The 21 Fret 4001 Basses Thread

[henry5]

I bought her from Shaun (henry5) - around 2010 I believe. I've not changed anything on her yet other than raise the action a little as it was too low for me. She's not my favourite player (although the neck is wonderful) but she is still played at home regularly. She's the least "Rick" sounding Rick I've played - there's a warm fuzz to the tone rather than the ringing from others. Not unpleasant but not the sound I associate with a 4001. I keep thinking of getting her overhauled at some stage but at the moment its not top of the agenda

Hi Kevin, glad to hear you've still got her. From your comments you must like a much higher action than me! Chris May of Overwater has described my action as "guitar action" and he's not wrong.

Earlier this year I played on the same bill as Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash and had a good chat with him about his (and my) Rics. He was saying how he hadn't realised how few 21 fretters there were (his famous one was a 21 fretter - he said the neck was broken and then it was stolen) and was rather surprised that I'd had one too. He now has a '72 in burgundyglo which looks very like his old one, bar the skunk stripe. It was his first outing with it and it was lovely. He was also surprised I had 2 x '72s, although rather annoyingly I didn't have them with me. Lovely, lovely bloke by the way, extremely warm, funny and generous. I'm afraid I fell into fanboy mode somewhat.

So Shaun, do you know the story about which bass Martin Turner used to record "Sometime World" ? I am referring to that song with the outrageous bassline off Wishbone Ash's Argus album. The story I heard for years was that he used a Thunderbird on that one, but recently I've seen speculation that he was playing a Rick... Which was it?

Hi Gene,

Funnily enough I never thought to ask, but shortly afterwards on his Facebook page someone made a comment about him playing a Ric and Martin stated "Argus was recorded with a Ric", so there you go. The comments are probably still on there.

By the way, he played a blinding set and the Ric sounded great. I highly recommend checking out what he's up to these days. There's some stuff on YouTube of him using the '72 (although he's every bit as awesome on the TBird). I'll try and post some pictures at some point.

[chefothefuture]

Did someone say 21 fretters?

[teeder]

Impressive, John!

The '71 to pre-skunk-stripe '72 era is one of my favorites!

Would love to get another one someday.

[just_bassics]

Great thread resurrection! I enjoyed reading all the old posts and clearly, so much interest still exists for these basses.

When I first met Chris Squire in 2008, we had a discussion about his MG model that I'll never forget. He had recently retrieved it after a long "absence" and I asked him about it, saying something like "So, you got your 21 fret Ric back?" and he said "Which one?" to which I replied "The magle glo, the one pictured on The Yes Album". His reply: "Yea, the Yes Album bass. The one I recorded Starship Trooper on. I don't know how many frets its got...."

Around that same time period, or just before, another one of his FRAGILE era basses was reclaimed with the help of this forum. Someone (sorry, don't remember the member but the thread can be searched) posted that his beloved Telecaster bass was also being sold. I had the phone number of the old Stone Ghost Records, which was actually his phone number to the flat in Chelsea, and I left him a message that it had surfaced. A while later we were chatting and he said that he had reclaimed that one as well. I asked how he managed to track it down and he said that someone had left him a message on his home phone. So kudos to the RRF member that made that original post. Chris really loved that bass.

Sadly, both instruments, along with many others he once owned, are now in the "catacombs" collection of Mr. Gallo and may never be heard from again. Hope I'm wrong. Maybe the long promised book will someday be published. At least the RM is safe!

I haven't been around here much and some of this is still hard to talk about. I really miss the big guy!

[teeder]

Welcome back, Jim! I hope all is well!

[squirebass]

Great thread resurrection! I enjoyed reading all the old posts and clearly, so much interest still exists for these basses.

When I first met Chris Squire in 2008, we had a discussion about his MG model that I'll never forget. He had recently retrieved it after a long "absence" and I asked him about it, saying something like "So, you got your 21 fret Ric back?" and he said "Which one?" to which I replied "The magle glo, the one pictured on The Yes Album". His reply: "Yea, the Yes Album bass. The one I recorded Starship Trooper on. I don't know how many frets its got...."

Around that same time period, or just before, another one of his FRAGILE era basses was reclaimed with the help of this forum. Someone (sorry, don't remember the member but the thread can be searched) posted that his beloved Telecaster bass was also being sold. I had the phone number of the old Stone Ghost Records, which was actually his phone number to the flat in Chelsea, and I left him a message that it had surfaced. A while later we were chatting and he said that he had reclaimed that one as well. I asked how he managed to track it down and he said that someone had left him a message on his home phone. So kudos to the RRF member that made that original post. Chris really loved that bass.

Sadly, both instruments, along with many others he once owned, are now in the "catacombs" collection of Mr. Gallo and may never be heard from again. Hope I'm wrong. Maybe the long promised book will someday be published. At least the RM is safe!

I haven't been around here much and some of this is still hard to talk about. I really miss the big guy!

Thanks for sharing that, Jim!
My interest and love of Rickenbacker basses derives directly from that pic on the inside cover of The Yes Album. Well, that and the pic of Macca inside of Magical Mystery Tour... That 21 fretter likely was used on at least one track of The Fish as well, unless it was studio trickery or tuning, otherwise you can't reach one note there...
I never once met Chris Squire, but sure as hell miss him!

[jps]

Welcome back, Jim! I hope all is well!

It has been a long time, nice to see you here, Jim. I hope you will stick around.

[chefothefuture]

Impressive, John!

The '71 to pre-skunk-stripe '72 era is one of my favorites!

Would love to get another one someday.

Thanks Kevin!
I'd love to get another one too!

And another...
And another...
And another...
Maybe another...
Ok, one more...

[teeder]

[Becky]

Since this thread has seen a bit of necromancy, I thought I would add to it. Lemmy had a 21-fretter too, in fireglo with a Gibson Thunderbird pickup. I presume it was his; he was pictured with it on the front cover of Bassist magazine, back in June 1999.

[jai_the_bass]

Ok so I took the plunge and had the old 21 fretter that belonged to Kevin (Teeder) and Shaun (Henry5) overhauled. She now has Hi Gains, Push Pull pot for the Vintage/Modern sound and a brand new coat - British Racing Green. I hardly recognise her

[teeder]

Awesome!

[ram]

cant really see the color in the photo but it is a sweet looking bass!!!

[jai_the_bass]

cant really see the color in the photo but it is a sweet looking bass!!!

Thanks Tom, the work done has (IMO) really improved the whole playability and sound.
Hopefully this headstock pic shows the colour a little clearer

[henry5]

Hi Kevin,

You did what I was too afraid to at the time. The front looked so stunning I couldn't bring myself to have it refinished, especially with it being so rare, plus of course I had other issues with it which I wasn't sure would be resolved anyway, although they may have been helped if it had been stripped and the bridge moved, amongst other things.

I have to say the choice of colour is fabulous. Personally I'd have left the toaster - I prefer them - but the back pickup was very low powered, even for me, so I imagine that change could only be an improvement. Good call and glad you're happy with it. Hope you'll post more pictures!