2030.jpg
Insane grain on the walnut. And 1lbs. lighter than the rest.
2030W.jpg
I prefer short scales but the tailpiece placement just looks odd to me.
Quote from: morrow on September 24, 2025, 06:41:56 AMI prefer short scales but the tailpiece placement just looks odd to me.
Yeah, same. I'm not a fan of those contraptions in the first place, and it looks really wrong in the middle of the body like that. I do like the green color, but I'd do black plastic with that.
Rick short scale for real? I might want one!
I'm wondering what the shorter scale does to the intrinsic Rickenbacker tone? Presumably it has a bit more rumble and a bit less focus in the treble? It would be cool to hear one.
A thicker sounding G string couldn't be bad.
I like that they used a standard 4003 carcass, just made a new two-octave 30" scale fretboard and moved the bridge. So now the nut is still where you're used to, the bridge is like on a guitar, the bass is balanced on a strap just like a 4003 thanks to the extended upper horn design, and the new pickup locations are now more like a 4002 or a Fender Jazz. Probably better with the short scale not to have a neck pickup.
Looks like they used rosewood or maple boards this time. Previous 4030's had Richlite (not that there's anything wrong with that).
I predict: They won't be offering those for long. I don't see a market. If you want a Ric, you want E-string growl. Not gonna happen with a shortie.
That bridge smack-dab in the middle of the bass looks terrible.
Quote from: uwe on December 09, 2025, 01:25:43 AMI predict: They won't be offering those for long. I don't see a market. If you want a Ric, you want E-string growl. Not gonna happen with a shortie.
That bridge smack-dab in the middle of the bass looks terrible.
The Rickenbacker dealers here seem to be flooded (as in, two or three in stock) of these shortscale basses.
The bridge being so far into the body from the end suggests it is a fairly standard 4003 body and they've just chopped 3" off the scale length, moved some frets around etc.
Yup, 24 fret fingerboard in the same space as the regular 20, move the bridge forward and voila!
I like the 4005XC shorties that they made recently much better than this.
Quote from: Alanko on December 10, 2025, 02:31:59 AMThe Rickenbacker dealers here seem to be flooded (as in, two or three in stock) of these shortscale basses.
The bridge being so far into the body from the end suggests it is a fairly standard 4003 body and they've just chopped 3" off the scale length, moved some frets around etc.
A full size body might combat neck dive..?
I might be interested in one these if the price was realistic. It isn't.
Quote from: Pilgrim on December 10, 2025, 10:48:47 AMA full size body might combat neck dive..?
Full scale (33.5") Rics balance perfectly thanks to the extended upper horn, a Roger Rossmeisl design. So the short scales should also have perfect balance and no neck dive.
Rickenbacker have tried a shortscale 4003/1 in the past via a different route.
(https://cdn.basschat.co.uk/monthly_2021_12/xoprtbzaejvhsgqtw437.jpg.05ef2c1b9543845e6dfe835784658ffc.jpg)
Quote from: Alanko on December 12, 2025, 04:00:27 PMRickenbacker have tried a shortscale 4003/1 in the past via a different route.
(https://cdn.basschat.co.uk/monthly_2021_12/xoprtbzaejvhsgqtw437.jpg.05ef2c1b9543845e6dfe835784658ffc.jpg)
I like it more than the newbies.
Instant short scale bass conversion: detune to DGCF and capo the 2nd fret.
Quote from: ilan on December 16, 2025, 06:38:12 AMInstant short scale bass conversion: detune to DGCF and capo the 2nd fret.
Shhhh you'll spoil the die-hards.
My nearest Rickenbacker dealer had three of these in stock when I visited last week. One was in a pleasant British Racing Green finish. At £3,499.00 they might be in stock for a while yet.
Maybe a UK thing, but Rickenbackers tend to end up back-ordered and out of stock for a while. Then there's a single release of them and suddenly everywhere has them in stock again; though usually it is the hip new models. For a while you saw those Walnut, barely lacquered Rickies everywhere.
Those racing green Rics are lovely.
(https://i.postimg.cc/k5xg2fvW/IMG-3878.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
Same size as the 330 , 25 3/4 scale. And rumour is the price will be reasonable.
(https://i.postimg.cc/wMRPBbDP/IMG-3883.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
If they were going to stick a bass neck on one of these 350 models , I'd fall pretty fast.
Guitar scale... I don't know. And the bridge pickup at this location is unusable. Looks like Ric are repurposing 330 guitar husks with surplus R bass tailpieces and bridges from the discontinued 4005V. Hard pass.
I'd like to try one before passing. It's guitar size. Pickup position is similar to the 4005.
I like the look of these. I did not know about the extra short scale length. That's kinda weird.
Quote from: morrow on April 24, 2026, 06:40:09 AMI'd like to try one before passing. It's guitar size. Pickup position is similar to the 4005.
I've tried a guitar-scale bass and it's a bit ridiculous. The E string has no definition. And the pickups on the 4005 were a big mistake. The bridge pickup, so close to the bridge, is thin, tiny, useless, and the neck pickup is very neck-y. Miles of barren land between them that could have been used for useful bass tones.
It seems that no testing was done prior to production. They just used guitar pickup locations. Hofner did the same mistake. Paul has never used anything other than the neck pickup - the switches on his bass are fixed in place with rolled gaffer tape.
If RIC wants to make a short scale bass, they should do more than just repurpuse guitar husks (or 4003 husks with the bridge relocated). This 3001 prototype could work.
(https://media.gettyimages.com/id/103457354/photo/rickenbacker-bass.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=fHS94ZcqFjpRevIoY6eGpDG8hYmJa_HIDC6ZhjutqqI=)
Agreed...