Moderators isaac42 Posted December 23, 2021 Moderators Share Posted December 23, 2021 My Christmas present arrived. A brand new Rickenbacker 4005XC. It came in a box. Inside the box was a case. The case had a couple of flaws, but I'll spare you those. Inside the case was a bass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted December 25, 2021 Members Share Posted December 25, 2021 Wow! That is soooooo cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted December 25, 2021 Members Share Posted December 25, 2021 That is one stunning Rickenbacker bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted December 30, 2021 Members Share Posted December 30, 2021 Congratulations. Happy New Bass Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 11, 2022 Author Moderators Share Posted January 11, 2022 Finally! Band practice today. I can take the 4005XC out for a spin with a real bass rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted January 12, 2022 Members Share Posted January 12, 2022 I hope it went well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 13, 2022 Author Moderators Share Posted January 13, 2022 It did! I expected to like it. I also rather expected that the bridge pickup would be too close to the bridge to be useful on its own. So I thought it'd be neck pickup, with more or less bridge added in. First thing was that the guitarists loved the way it looked. Bandleader raved about it. "Best looking bass you own." Guess he's a fireglo fan. And the sound! I freely admit that I was wrong. The bridge pickup is strong and clear. I might still like it better a bit farther from the bridge, but it sounds just fine where it is. In fact, I was surprised that it dominated the sound of the bass. By itself, the neck pickup seemed a bit weak. Then conversation turned to the legendary fifth knob. What does it do? I couldn't tell them. I've read the section of the Rickenbacker manual a few times, and I still don't understand. What I did discover was that turning the fifth knob down gave me back the neck pickup volume I'd been missing. Now, I need to sit down and read it again with the bass in my hands, follow the instructions, and see if it will be useful to me. I didn't even notice that it was short scale. Intonation was very close, maybe a cent or two off way up the (24 fret!) neck. Might could use to have the nut slots lowered slightly. Overall, the setup by Wildwood was very good. Better than most of my basses. The neck felt a bit thicker than most of my other basses, but I stopped noticing after I started playing. It's definitely a hit. And so much fun to play! Really loves a pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted January 13, 2022 Author Moderators Share Posted January 13, 2022 A friend said that she thought the neck looked extra long. I said no, it's a short scale bass. Then I had another think, and wondered if a short scale 24-fret neck might be longer than a long scale 20-fret neck, so I did some measuring. Turns out, it's exactly the same. The neck joins the body at just over 23 inches from the nut, same as on a 4001. And then it struck me: this is clever engineering. No need to reprogram the CNC machines for anything other than fret slots. The neck, the fingerboard, the headstock, all exactly the same except for the frets. Maybe they used the settings for the set-neck 4000 (if they had CNC back then), or maybe they just used the 4003 settings and cut off the part that goes through the body. I dunno. I will say, though, that the neck struck me as more C shaped than my other Rics, which tend more toward a D. If I understand those terms, that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators isaac42 Posted February 16, 2022 Author Moderators Share Posted February 16, 2022 Took my Carvin LB75 to band practice yesterday. "New bass?" "Nah, had it a long time." "No, his newest bass is the one he brought last time." "And we all agree that that one is our favorite, right?" Well, 'that one' is the 4005XC. Besides being flat-out beautiful, it has a tone that is... different. Hard to describe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted February 17, 2022 Members Share Posted February 17, 2022 18 hours ago, isaac42 said: Took my Carvin LB75 to band practice yesterday. "New bass?" "Nah, had it a long time." "No, his newest bass is the one he brought last time." "And we all agree that that one is our favorite, right?" Well, 'that one' is the 4005XC. Besides being flat-out beautiful, it has a tone that is... different. Hard to describe. 4m27sec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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