Esos son "string mutes", hasta donde sé le quitan vibración a las cuerdas para emular un bajo acústico. Mi 4001 por cosas de los años las perdió hace tiempo, pero no me importa, total, eso es algo que nunca usaría.
En cuanto a la leyenda, se dice que hay un Rickenbacker rojo escarlata, no el Burgundy, que está poseído por una entidad demoníaca que hace que el que lo posea suene increíble y causa ataques de euforia histérica entre los de la audiencia, pero que arrastra a su dueño a una progresiva locura para finalmente desaparecer
Para más info
http://www.bluesband.com/mopac-redric.htm
Para los que sepan inglés, acá hay un par de historias (me hace acordar al idilio de aquel chico con el coche de la novela de Stephen King, "Christine")
Maybe this Red Rickenbacker stuff is crap… but I don’t know
July 10th, 2007
I never believe this kind of stuff, but I got a bad story to tell. I had a buddy back in college that was playing in a band in LA called The Lab Rats. He was going to UCLA with me (this is in the early 80’s). Anyway, Mike was a good guy and a lot of fun to hang with. His band wasn’t that serious but they had some cool tunes and were getting some decent local gigs. Seemed like they could do pretty good if they kept at it. Mike was majoring in Physics (smart dude) and he didnt have a lot of time to play. He was studying pretty hard.
So the band was fun, but not his whole world. Well, he shows up at my place one day with this awesome Rickenbacker bass. I remember it very well. It was really beautiful and kind of unusual. There was no chrome. Just black hardware and the paint was this creepy blood red. I’d never seen anything like it before. Mike came over to show it off. Said he bought it from some toothless bum downtown LA. Said the guy came out of an alley and asked him if he wanted to buy the bass for $50. I thought he was nuts. Nobody would have sold a Rickenbacker bass like that for $50. It even had the silver Rickenbacker case. And the thing was perfect. Not a scratch on it. Mike figured it was hot but it was too cool to pass up. He said the bum grabbed the money and ran off into the alley. Said the guy seemed crazy so he didn’t bother following him.
Well, the bass sounded awesome. And all of a sudden, his band started to really take off. They started getting more and more people to their gigs. People would go nuts. I saw it with my own eyes. They just rocked and tons of people would keep coming. I didn’t get it. Nobody did!
But weird stuff started happening. Mike started skipping classes. His grades started slipping (and his parents were pretty pissed about it). He just didnt seem to care about graduating. I talked to him till I was blue in the face, but he just said “screw it” and walked out. All he did was play that bass. He started losing weight and looking like hell. I mean, he was some sort of Mr. All American and after about six months, he looked like some sort of street bum. But the band was going nuts. People couldnt get enough of them.
This went on for almost a year.
Then I called Mike and got no answer. I went over to his place and there was nobody home. The front door was open and I walked in. There was food on the table and the place was a mess. Nobody was there and the place was open and unlocked.
I never heard from Mike again. I called the guys in his band and they didn’t know what the hell happened. He just disappeared. We filed a missing persons report with the police and nothing ever came of it. He just fell off the face of the earth. Nobody ever saw him or that freaking bass again.
It’s been like 25 years and I still haven’t heard from Mike. Nobody has. How the hell does someone just disappear like that?
I never had an explanation for this. Nobody ever has. I came across this whole “legend of the red rickenbacker” thing and though it had to be crap, but it fits. I hate to admit it, but it fits. If there was any explanation of what happened to my buddy, this has to be it. It still doesn’t answer many question, but it’s too much of a coincidence to ignore. Nice guy shows up with this Red Rickenbacker and it’s not too long that his life starts getting strange. Then one day, he just goes poof, and disappears into thin air.
If anyone has a better explanation, let me know. There are a lot of people out there who would like to see Mike again.
Posted in Legend of the Red Rickenbacer | 1 Comment »
My Red Rickenbacker has ruined my life!
July 1st, 2007
I found a Red Rickenbacker bass six months ago. I know it sounds weird, but I think its ruining my life. I was playing a dingy club in Philly a few month ago and I was kicking around a bunch of junk behind the stage. It was a real mess with dust and rat droppings and beer cans. I see what looks like a guitar case and pull it out. It’s a perfect silver Rickenbacker case. I can’t believe this and open it up. Inside is this awesome red Rickenbacker bass. I couldn’t believe it. Never seen one like it. It was blood red with black hardware. There wasn’t a scratch or fingerprint on it anwyhere. Nothing else in the case, just the bass. No cards or ID or nothing, no name anywhere.
So I pull it out and plug it into my amp as the guys are setting up for the gig. It was AMAZING. The thing sounded better than any bass I’ve ever seen. The guys were blown away. That night, we totally killed. We were on better than we’ve ever been. People were dancing their butts off. One woman started taking her freaking clothes off. We were all amazed at the whole night. They couldnt believe I found the bass under the stage. The bartender said he didnt know anything about any bass, so I took it with me.
That was six months ago and things have been too weird.
The band is getting more gigs than ever and we’re pulling in big crowds. They dance themselves into a frenzy. Wherever we go, its the same story. But something is really getting to me. I’ve been unable to sleep, and when I do I have the most bizarre dreams. I’ve been doing things I just dont understand. Staying out all night. I’m losing weight. I keep finding myself in bad places, with bad people. I couldnt figure out what was going with my life and I found this thing about this legend of the red Ric. I never believe in this kinda crap, but there has to be an explanation. My girlfriend left me (she said for a LOT of reasons lately), my friends are getting weirded out when I come over. Hell, I’m starting to feel like I’m not me anymore.
So if this has something to do with this freaking bass, I gotta do something about it. But it’s just not logical. How can a piece of wood screw up your whole life. It looks normal enough cept for one thing. I can’t seem to screw it up. I bumped it againt my amp a few weeks ago. It was dark on stage and I knew I had but a good ding in the paint but was in the middle of a song and didnt think about it till later that night. I pulled out the bass and looked at the back where it hit the amp and it was perfect. It never seems to get dirty or fingerprinted. It just stays perfect. I’m almost tempted to carve my name in the back but for some reason the though creeps me out.
I need help people. I can’t really believe this stupid bass has really started to hose my whole life but I can’t think of any other explanation. I’m gonna try to find a shrink or something and talk about this. None of my friends believe it. And the guys in the band are pretty weirded out by me talking about it. they love the sound and we’re sounding better than ever, but we fight about stupid crap all the time.
I don’t know what I’ll do next. I can’t bring myself to sell the bass but I’m kinda weirded out by the thing.. but I can’t leave it alone either.
If anyone else out there is having this kinda weird crap happening to them,let me know.
Derek Small
Y uno idéntico a este (no confundir con el Redneck) es el bicho en cuestión
