From Ric's fb and twitter
They're putting the 4005 back into production? :mrgreen:
BTDT. :mrgreen:
Perhaps, this:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/Factory-Special-Instruments_c_23.html
Quote from: ilan on May 18, 2018, 01:50:36 AM
From Ric's fb and twitter
When I read your thread title, first thought was that they were going with Min-E-Tune/GForce tuners. :mrgreen:
Quote from: Jeff Scott on May 18, 2018, 10:16:33 AM
BTDT. :mrgreen:
Perhaps, this:
http://boutique.rickenbacker.com/Factory-Special-Instruments_c_23.html
Richlite :puke:
I think she looks stunning.
It is nice looking. Richlite would be a deal killer for me, though. OTOH if RIC goes all Richlite, our pre-Richlite Rics will skyrocket in value.
Quote from: Dave W on May 18, 2018, 10:41:54 PM
It is nice looking. Richlite would be a deal killer for me, though. OTOH if RIC goes all Richlite, our pre-Richlite Rics will skyrocket in value.
In my experience, fretboard material is the 2nd most important factor in a bass's sound (first is pickups). It has more effect on tone and character than body or neck material. But I will have to play a Richlite board first before forming an opinion. It's not always the case that synthetic materials sound inferior to natural wood. Remember Yo Yo Ma playing a carbon fiber cello at the second Obama inauguration?
It doesn't look half as nice as a figured padauk board like some Rics used to have. In pics - again, never seen it in person - Richlite looks like a 4002 ebony board or a Blackstar black enameled board. None of which has ever discouraged anyone from buying these models, I think.
Sure looks good.
Quote from: ilan on May 19, 2018, 02:49:06 AM
In my experience, fretboard material is the 2nd most important factor in a bass's sound (first is pickups). It has more effect on tone and character than body or neck material. But I will have to play a Richlite board first before forming an opinion. It's not always the case that synthetic materials sound inferior to natural wood. Remember Yo Yo Ma playing a carbon fiber cello at the second Obama inauguration?
It doesn't look half as nice as a figured padauk board like some Rics used to have. In pics - again, never seen it in person - Richlite looks like a 4002 ebony board or a Blackstar black enameled board. None of which has ever discouraged anyone from buying these models, I think.
I don't care how it looks or sounds, I want a wood fretboard.
My upright bow is carbon fiber, cost about $400 (used) and compares to $4-5K pernambuco sticks. One day in the foreseeable future I'm sure they will build CF violins that will cost a few thousand dollars and sound/play like $5-6M Strads.
Quote from: ilan on May 19, 2018, 10:45:29 AM
My upright bow is carbon fiber, cost about $400 (used) and compares to $4-5K pernambuco sticks. One day in the foreseeable future I'm sure they will build CF violins that will cost a few thousand dollars and sound/play like $5-6M Strads.
And I doubt they'll be making violins of post-consumer recylcled paper and glop. If they do, I won't be buying one.
Old Danos like Jimmy Page used to play were made of MDF or particle boards on a plywood frame. Still sounded nicer than some solid exotic wood guitars.
Quote from: ilan on May 20, 2018, 01:58:52 AM
Old Danos like Jimmy Page used to play were made of MDF or particle boards on a plywood frame. Still sounded nicer than some solid exotic wood guitars.
I agree! Their basses were double tracked on a LOT of country and western cuts as well. . . . As long as you didn't play in the rain.
I think the reissue Danos circa 2000 have similar construction, though I don't know the exact materials. I have a U2 guitar and a DC bass. Love them.
They have wood necks and fretboard though :)
Quote from: ilan on May 20, 2018, 01:58:52 AM
Old Danos like Jimmy Page used to play were made of MDF or particle boards on a plywood frame. Still sounded nicer than some solid exotic wood guitars.
Even a cheap Dano has a real wood fretboard.
My comment wasn't about what Jimmy Page or anyone else likes or sounds good with, it's about what I would or wouldn't buy. I might buy a $400 Dano if it sounded good to me, but I definitely wouldn't buy an expensive bass with a Richlite board.
Quote from: Dave W on May 20, 2018, 10:19:47 AM
Even a cheap Dano has a real wood fretboard.
And Brazilian rosewood, no less. Who knew?
Quote from: Dave W on May 19, 2018, 09:50:53 AM
I don't care how it looks or sounds, I want a wood fretboard.
Why, though? You keep making the same point, but you never substantiate upon it.
I want wood!
I have no issue with recycled material being reused in the construction of an instrument. I would rather that it was reused than allowed to go to waste. Beyond that the fretboard on this bass doesn't
look like recycled paper.
I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.
Quote from: Dave W on May 21, 2018, 07:53:08 AM
I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.
Now GET OFF MY LAWN ya' little brats!
Quote from: Rob on May 21, 2018, 03:09:41 PM
Now GET OFF MY LAWN ya' little brats!
(https://i.imgur.com/ac7PqyP.gif)
Hagstrom uses non-wood fretboards for ages. Great basses and guitars. Even Foo Fighters play it. A famous Dutych bass player has a lot of expensive basses and mostly plays a Hagstrom Viking. I think some of those fretless Squiers have it too. And Höfner made some basses with non wood fretboars. No real change in sound and feel.
Quote from: Chris P. on May 22, 2018, 04:56:39 AM
Hagstrom uses non-wood fretboards for ages. Great basses and guitars. Even Foo Fighters play it. A famous Dutych bass player has a lot of expensive basses and mostly plays a Hagstrom Viking. I think some of those fretless Squiers have it too. And Höfner made some basses with non wood fretboars. No real change in sound and feel.
Aren't you forgetting Kramers with ebonol boards?
I don't care how many examples get posted, I won't be buying.
Why not? 'Just because'? is there a good reason not wanting them, without you've ever tried them? Short sighted.
Quote from: Dave W on May 21, 2018, 07:53:08 AM
I don't need a reason. I don't need to justify what I prefer.
I respect Dave's opinion.
Like Dave with this non-wood issue,
I don't care if the Fender Jazz Bass is possibly the most versatile, best overall sounding and cost-benefit bass out there, I will never buy one for myself.
No matter what people say about how good it is.
I can imagine you don't like the looks of a bass or string spacing or whatever. But hating all non-wood fret boards 'just because'.... I don't get that. Especially cos you don't feel, hear, see any difference. Or hardly. I don't like the sound of some very active basses, but with a reason: the sound.
Quote from: Daniel_J on May 22, 2018, 10:34:42 AM
I respect Dave's opinion.
Like Dave with this non-wood issue,
I don't care if the Fender Jazz Bass is possibly the most versatile, best overall sounding and cost-benefit bass out there, I will never buy one for myself.
No matter what people say about how good it is.
Thanks, Daniel.
As you said, it's not a matter of what anyone else thinks.
Quote from: Chris P. on May 22, 2018, 09:12:41 AM
Why not? 'Just because'? is there a good reason not wanting them, without you've ever tried them? Short sighted.
Quote from: Chris P. on May 22, 2018, 02:07:10 PM
I can imagine you don't like the looks of a bass or string spacing or whatever. But hating all non-wood fret boards 'just because'.... I don't get that. Especially cos you don't feel, hear, see any difference. Or hardly. I don't like the sound of some very active basses, but with a reason: the sound.
I didn't say "just because" or say I had never tried them. I've tried a Martin with Richlite, a Moses neck with some kind of synthetic, ebonol Kramer and probably more if I stopped to think about it.
If you don't feel hear or see any difference, that's fine. I do, and I agree with Ilan about the fretboard being the second most important sound factor after electronics.
Even so, I don't need a reason to justify my choices, any more than Chris Martin IV needs to justify his decision to save $5 in manufacturing cost on a $1500 Martin by substituting Richlite for wood. Good for him, but I won't be buying.
In any case, wood is a renewable resource and there's no shortage of suitable woods that are stiff enough and have enough surface hardness to use as fretboards.
Quote from: Chris P. on May 22, 2018, 09:12:41 AM
Short sighted.
I believe that's OK in a place meant to embrace Gibson basses.
Call me old fashioned, but I want my instruments to be made out of wood, my car to be made of steel and my tools to be made of both.
I like my ebonol fingerboard. :popcorn:
I don't think there's anything unusual about anyone not wanting a feature on a bass because they simply don't like it.
I won't own a purple bass - or a purple anything, for that matter.
Fretboard material doesn't matter much to me. Neither does the wood a bass is made of, including laminated basses. But there are plenty of people who don't want to own a bass with a laminated body.
As our Deutsches friends might say, machts nichts. (US translation: mixed nuts.)
I think musical instruments are all about soul, love, your own preferences. I also didn't buy basses because of one stupid feature. My only point is disliking something if you've never tried it. I sometimes see (also here) people slag of bands they haven't heard, I hear friends slag of TV programs they've never seen, etc.
I would want to know how Richlite wears in the long term
How about an entire guitar made out of bakelite? The neck would be super stable and it could be all kinds of cool colors too. The fellow in this video talks about bakelite in a passionate way that some would talk about wood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAVSsQpyW7Y
Quote from: 4stringer77 on May 24, 2018, 07:05:28 AM
How about an entire guitar made out of bakelite?
Would the entire guitar deteriorate in 30-50 years?
Some Rickenbacker steels were bakelite. With time, they do become fragile. Check out a duo called "Larkin Poe". The bakelite steel guitar sounds great on old blues tunes...
Quote from: patman on May 24, 2018, 08:00:33 AM
Some Rickenbacker steels were bakelite. With time, they do become fragile. Check out a duo called "Larkin Poe". The bakelite steel guitar sounds great on old blues tunes...
A friend posted a recent video of Larkin Poe on Faceboo kcovering John Lee Hooker's Crawling King SnaKe Blues. IIRC the steel player was using a resonator on that one, not a bakelite Ric. They sounded great but considering what a crawling snake refers to in old blues music, it was funny to hear a woman singing it.
Quote from: Chris P. on May 24, 2018, 01:52:14 AM
I think musical instruments are all about soul, love, your own preferences. I also didn't buy basses because of one stupid feature. My only point is disliking something if you've never tried it. I sometimes see (also here) people slag of bands they haven't heard, I hear friends slag of TV programs they've never seen, etc.
Even if I hadn't tried it, I wouldn't consider it, no matter how good anyone else thinks it sounds, even if I thought it sounded okay. My money, my choice.
In the particular case of Richlite, the way it has been promoted makes me more than suspicious. I smell a rat.
Quote from: amptech on May 22, 2018, 11:39:32 PM
...I want ..... my car to be made of steel...
Good thing, too, because Ferrari refuses to let you own one of their vehicles. :mrgreen:
If I'm not mistaken, Ric used to make their nuts out of bakelite.
At least is what I remember reading about years ago.
Bakelite.
Quote from: Dave W on May 24, 2018, 12:11:30 PM
...considering what a crawling snake refers to in old blues music, it was funny to hear a woman singing it.
I'd never heard that "term". What's it mean (and don't ask me to go look it up somewhere, as you seem to already know what it is). Thanks. :)
I think the end of a crawling snake is where you can usually find Ric's black nuts :rimshot:
Quote from: Jeff Scott on May 25, 2018, 01:46:45 PM
I'd never heard that "term". What's it mean (and don't ask me to go look it up somewhere, as you seem to already know what it is). Thanks. :)
See below.
Quote from: 4stringer77 on May 25, 2018, 01:58:22 PM
I think the end of a crawling snake is where you can usually find Ric's black nuts :rimshot:
Perfect explanation! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
First recorded reference I know of was Black Snake Moan by Blind Lemon Jefferson (1926)
Mmm, mmm, black snake crawlin' in my room
Some pretty mama better come and get this black snake soon
Lots of, err, interesting imagery in old blues.
Quote from: ilan on May 25, 2018, 09:28:59 AM
Bakelite.
I actually looked at my rick nut and wondered what material it was many times..
Quote from: 4stringer77 on May 25, 2018, 01:58:22 PM
I think the end of a crawling snake is where you can usually find Ric's black nuts :rimshot:
BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Bakelite nuts aren't the only things that deteriorate with old age.