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Rickenbacker 4004 opinions?


BeeTL

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Bump.

 

There was a "custom" 4001c64 at Bass Northwest a while back.

 

It had no binding and a dot neck.

 

I thought it would look really cool with a black pickguard and truss cover, maybe a hipshot bridge, too.

 

Well, the 4004 seems to cover all those bases stock from the factory.

 

So noone's ever seen one?

 

As you know, search is useless...

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I've played two of the 4004cii5 (five strings) and they had pickup problems. Problems that John Hall refused to admit existed, refused to guarantee a fix for, and cancelled orders that were pending for over two years. He tried to use a narrow NOS pickup that was leftover from the hairbrained 2000 series basses of late '80s vintage rather than develop pickups suitable for the wider string spacing. The model is still shown on their site as a new model, but they haven't made any for over 15 months and have no timeline for resuming production.

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Ouch. I've never played the fives but have played some of the fours. They're not as growly as you'd expect from a 4003. They have a more smooth sound than the 4003 basses. Not quite my cup of tea, but I know some Ric heads prefer the 4004 to the 4003.

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I've played two of the 4004cii5 (five strings) and they had pickup problems. Problems that John Hall refused to admit existed, refused to guarantee a fix for, and cancelled orders that were pending for over two years. He tried to use a narrow NOS pickup that was leftover from the hairbrained 2000 series basses of late '80s vintage rather than develop pickups suitable for the wider string spacing. The model is still shown on their site as a new model, but they haven't made any for over 15 months and have no timeline for resuming production.

You should save yourself the trouble of posting this as often as you do, and simply put it in your sig.

 

;)

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After looking it up, I'm intrigued by these basses. For those of you who have seen or played one in person, what are your thoughts?

 

The 4004 basses are the best kept secret in the world of bass guitars. The ones with the pickups spaec away from the neck will give you an excellent J-bass growl...even better in my opinion. The ones made from The very first ones and the ones made from late '04 to the present havethe pickups towards the neck. The pickup position was changed in late '04 to make removal of the truss rods easier in the rare event of a problem. The 4004 basses are great basses for those people who think they don't like Rickenbacker basses. All of the features that most of those players complain about are gone.

You can make a 4004 sound very 4001/4003 like, it just takes a bit of tweaking your eq and playing style. The ones withg the pickups closer to the neck sound more 4001/4003 like than the ones with the pickup away from the neck.

The Cheyenne (4004Cii) with walnut sandwiched between maple in the body wings has a warmer sound than the Laredo (4004L) which has a completely maple body, has a brighter sound. Tweaking your eq will make one sound much like the other.

The 4004 basses are dead quite as far as noise, have humbucking HB-1 pickups. They are very oud high output pickups which almost sound active, but without the phony top end sound.

 

 

I've played two of the 4004cii5 (five strings) and they had pickup problems.

One if them that you played is actually fine, no problems with the pickups. I've played another one recently, which is also fine as far as pickup spacing is concerned.

 

 

Problems that John Hall refused to admit existed, refused to guarantee a fix for and cancelled orders that were pending for over two years.

Hmmm...I seem to remember that he did admit it, subtlely, but he admitted it. Mine will be fixed. Why keep making something that has a problem? Yes, the model still shows on the RIC website because they intend to get back to it.

 

If RIC ever makes the 4004Cii/5 again, that's terrific, I'll order a third one. But the more he sees flaming about the model the further back on the priority list it goes, since RIC doesn't really NEED to make a 5 string bass. If you think John Hall doesn't read through this forum, you might want to think again. Keep flaming him on a public forum and maybe he'll never make the Cii/5 again. That's fine with me also, then I still have 2 basses that are just as rare, maybe even more rare than the 4002.

As I have found, show some due respect to John Hall and you find out what very nice people he and his family are.

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If RIC ever makes the 4004Cii/5 again, that's terrific, I'll order a third one. But the more he sees flaming about the model the further back on the priority list it goes, since RIC doesn't really NEED to make a 5 string bass. If you think John Hall doesn't read through this forum, you might want to think again. Keep flaming him on a public forum and maybe he'll never make the Cii/5 again. That's fine with me also, then I still have 2 basses that are just as rare, maybe even more rare than the 4002.

As I have found, show some due respect to John Hall and you find out what very nice people he and his family are.

 

Joey, I don't care if he reads this or not. And I don't care if he ever gets the things straightened out and resumes making them. I do hope he does what he should have done a long time ago and at least resolves the issues with the defective basses he did sell. As you know, I tried being nice to the guy and he kept responding with crap. You may be willing to kiss his ass like the rest of the boys in his fan club, but I'm through with him.

 

And I'm sorry if this whole thing has made you mad at me. :(

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Joey, I don't care if he reads this or not. And I don't care if he ever gets the things straightened out and resumes making them. I do hope he does what he should have done a long time ago and at least resolves the issues with the defective basses he did sell. As you know, I tried being nice to the guy and he kept responding with crap. You may be willing to kiss his ass like the rest of the boys in his fan club, but I'm through with him.


And I'm sorry if this whole thing has made you mad at me.
:(

 

I care! I don't look at it as ass kissing. My nose is NOT brown. I call it supporting and respecting the maker of the instruments that I have a passion for. The boys in his "fan club" are good people, I've become real friends with many of them.

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Well, I'm seriously considering ordering a 4004L in Jetglo like the one at the top of the thread. Alto Music will take a refundable deposit, and it could be two years before I see it.

 

It will almost be like having a custom Rickenbacker...

 

 

Look on Rics site under dealers/ recently shipped and see if one is in your area.

 

 

By the way, I tried that. They're all sold...all 3 of them!

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  • 6 years later...
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Hello all,

New to the forum. I have played Ric's since 1969 and currently own a 69 and 76 4001 and 4003. I I wanted to play a 4004 and see for myself. I live in Maryland and had to drive to New Jersey for the owner of " Pick of the Rick,s" to actually let me play his personal 4004. Sweet! I ordered mine in Aug 2012 in Ruby Red. I spoke to the folks at Rick earlier today and was told they might tool up for a run in October. I hope I'm on the list for this run. It's been a long wait.

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