Five string Ricks, what can you tell me about them?

[Blazer]

A friend of mine has his eyes set on a Rickenbacker 4003/5 five string in jet-glo.


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?

[ilan]

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.

[gearHed289]

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! 

And this is coming from a huge Ric geek. 

[Dave W]

ilan, does Jeff Rath not post at RickResource anymore?

[ilan]

He was banned from the RRF since September.

[Chris P.]

What do you have to do to get banned!?!

[exiledarchangel]

Buy a Rickenfaker maybe?

[uwe]

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. 

[ilan]

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.

[uwe]

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.

[ilan]

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.

[uwe]

Yeah, why not. I always wondered how you could get those pole pieces to budge.

[ilan]

I sent him a PM. Will update as soon as I hear something new.

[Blazer]

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.