Cool Rics on eBay / Reverb / Craigslist

[Dave W]

The board is unfinished rosewood. AFAIK they haven't used bubinga for several years.

Hard to say how it will sound. Someone will love it.

[Jeff Scott]

Caribbean Rosewood (Chechen) has been used in place of bubinga since late 2011.

[Dave W]

Caribbean Rosewood (Chechen) has been used in place of bubinga since late 2011.

That's interesting. RIC specs say the fretboards are rosewood but chechen is not a rosewood at all. Different genus.

[Jeff Scott]

That's interesting. RIC specs say the fretboards are rosewood but chechen is not a rosewood at all. Different genus.

Good thing too, given the change in status of all rosewoods that occurred on January 2, 2017.

[Paul Boyer]

According to John Hall in an interview for the book, he states: " . . . neither African rosewood (bubinga) nor Caribbean rosewood (chechen) are true rosewoods in the Dalbergia family."

I don't know from family or genus when it comes to this stuff, but it doesn't matter. I can't imagine RIC using any wood that is from an endangered source.

[ilan]

I'm guessing this was designed as a "solo bass". With octave strings, as a piccolo bass, could be awesome. But not something to take to your R&B gig.

[Dave W]

According to John Hall in an interview for the book, he states: " . . . neither African rosewood (bubinga) nor Caribbean rosewood (chechen) are true rosewoods in the Dalbergia family."

I don't know from family or genus when it comes to this stuff, but it doesn't matter. I can't imagine RIC using any wood that is from an endangered source.

It doesn't matter so long as it's a suitable fretboard wood, and IMHO both bubinga and chechen are fine. OTOH with the severe restrictions on shipping rosewood that went into effect last month, it might be time to stop referring to chechen as Caribbean rosewood. Might cause a lot of unnecessary grief to some unsuspecting musicians.

[Jeff Scott]

It doesn't matter so long as it's a suitable fretboard wood, and IMHO both bubinga and chechen are fine. OTOH with the severe restrictions on shipping rosewood that went into effect last month, it might be time to stop referring to chechen as Caribbean rosewood. Might cause a lot of unnecessary grief to some unsuspecting musicians.

I agree (again  ).

[ilan]

Chris Squire signature. $6K BIN

Looks almost NOS and they kept the sticker for 20 years.

[ilan]

1992 Rickenbacker 4003S/5 in yellowed White/BT. Really fat horns era. $3.7K BIN

[Dave W]

Is that price high, or do they really go for that much now?

[ilan]

I think it's $600-700 too high but they are rare and if I really wanted one and liked the color, I'd probably pay.

[4stringer77]

They have the same 33.25" scale length right? Does the B string even sound good? Maybe there's a reason Ric doesn't make 5 strings anymore.

[ilan]

Same scale length.

The narrow string spacing seemed to bother owners more than the low B output or definition.

[Dave W]

I keep thinking about the Midnight Blue 4003S/5 I played at a local Guitar Center around 1998-99. It was in great shape. They were asking $550. Hindsight is 20/20.