Rickenbacker 4003S/8

I acquired this used on Ebay a few years ago. I believe it is an early 80's model, black with white pickguard. The basics that exist on the 4001/4003 basses appear to me to be the same for the 8 string version.

For me, this is a heavy hitting bass. It doesn't strike me as appropriate for all bands or all genres, but for a band needing a bigger sound, such as a band without a rhythm guitar player, my Rick 8 string is invaluable. Further, with a pedal the sound becomes huge, metallic awesome. I have met guitar players who do not appreciate this type of competitions (heh heh).

I generally play with a pick or my thumb, not fingers. I would *not* recommend this bass to those who prefer to avoid both of these two techniques.

I bought it used, as it's long out of production. The bass came to me with some wear that does not affect play. Since it's such a rare bird though, it's hard for me to get hung up on it. Originally, the action, fit and finish were typical Rickenbacker standards.

The bass did come to me with non-original strings on them which significantly and negatively impacted the fit and performance of the instrument. At the time, Rickenbacker still sold the 8 string replacement set, which ordering from them directly improved the bass immensely. If they discontinue the string replacements, a set of their medium or medium light guitar strings and lightest bass strings will probably do the trick.

This bass is typical Rick quality and demonstrates fine craftsmanship.

My dealings with Rickenbacker have been limited, however, John Hall personally answered Email inquiries I had, and ordering strings from them was without incident.

It's hard to find a bass that does the job this one can do.

(8 string) '93 model, white w/black hardware, no binding, dot inlays, 20 frets. Standard single coil passive Ric pickups w/volume & tone controls for each and 3-way selector switch, mono. As with all 4000 series Rics (excluding doublenecks), neck-thru with twin truss rods, adjustable at the headstock. Nothing beats a Ric neck for playability, and this 8-string (once set up) plays like a dream, although getting the string action low enough for the average player is a chore. Patented Ric bridge/tailpiece is easily adjusted.

Rics have a distinctive growl in their regular 4 & 5 strings, so you know to expect it here! Interestingly, one of the few 8-string basses that comes set up with the lower octave strings at the top of the neck, instead of underneath the lighter paired strings. This is a plus for those of us who use a pick, but the tuners are also all the same size, so switching to the more common low string on bottom setup (for plucking) is not too difficult. Lots of punch with solid underlying warmth, and can be very nasty without being muddy like a lot of the lower-end 8-strings. My performance rig is A/B'd with a SVT w/810e cabinet for the lows and a Crate half-stack for the high end, usually heavily distorted. I have used this bass to record and perform, and it is especially stage friendly in that it is well-balanced, even with the exceptionally large headstock (to accomodate the larger tuners) and it's very light for an 8-string.

As well made as they are, just about all Ric basses need to be set up when you receive them from the factory. Once this is done properly you will find them to be very fun to play. I have owned about a dozen Rics since the mid '70s, and they are very consistently well crafted. If the rating is for the way it comes set up, then I would give it a 5. They do not spend the time with this procedure that they should before shipping them out. But then again, this is a bass made for the serious player who generally can do this himself. Finish is great and durable on all Rics.

I am not destructive, but I have never had a single breakage of any kind on any Ric bass or guitar I have ever owned. I always replace the strap buttons with straplocks as soon as I acquire one of these basses, but the standard Ric buttons are cast with a heavy gauge machine-type thread, so you shouldn't expect any problems there. This is a dependable bass.

I have been treated like a preferred customer by Rickenbacker since the '70s. I endorse not only their instruments, but their strings as well.

I have played bass for over 25 years, and this is one of my favorite 8-strings. I keep the bridge (treble) pickup cover in place, using it as a hand rest. Most players, especially those that finger pluck and slap, remove this. Since most players that use 8-strings split their signal and use distortion on the high end, the stereo wiring standard on the 4003s would be preferable, at least as an option on these 4003s/8 models. My personal modification desire for these basses would be to add the triangle inlays that the 4001s and 4003s have, maybe in ebony, and rear access plates instead of the outdated pickguard. Are you guys in Santa Ana listening?

This is the 8 string version of the 4003. It's solid maple with a dot inlayed rosewood fretboard on a 20 fretted neck that is body thru. Typical ric pickups with the same volume and tone controls that you find on the 4003. This is a mono pickup bass, but geez, who needs stereo when you have 8 strings (2 per string note, in ocataves). It can't get any bigger sounding than this.

The finish that I got was the fireglo...it was used but you would never know it since there isn't a scratch anywhere on the entire bass. It still has the hang tags, warranty card, etc. The bass is a 95 model and was only played once in the studio.

I traded for it.

How does it sound? HUGE! I don't know any other way to describe it, it is just freaking monsterous. I play through an Eden 600T, with an Eden 4x10 and 1x18. I can't tell you how huge it sounds. Played with a pick, the bass sounds like it has distortion on it...and sounds the closest to Chris Squire than I've ever been able to get. It is just monsterous.

Played with the fingers gives it a different tone, much less bright (obviously) but still huge. Given the tone controls, you can get a seriously wide variety of sounds for a Ric, which is usually a one trick pony. I'm suprised how much I'm playing it now.

The finish is flawless. Ric will let you tour their entire store, but not the area that they finish their instruments. It is unreal. The only thing I miss is body binding and the shark tooth inlays.

As far as how it was setup, I was disappointed. The bass hadn't been played in a while, so the store owner put new strings on it and adjusted it for me. It took some work to get the dual truss rods adjusted to how I like to play the bass (very low). Too much time really.

Once it was adjusted, it played incredibly well, and was balanced really well, but I get this popping sound from the pickups when I play the G string or the A note on the E string. I think it just a pickup adjustment, but I don't know and am having a hard time getting that fixed. I use the compressor on my amp, so I really don't have much of a problem, but it's hard to use in my studio without getting that nasty sound. I'm still checking into it, and that is the ONLY reason that I have lowered my rating in this category.

It's heavy, so I figure if I hit something with it, whatever I hit is going down. The headstock is freaking HUGE, but it's well balanced. I'm impressed with that, it could be really, really bad.

Like all Rics, it has to be tuned quite often, but not nearly as often as my Ric 360/12, which is good for about 3 songs.

I've only had to deal with Ric a couple of times, but never with this bass. They are great to deal with, or at least have been for me. It has a 5 year warranty that I am going to use.

I've been playing bass for 20 years and the ONLY regret in selling an instrument I've owned was selling my Ric 4003. I play only Warrior Instrument (www.warriorinstruments.com) but I wanted another ric simply because nothing sounds like a Ric, and I guarantee nothing sounds like the Ric 8 string. To put the overall impact it has, the lead guitarist in the band stated, "Man, I have never heard anything like that...that is incredible. You NEED to keep that bass".

I would buy another if this was stolen...and I'd do it without thinking twice. What an instrument.