Hi, I took delivery of my new Jetglo 4003s a couple weeks ago and love the tone and weight. It plays better than any Rickenbacker bass I've owned and I've owned 8. One thing that is disappointing, however, is that there is a considerable amount of "orange peel" finish roughness around some edges of the body. Not what I'd expect or ever experienced with the other Rics I've owned over the years. Maybe I've been lucky.

After several cordial emails back and forth with Ric Customer Service, I was told the following:

The pictures you have provided do not show anything that we would consider a defect, from what we are seeing this is the grain of the maple body showing on the edges of the instrument. I would be more than happy to assist you with an RA for inspection of the instrument but if upon inspection we find nothing wrong with the instrument it will be returned to you as is. Please let me know if there is anything else that I can assist you with.

A finish that is not completely smooth around the edges of the instrument would not be considered a factory defect.

Take care,

Rickenbacker Customer Service

I still love the bass, the experience just left a bad taste. I thought others should know what to look out for before buying their new Ric since this might not meet their expectations of a high-end guitar. (Unfortunately, the site is not letting me upload an example.)

Happy Thanksgiving All!

Re: photos

You’ll have to attach the photo (file). Open the Full Editor, and this option will be at the bottom, “Upload attachment.” I found that there is a limit of three per individual Post. If you attach more than one photo, the first attachment will be the last one listed when the completed post is posted, in case the sequence of photos is a concern.

PS - Photos have to be in a photo hosting site. I use Imgur; it's free. Max photo width is 900 pixels; I've posted at 890 just to be on the safe side.

PPS - Well, I forget about what the source of the attachment is. I'm thinking the attachment source can be your computer. You'll have to experiment.

Thanks for the tip. Here are a few pictures.

I'd say the spray job on your bass is a bit worse than I've seen, but I don't think it's that unusual. I would take some fine wet-sanding to those spots and then buff it up.

My new 381 had a little of that roughness over most of the surface, so I sanded the whole thing and gave it a complete automotive machine polishing, and now it looks like a mirror. I do that on all my new guitars to make them 'showroom quality' and also play smooth as silk!

They do take a bit to calm down... if you can provide them a planted tank with a place to hide it will make the transition easier.

___
XEvil 4.0: powerful CAPTCHA's breaker, included Google ReCaptcha-2!

_________________
1fatp8uh3k5159596