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To Live and Die Without Playing a Ric: A Huge Deal?


Cobalt Blue

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At least based on my instruments, they are really immaculately well built. I've pretty much always wanted a 4003 and a 360 since I was a kid.

My 4003 doesn't have a very wide range of sounds, but they have that sound and it will cut through about anything. It is definitely a different beast to play if you are used to a Jazz or P-bass.

I've got a 360 in layaway now that I hope to have out at the end of January. I was really blown away by the neck pickup sounds through a clean Fender deluxe. The painted fretboard didn't fuss with me at all, but the neck is way different. It will mostly be used at home, as something really different, but I am really looking forward to having it around.

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A local shop got in a used Suhr, a used Anderson, and a used Rick. The store was dead so I got to sit there for hours and play around with them all. The Suhr was excellent, the Anderson was good but I didn't like it for reasons I don't remember, and the Rick... I told them to put it back pretty fast. I didn't like it AT ALL. The sound, the scale, any of it. Well made guitar, for sure, but I don't get why people go crazy over them. I own a strat, a tele (well... kinda), and an LP and I have loved some SGs and 335ish type guitars. I like me some gretsch now and again, but that rick... while it was exceptionally well made... I don't see me ever getting one.

 

Now their basses... different story :D

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I've played several over the years. Been in bands with a couple of big-time Ric-O-Philes on occasion so I got to play a couple of models pretty intensively.

As some others have said, I dig their sound okay (though I don't consider them ultra-versatile) and they are undoubetedly well-made.

But I just don't like playing them. The necks feel too insubstantial and I've just never cared for the feel or playability of them. Just my opinion.

Now the 4003 and 4001 basses I feel a little more attuned to, but they still feel unwelcoming to me personally and their sound doesn't send me to the upper atmosphere like it does for some people.

I've never played a single Ric anything that gave me GAS, especially for the prices they fetch.

One anecdote doesn't mean much, but here goes: back in the 80s and early 90s I had a good friend and fellow bass player from another local band who wanted to sell me his 4003 bass. I wanted to want it, but I just couldn't gel with it.

However, he had an Asian no-name copy (looked almost identical except for the bolt-on neck and the blank headstock) that, to me, played and sounded much better. I really wanted to buy that one. He wouldn't sell it. Why? Because he liked his no-name Ric knockoff more than his real Ric as well.

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I think every guitar player should at least try one to see what the fuss is about. Like Danelectros and Strats, they're very distinctive guitars, and a lot more versatile than many people give them credit for. Considering that guitarists in The Beatles, Fugazi, The Who, The Church, Arc Angels, R.E.M., Yes, The Smiths and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble have used Ricks to great effect tells you something.

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I'd still like to be able to A/B my two 360s against the 330s. I sometimes wonder if I'd have preferred their tone. Like would that be closer to the sound in my head that I associate with Rickenbacker.

 

 

I once had a Rickenbacker 381V69 on order from M123. Had to put $500 down and wait 18 months, I said no problem. Then I started hearing about problems between them and Rickenbacker. I got multiple assurances that my order was safe, but after 6 months in, without a call or explanation, the bastards sent me an e-mail canceling my order. That really really pissed me off. It was a bad show on both the parts of Rickenbacker AND M123. Both parties knew they had people waiting for their orders and those at least should have been honored before they divorced. I was like orphaned by the divorce instead of getting 2 Christmases. That sucked. If I'd gotten that high-end Ricky, I might have a different opinion. But that was a $1950 deal, and those deals can't be had for new any more. Of course, after MF bought M123, they now have Rickenbackers again, but my deal was lost to the ages. :cry:

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Everyone talks about RICs like they're all the same. The necks are too thin, the necks are too narrow, they don't do my tone.

We have hollow body RICs, semi-hollow, solid bodies, toasters, hi=gains, mini-hums and humbuckers. Thin necks and necks that will match a LP. There's no typical RIC.

Picture040.jpg

and this one that didn't make the group shot,

PE350601.jpg

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For those who believe cost is keeping them from buying a RIC the cost of the guitars in my pictures ranged from $350-$1500. Five out of the 8 cost less than $1000.

 

 

That's cool, then I'll take your 381. Who should I make the check payable to?

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The 381 cost me $1299. Even the best RICs can be had cheap.

 

Yeah, well you remember my sad story (repeated above) you were there (here) when that mess was coming down. The prices really hiked after that, but I admit I haven't ventured into used. It took a while for me to venture back into the water after that Ricky fiasco and then I picked up a pair of 360s but haven't been that thrilled with those. And dang, that really is a narrow neck for a 12. :eek:

 

DSC02080.jpg

 

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all the pretty photos in the world will not really change my mind i guess if i was really really into petty or REM.. and i like pete better with a tele or LP..

just too jagley for me... not really an articulate guitar... not much love for them.. strats on the other hand or a gibby somthing with balls in its tone...

too much a gentleman guitar.. they are pretty in a fancy kinda way...

 

well ya asked,, ;)

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Drool on this,


w440_14841_20858.jpg



Yeah, I know you bastid. That's exactly the guitar (including color) I was going for before the M123/Rickenbacker divorce left me out in the cold. I mean, I was committed, $500 down and an 18 month wait ahead of me. I told them "I don't mind the terms just so long as it's guaranteed I'll get the guitar". I was told yes and reassured about 3 more times that my order was still ago until they pulled the plug on me by "order cancellation e-mail" 6 full months into my wait. :mad:

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all the pretty photos in the world will not really change my mind i guess if i was really really into petty or REM.. and i like pete better with a tele or LP..

just too jagley for me... not really an articulate guitar... not much love for them.. strats on the other hand or a gibby somthing with balls in its tone...

too much a gentleman guitar.. they are pretty in a fancy kinda way...


well ya asked,,
;)

 

Actually, the main reason I wasn't as happy with the 360s as I thought I would be is because I was expecting more jangley tone than I got. The tone on my 360s is sorta mellow compared to the Byrds tone I had in my head.

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too much a gentleman guitar.. they are pretty in a fancy kinda way...


well ya asked,,
;)



I kinda agree with you. The Ric forum annoys me a little 'cuz there are a lot of case queens there, when they're stupidly rugged guitars. Maple is a heck of alot harder than basswood, poplar, adler, mahogany etc. The solid bodys are neck through and prolly better in a bar fight than a Tele. The semi-hollows have a ridiculously long neck extension into the body. They got two truss rods and with the exception of the finish which will check, they're hard to even dent. I guess when they're made here, cost a bit and are pretty, folks are less inclined to flog them.

On second thought, the OP should play one really hard with a bit of dirt. Playing with alot of attack is where they seem to shine (Fugazi, the Jam, early Who, the Smithereens). The beauty for me is that the guitar always has a bit of different sound than whatever our other guitar player has out that night.

I'm tryin' to dispense with the case queen image:

DSC02154.jpg

nickyelling.jpg

IMG_0858.jpg

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Actually, the main reason I wasn't as happy with the 360s as I thought I would be is because I was expecting more jangley tone than I got. The tone on my 360s is sorta mellow compared to the Byrds tone I had in my head.

 

 

Remember McGuinn's secret, compression and then more compression.

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Yeah, I know you bastid. That's exactly the guitar (including color) I was going for before the M123/Rickenbacker divorce left me out in the cold. I mean, I was committed, $500 down and an 18 month wait ahead of me. I told them "I don't mind the terms just so long as it's guaranteed I'll get the guitar". I was told yes and reassured about 3 more times that my order was still ago until they pulled the plug on me by "order cancellation e-mail" 6 full months into my wait.
:mad:

 

Dave's Guitars has that one. It's the must beautiful fire-glo I've ever seen, and I've checked out a gouple of RICs in my day. Whoever is painting for them now is good, very good. This is a golden age for RIC paint jobs. Only one thing kept that one from coming home with me, lack of $3799. Being broke sucks.

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