I found some humor in this. Some of the language is NSFW.
 

Personally I found it slow and whiny (before I gave up). Ric's are quirky instruments and that's what makes them what they are. It is what it is.
 
And if anyone has a vintage Ric they don't want, feel free to ship it to me and I'll be happy to give it a home! 

I love the sound of a Ric bass...
Just don't love the ergonomics.
Setting intonation is an exercise in patience (having to pull that tail-piece out each time to make an adjustment).
 
Hipshot makes a replacement bridge that's a drop-in.
Much easier to maintain... but it does subtly change the tone.
 
If you order one, I believe it's about a year wait.  

Ric guitars and basses look great, the styling and finish is a design icon, they sound great and are beautifully and skillfully put together.

But ergonomically, like with Gretsch, they're... let's just call it "unique".

Jim Roseberry
Setting intonation is an exercise in patience (having to pull that tail-piece out each time to make an adjustment).

 
It's easier to just grab the neck and bend it.
 

Even Geddy Lee and Chris Squire both found the Ric to not be so great out of the box. Geddy swapped bridges early on and Chris' Ric is rounded on corners for better ergonomics. It's even thinner than the normal Ric. My '99 4003 has been with me since it was new, and although it's done very well in my band that whole time (over 1,000 shows), if I played with a pick, I'd have dumped it. But the tone is pure Ric and there's no arguing with that! 

The guy, however, has great points about how poorly Rics are designed and serviced. They have (typically) poor electronics, poor soldering, meh construction (at least QA lacks), lame adjustment methods, and they vary wildly as they're largely still hand-built, I believe. However, for a USA built product, what you get is really what you'd expect from Chinese builds from other companies. I love my Ric, but their value is only in the tone. Compared to all the other basses I own the Rick is the least solid and reliable. But I still love it!!

Well, I guess I have had a totally different experience with my 2002 Ric. It's been one of the highest quality instruments I've owned. No intonation issues since the day I bought it new and had a Pro set up. Stays perfectly in tune from week to week when it sees live play every Sunday. The tone is killer. I don't find it to be a one trick ponie at all. The band loves the tone I get and every visiting bassist has to come up after service and check out my rig. They first go check the amp and then when they can't find anything unusual about the amp, comment that they didn't know Ric's sounded that good. They ALWAYs say that they thought they were all trebley like "the guy from Yes".

Rickenbacker guitars/basses are heritage classic instruments.
The designs haven't been updated (much) since the 50s/60s.
That ensures their classic sound/nature... and that's why folks buy them.
 
The flip-side: There have been advancements/improvements made over all those years.
 
The Rick sound is the sum of its construction/components.
If you bring the specs up to more modern standards, the sound would change.
Making changes to "heritage" style instruments is a turn-off to many folks.
ie: Gibson took a lot of flack trying to enhance/improve the Les Paul (another heritage instrument).
It's very much a catch-22... because folks like those classic instruments (warts-and-all) for what they are.
Change it too much... and suddenly you lose that classic appeal.
 
Unlike many instruments, Rickenbacker guitars/basses maintain their value.
I sold my JetGlow 4003 (about a year later) for exactly what I paid for it.
With that kind of demand, you can see why Rickenbacker isn't in a hurry to change it.
 
Sterling Ball (owner of MusicMan) is outspoken about not wanting to be pigeon-holed into solely producing "classic" instruments.  They're trying to innovate with instruments like the Big Al.  While a great instrument, the Big Al's angular body is something many folks don't find aesthetically appealing.  The Neodymium pickups, four-band preamp, active/passive switching, and construction are all stellar.  For better/worse, the classic Stingray is much more popular.