So I had to dig deeper on this one, after all it has been at least 2 and a half years since I held a Rick for obvious reasons.
The average weight of Ricks from the 80s and 90s were about 8.75 to 9.25lbs from the ones I checked out online.
There were a few that broke the 10lbs barrier BUT they were all painted solid colours. This could be just a coincidence as I only sampled about 20+ basses.
Finally any model around the 2020 mark was about 9lbs.
So maybe it is just the look of the bass that made me believe they are much heavier.
Either way I stand by my initial impression that John’s Rick has some nice wood work that I can’t say I’ve seen in any of the others. It’s especially prevalent in the pic showing the back of the neck.
I have owned 7 rics including my new 4003s Mplglo. I just finished setting up this single trussrod bass. Piece of cake. New bridge is great. However, I never had a problem with my past Rics, all but one, 4003 models. First Ric, '74 JetGlo was a 4001. That bass was set up by the store.
I have set up all my Rics from then on. Some have been stubborn, but all set up just fine with a bit of work. I had no problem with the duel trussrod setup.
Apparently I have been lucky by what I have read here. The guitars/basses from Rickenbacker have been backordered on and off for years. Go to the factory site tour on YouTube. Amazing craftsmanship.
Are they perfect?
They have been for me. Unlike any other bass, they pull out abilities that I never knew I had.