I used to go out to Massachusetts (from Japan or now California) whenever I could, to record with one of my best friends (a drummer) at another friend's home studio. I would leave a couple of instruments there so all I would have to bring was effects that I wanted to use. But five years or so ago I got busy and didn't have as much income so I haven't been back in a long time. I finally decided to have my friend with the studio ship me my 1993 Jetglo Rickenbacker 4003S/8:
It's BTBH (black trim black hardware) - I replaced the bridge pickup mount with the one from Pickguardian. It's really hard to take pictures of because it reflects everything like a mirror - I feel like I finally understand why "glo" stands for "gloss"! I haven't plugged it in yet - hopefully it's working ok electronically, gotta check that soon. The action is a little high, but I'm going to just play it for a while. I bought a couple of packages of the Rickenbacker 8-string set when they closed them out a while back, need to decide if I'm going to change them now or later. I have a kind of a solo gig coming up in a week and a half so I need to decide soon!
Here's a shot of the headstock:
The 4003S/8 was originally strung with the octave string on the bottom, but I much prefer having it on top so I had it changed (by Krishna Jain, who refinished my
Telembic. I remember reading somewhere that the reason it uses 8 identical tuners is so that it can be restrung either way. I feel like I read it in a post by John Hall but not totally sure of that.
Anyway, I'm really happy to have it back in my hands - I played it for like an hour outside today, we've been having super-nice weather. My fingers are sore but it was worth it!