the B string does wobble a bit and its sound is not as "there" as the E string's. So in effect, you have soundwise a 4 string bass (with a weak G) with additional access to some muted low notes if needed. There is a reason (or a couple) why people did not queue up to buy it. ;)
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I haven't heard until now of weak G and B strings on a 4003s/5. This complaint is common for the 4004Cii/5 with the wider string spacing and 2000 Series pickups.
Still balances ok, kind of levels out in horizontal mode.
I hate when this happens. Maybe Gibson aficionados can live with some neck dive, but Rics were the first basses with an extended upper horn, they should balance perfectly on a strap.
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The explanation is kind of simple to me, the pole pieces are elevated toward the center, the lowest ones being the G and B. Volume differences could probably be cured if they were individually adjustable as with the new pups.
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I'd ask Sérgio Silva, a Ric pickup expert. I'm sure he can modify the stock pickup to have perfect string-to-string balance. He's in Lisbon, Portugal, that's not too far from you. I don't have his email but I can PM him thru the RickResource forum if you want.
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Yeah, why not. I always wondered how you could get those pole pieces to budge.
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I sent him a PM. Will update as soon as I hear something new.
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That buddy of mine eventually went home with a normal 4003S in Jet-glo, he strung it up in B-E-A-D and it sounds absolutely brutal.