Not a fan entirely ...

[uwe]

I hope the humor of you Ricsters is still intact ... Coarse language and stream of consciousness warning. For the avoidance of doubt: I don't agree with him on a lot of things!

[Granny Gremlin]

That was making the rounds on a local board (think the dude might be Canadian).  He ain't wrong (though I never even got to hate the bridge cuz I never got past the neck profile and the laquered rosewood fretboards).  It started a thread hating on Rics and talking about the Hipsot replacement bridge.

Anyway, That video was entertaining, but the one where he rants about his wife put me off from watching any more of them.

[66Atlas]

Picking on Ric's for their archaic bridge is akin to knocking over old people and stealing wheelchairs.  It's just mean and an easy target.  That said I'd never change mine out, it fits the bass better than anything else.  Personally I love their truss rod design, my hairpin rods have held the 4001 in a rock steady position for over a decade at this point.

One of these days I'll start making videos or rants about fenders and sell advertising. I bet I'd make a mint. 😁

[Dave W]

I won't watch these. No need to. He's an obnoxious turdhead who goes out of his way to tear down guitars and basses he doesn't like, even if it means grossly exaggerating small problems.

[westen44]

I won't watch these. No need to. He's an obnoxious turdhead who goes out of his way to tear down guitars and basses he doesn't like, even if it means grossly exaggerating small problems.

Plus, whatever he says is overshadowed by the fact that he is made to look like a pygmy by people such as Chris Squire and Paul McCartney who have played iconic bass lines on Rics through the years.  They did a lot with what he calls junk. 

[amptech]

Ok, he does not like the rick, but I can't understand why he (like thousands of other people) needs to film himself and post on youtube. He's not interesting, he's not funny, just a regular dude who really just need a friend who says to him : 'hey, this is too stupid to put on the internet for other to see. Your appearance, language and everything you say - not funny just stupid'.

The bridge, I agree it's not a brilliant solution (although I intonated mine to the strings I use on it and haven't needed to do anything to it since 2002, so it does not bother me) but put something else there or don't buy a rick! How hard is it?

Wish I hadn't started the day seeing this, even though I only saw the first 5-6 minutes. I'd rather listen to blondie for 15 minutes than seeing the whole thing.

[Alanko]

I find Dave's 'fun stuff' videos amusing at times, but they are sort of long winded. Occasionally he's trying a bit hard to show how much of a good guy he is by setting up either hopeless instruments or by helping out people by not charging them for the work. In all honesty his views seem a bit out of date. Specifically he rants about Rickenbackers because he tried a single example in the '70s and didn't get on with it. Rickenbackers require more skill and specialist knowledge to set up, beyond the fairly universal techniques for Fender-family instruments. Whether that is a negative point against Rickenbacker, or not, is a debate that will never be resolved. Roger Sadowsky won't touch them, or didn't back in the day.

[FrankieTbird]

Funny how he never mentions the "quality" routing for the wiring.

[gearHed289]

 

I've owned and worked on many Rics since 1979. No problems to report. I hate the bridge/tailpiece, but other than that, if you know what you're doing, they're no more wonky than any other brand. 70s Fenders on the other hand....

[Dave W]

Wish I hadn't started the day seeing this, even though I only saw the first 5-6 minutes. I'd rather listen to blondie for 15 minutes than seeing the whole thing.

Whoa! Let's not go to extremes! 

[uwe]

Through all his overt (and partially tongue-in-cheek) Ric-bashing, you can read between the lines that he has a soft spot for them, probably going back to his first one and the Roger Glover inspiration.

(And, incidentally, Roger never went back to his Fender P after he had bought his 4001, he would eventually discard it for other brands, but not Fender. The Ric is all over Machine Head,



Made in Japan and Who Do We Think We Are, the three vintage Purple albums with the best and most prominent bass sounds. Glenn Hughes sounded quite different (and quite a bit sloppier!  ) with a Ric

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOc9ML942E&list=PLc2kCYP6U_gNsv_g6Lyabixmt8WGzSjr1

which he initially used with Purple before settling for a P.)


But I agree, he tends to be longwinded, those clips would benefit from a sharp cutting room.

For all its weaknesses and idiosyncracies, the Ric 4001/4003 has "iconic" written all over it, visually, soundwise and historically. Probably more so than any other bass. Fenders are just too ubiquitous for that, the Höfner is essentially a novelty toy that got lucky via one famous player and Gibsons were too rare and visually varied to leave a similar pop cultural imprint. People can detect a Ric sound (though there is more than one) immediately, you don't have that with, say, a Thunderbird.

[uwe]

Whoa! Let's not go to extremes! 

Indeed, that would be atomic.

[eb2]

This guy is wonderful. I miss Ontario and when I watch this guy I feel like I'm there. Fire up a Craven and pop open a Blue. He calls out crap. Fun.

[Alanko]

Through all his overt (and partially tongue-in-cheek) Ric-bashing, you can read between the lines that he has a soft spot for them, probably going back to his first one and the Roger Glover inspiration.

He has his facts backwards there. Glover had a P bass in 1969/70 that was sunburst but with a maple neck, which is presumably quite rare?

He then moved over to the Rick, in 1970 (?), and later had it modified:



He claimed he didn't get enough low end out of them, but that is entirely his own fault for using Marshall amps and cabinets. 

[Dave W]

This guy is wonderful. I miss Ontario and when I watch this guy I feel like I'm there. Fire up a Craven and pop open a Blue. He calls out crap. Fun.

I don't care where he's from, but based on a few videos I've seen, I wouldn't let him near any bass of mine.