Rickenbacker Holy Trinity - the Holy Ghost and now the Son!

TonyR

A while back I put an ad in the classifieds as I'm looking for what I consider to be my Rickenbacker Holy Trinity (all mapleglo 360/12, 330/6 and 4003 bass).

Well this week I managed to turn this:




Into this (yes, that's the bass and the amp, plus I still had change!)



The amp is new and the bass is in immaculate condition.

Had a couple of hours play on it this afternoon and it's nice and easy to get on with - certainly much easier that the Harley Benton jazz bass I've got (which is a much heavier and cumbersome beast in comparison).

The only thing I've found it it's difficult to mute the strings with the pickup cover in place - I can see why people fit after market covers.

One down only the Father (360/12) and Son (330/6) to go! 

ICBM

That's very nice .

I've found that you get used to left-hand muting fairly quickly - I took the cover off on the previous Rick I had, but when I got my old 4001 it just didn't *look* right without it, and you know how much that matters ... so I decided to persist for a while and see if I could live with it, and found I could - in fact, for the pick-style playing I do mostly on a fretted bass I think I prefer it.

Funkfingers

Looks a lot like my elderly 4001 - apart from the walnut headstock “wings” where mine has maple and my machinehead ferrules are black nylon.

I prefer the plastic pickup cover off. I do not play directly over the exposed pickup so this is probably just force of habit from other basses. Instead, I paid a silly amount of money for a combined pickup surround and thumb rest. (Gotta be cheaper than repairs to a broken pickup.)

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

I prefer the plastic pickup cover off. I do not play directly over the exposed pickup so this is probably just force of habit from other basses. Instead, I paid a silly amount of money for a combined pickup surround and thumb rest. (Gotta be cheaper than repairs to a broken pickup.)

For my 4003 I just made a pickup surround insert from black pickguard material. No thumbrest, but I never use one anyway.

RonnieHotdogs

One point I had 330jg, 340mg, 360jg and 360/12jg
Just down to the 340mg and 360jg now, poor me. 

RonnieHotdogs

Ps you really need a 370 and 381 to complete the family!! 

TonyR

RonnieHotdogs said:

Ps you really need a 370 and 381 to complete the family!! 

@RonnieHotdogs I used to have a 330/6 JG, 620/12 JG, 381/12 FG and a 1998-PT.

Up until today I only had the 1998-PT, the 381/12 was a beautiful guitar, but a weighty guitar - “The Beast” I used at call it! I exchanged it for a Gretsch G6120 New Nashville and a wedge of cash.

After I bought the 620/12 I realised I wasn’t really keen on the body shape, so sold it. I also sold the 330 as it wasn’t getting played, I’d fallen in love with Gretsch at the time.

I’ve since realised my heart lies with Rickenbackers - thankfully I kept the PT.

RonnieHotdogs

1998 PT is on my bucket list. 
It sounds terribly wrong in 2019 but I always thought the 620 was a "ladies guitar" 

Gretsch are my 2nd love too, after I got my 6122-12 I knew I'd never need a Rick 12 again.! Its just phenomenal. 

I'd love a 381 MG/6 one day. 

prowla

It is common to remove the pickup cover/wrist rest; it's no big job, but be careful with the wires when you do.

(You've seen my similar one in a thread elsewhere.)

When you take the cover off, you can either leave the pickup well open or get a blanking plate.

Funkfingers

http://www.rickysounds.co.uk/Bezels.html

Iamnobody

Very nice bass. I’m not a bass player but if I was I’d probably play a 4003!

I’m surprised you want all three in mapleglo. Notwithstandig that variety is nice - it’s my least favourite Ric colour 

Have you seen the mapleglo 330 6 at Rickysounds? It’s not cheap but is a 2005 NOS. There’s also a few maple 330s & 360s on eBay at the moment.

TonyR

@Iamnobody mapleglo used to be my least favourite Ric colour too, but as time has gone on I’ve really come to like it. 

I’d say my favourite would be burgundyglo - but it’s a very hard colour to come by.

i used to love jetglo (I had a 330/6 and 620/12) but these days I don’t find it that appealing - it’s funny how tastes change!

Thanks for the heads up on the Rickysounds 330, I hadn’t spotted that, but It is rather pricy as you say!

prowla

Iamnobody said:

Very nice bass. I’m not a bass player but if I was I’d probably play a 4003!

I’m surprised you want all three in mapleglo. Notwithstandig that variety is nice - it’s my least favourite Ric colour 

Have you seen the mapleglo 330 6 at Rickysounds? It’s not cheap but is a 2005 NOS. There’s also a few maple 330s & 360s on eBay at the moment.

I don't see it as an either/or choice...

ICBM

Nice line-up!

The funny thing is that I never used to like Fireglo, but having got one I've grown to love it. Mine is almost the same as the second from the left ('73?) although it has the smaller neck inlays. It's also interesting to see how much the headstock size has varied, which is another reason why that one is my favourite there.

Iamnobody

TonyR said:

@Iamnobody mapleglo used to be my least favourite Ric colour too, but as time has gone on I’ve really come to like it. 

I’d say my favourite would be burgundyglo - but it’s a very hard colour to come by.

i used to love jetglo (I had a 330/6 and 620/12) but these days I don’t find it that appealing - it’s funny how tastes change!

Thanks for the heads up on the Rickysounds 330, I hadn’t spotted that, but It is rather pricy as you say!

I nearly bought a fireglo from there a few years back - he was up for a deal if I recall...there’s may be some negotiation to be had. Although it’s a high starting point. 

prowla

ICBM said:

Nice line-up!

The funny thing is that I never used to like Fireglo, but having got one I've grown to love it. Mine is almost the same as the second from the left ('73?) although it has the smaller neck inlays. It's also interesting to see how much the headstock size has varied, which is another reason why that one is my favourite there.

Cheers!

It's a '72 (LJ).

Funny thing is, though I prefer the look of the smaller headstock, it won't take a D-tuner/eXtender.

Also, the 72 has the Grover waffle wavy machines. (I do have a spare set in my parts box!)

ICBM

prowla said:

It's a '72 (LJ).

Funny thing is, though I prefer the look of the smaller headstock, it won't take a D-tuner/eXtender.

Also, the 72 has the Grover waffle wavy machines. (I do have a spare set in my parts box!)

Ah, I couldn't see the checker binding in the first pic, but when you expand it you can. It just doesn't show up in the small version for some reason, very odd!

Mine also has the Grover wafflebacks - I know they're notoriously fragile, but they're still my favourites for feel. I'm normally one to put reliability above all else... but they're just so nice! I don't have any spares, but I should probably get some.

lasermonkey

This is mine-


The 4001 is from November 1974, whilst the 330/6 is from 1990 and the 330/12 is an '89.

I've largely moved on to Jazzmasters these days, but there's no bass I'd rather play than a 4001.

YellowLedBetterMan

@prowla how many Rick's and Fakers do you have now? That's more than I remember you having.

prowla

YellowLedBetterMan said:

@prowla how many Rick's and Fakers do you have now? That's more than I remember you having.

7 Rics, 3 fakers :-)

YellowLedBetterMan

prowla said:

YellowLedBetterMan said:

@prowla how many Rick's and Fakers do you have now? That's more than I remember you having.

7 Rics, 3 fakers :-)

 I'm not jealous. Much.