Rickenbacker Bass

One of the most visually recognizable instruments in rock and roll music is the Rickenbacker bass. During rock and roll's heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, it was rare to find a big name group whose bassist didn't play at Rickenbacker at some point. While Rickenbacker electric guitars were most known for their "jangly" sound that can be heard on the early Beatles records and most of the famous songs by The Byrds, the Rickenbacker bass was loved for its warm, fat tone and its distinctive design.

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The Rickenbacker guitar company is perhaps most famous for mass producing the first electric guitars in the 1930s. These guitars were originally electric versions of Hawaiian guitars and were really the first electric lap steel guitars. Rickenbacker did not start to manufacture electric guitars in the modern sense until the 1950s when the rock and roll explosion made them rethink their production philosophy.

The first Rickenbacker bass was part of this new approach to guitar design for the company. The 4000 series was the company's first foray into the bass guitar market and was introduced in 1954. However, the definitive Rickenbacker bass was not introduced until 1964.

The Rickenbacker 4000S is the most easily distinguishable bass guitar in the world thanks to one famous bassist in one very famous band. Paul McCartney, the wonderfully melodic left-handed bass player for the Beatles, is hard to picture without his 4000S slung over his shoulder. As Beatle-mania conquered America, everyone wanted to emulate McCartney's sound. Geddy Lee of the band Rush played a Rickenbacker during the height of his band's popularity, and the late John Entwhistle of The Who was famous for playing a Rickenbacker 4001JG. Even hard rock players were attracted to the Rickenbacker sound. The original bass player for Metallica, the late Cliff Burton, played a Rickenbacker, and Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead has played Rickenbacker basses exclusively.

Aside from their visual appeal, Rickenbacker basses are uniquely designed to produce a sound like no other. Both the company's basses and guitars are constructed with a feature called "Ric-O-Sound." This configuration allows each pickup to be connected to a different amplifier via an extra output jack.

The famous Paul McCartney sound on the bass is achieved by routing the bridge pickup through a guitar amplifier and the neck pickup through a bass rig. The beauty of this setup is that the full tonal range of the bass is produced. Often, trying to mix bass guitar, both live and on records, is very difficult because the low end gets buried in the mix. When the engineer overcompensates by turning up the track's level, the overall tone of the song becomes muddied. By separating the bass guitar's lower frequencies from its higher ones, the sound engineer can better control the overall sound of the instrument and can fit it into the overall mix much easier. If you've ever wondered why the bass on the Beatles records sounds so good, the Rickenbacker bass is a major factor.

Rickenbacker basses also feature a neck-through-body design, meaning the neck is not bolted onto the body, but inteade runs the length of the entire guitar. This design allows for much more sustain. The double-cutaway design of the 4000S and the 4001 allowed bass players to reach the higher notes on the neck easier, which led to a more melodic playing style.

Rickenbacker's are still manufactured today, so if you like to be the first person to own your instruments, you can certainly find a brand new Rickenbacker bass. However, because of the company's long history, many of the most famous models are not manufactured anymore and are only available used. The following links will take you to online resources where you can shop for both new and used Rickenbackers.

• eBay: Known as the auction house to the world, eBay is always likely to have a number of used Rickenbackers available.

• Used Guitar Sales : This excellent website buys and sells vintage guitars, basses and gear. Check back often because they won't always have exactly what you're looking for. However, this is an excellent place to find quality used gear.

• Fullers Vintage Guitar: Fullers Vintage Guitar out of Houston, Texas is a dealer of Rickenbacker guitars. They advertise a large selection of Rickenbackers and offer competitive prices and free shipping on most items.

• zZSounds: This is another online retailer that caries a variety of new Rickenbacker guitars and basses.

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