Rickenbacker

Rickenbacker Electric Basses — The Sound That Defined a Generation

Few electric basses are as instantly recognizable by ear as a Rickenbacker. The ringing sustain, the treble punch, the singing harmonic complexity that sits above the fundamental low end like a halo: it is a voice unlike anything else in the bass world, and it has driven some of the most celebrated recordings in the history of popular music. Paul McCartney discovered it in Hamburg in 1964 and used it on records that changed everything. Chris Squire of Yes built the most influential progressive rock bass style in history around it. Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead played one for decades at volumes that redefined what a bass could do in a rock context. Geddy Lee, Roger Waters, Peter Cetera, and Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols all built their identities around the same instrument. The Rickenbacker bass is not one of many valid options. It is its own category.

The 4000 series were the first Rickenbacker bass guitars, introduced in 1957. The company that produced them had been the first in the world to manufacture electric instruments, founded in 1931 in Los Angeles by Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp. The neck-through-body construction that Rickenbacker pioneered in 1956, a single wooden piece running from headstock through the central body section with body wings attached on either side, became the defining structural characteristic of the Rickenbacker bass and a direct contributor to the instrument's extraordinary sustain and tonal complexity. Today, building from Santa Ana, California, the company remains family owned and independently operated, producing every instrument to the same standard that produced the 4001 Paul McCartney first picked up more than sixty years ago.

The Sound

The Rickenbacker bass voice comes from a combination of factors that no other instrument fully replicates. Maple body construction contributes a bright, articulate midrange with strong note definition. Neck-through architecture extends sustain and adds tonal complexity throughout the instrument's range. The proprietary high-gain and toaster-style pickups produce a warm yet punchy signal with strong harmonic overtones. The Ric-O-Sound stereo output system, standard on the deluxe models, routes each pickup to a separate output jack, allowing players to send independent signals to two different amplifiers or effects chains simultaneously, a capability that players like Chris Squire exploited to create bass tones that filled the entire sonic spectrum from deep sub-bass to ringing guitar-like treble.

The Models

4003 — The instrument that the Rickenbacker bass story has been building toward since 1957, and the model that has been in continuous production since 1979. The 4003 is the definitive Rickenbacker bass: neck-through maple construction, dual high-gain pickups, Ric-O-Sound stereo output, triangular fingerboard inlays, and the checkered black and white body binding that makes it one of the most visually distinctive instruments ever produced. Available in the full range of Rickenbacker's signature finishes including Fireglo, Jetglo, and Mapleglo, with the 4003W Walnut variant delivering a warmer, darker tonal character than the standard maple instrument. Players and collectors consistently describe the 4003s produced since 2022 as among the finest the company has ever made.

4003S — The more accessible companion to the 4003, sharing the same neck-through construction and tonal architecture with simplified appointments: dot fingerboard inlays instead of triangular, no body binding, and mono output rather than the full Ric-O-Sound stereo system. The instrument that Paul McCartney and Chris Squire originally received in 1964 as the 4001S, and the model that remains the preferred choice for players who want the full Rickenbacker tonal experience without the premium appointments. Available in four and five-string configurations and in Walnut for players who want the warmer W-series voice in the simplified specification.

4004LK Lemmy Kilmister Signature — Co-designed with the Motörhead bassist and rock icon before his passing in 2015, the 4004LK is built to Lemmy's exact specifications with a mahogany body for a warmer, darker tonal character than the standard maple instruments, a single high-output humbucker, and the stripped-down, no-nonsense specification that defined Lemmy's approach to the instrument and to music. An instrument with genuine historical weight, and the most tonally distinctive model in the current lineup.

4001C64 — A historically faithful reissue of the 1964 4001 that Paul McCartney played throughout his career with The Beatles and Wings, built to period-correct specifications with vintage-style pickups, a single truss rod, and the slimmer neck profile of the original instruments. The most sonically authentic recreation of the early Rickenbacker bass voice available, and the instrument of choice for players who want the exact sound that defined the melodic bass playing of the British Invasion era.

4005V — The reissue of the most unusual instrument in Rickenbacker bass history: a fully hollow-body bass modeled on the 360 guitar body that was produced from 1965 to 1984 and discontinued before achieving the recognition it deserved. The 4005V, reintroduced in 2024, delivers a warm, woody, acoustically resonant voice unlike anything else in the Rickenbacker catalog, with the visual elegance and hollow-body warmth that players have been requesting for decades.

Fireglo, Jetglo, Mapleglo

Rickenbacker's signature color palette has been part of the brand's identity since the late 1950s. Fireglo, a shaded red sunburst that has been in continuous production since 1958, is the most iconic Rickenbacker finish and the one most associated with the brand's visual identity. Jetglo, a deep gloss black, and Mapleglo, the natural finish that lets the grain of the maple body speak for itself, complete the core palette. Limited edition finishes including Candy Apple Purple, OrangeGlo, and Ruby Red have been produced in runs of as few as twenty-five instruments, making them among the most collectible modern Rickenbacker instruments available.

Browse our full selection of Rickenbacker electric basses, and reach out if you'd like help choosing the right model or configuration.