The 21 Fret 4001 Basses Thread

[squirebass]

Are those your basses? They are stunning!

Used to be.

Actually, I never got along well with both of these. They "felt" funny.


I still have the front porch though! That's pretty good, considering.

So, Kevin,

You don't still own the Feb '71 fireglo model (above) that I sold you years ago? What happened to it?

[jps]

Yes, to lose the front porch and my ever increasing stubborn belly-fat.

Oh, that front porch, eh?

[teeder]

You don't still own the Feb '71 fireglo model (above) that I sold you years ago? What happened to it?

That went across the pond years ago.

[prowla]

I have to say that I'm not so struck on the 21-fretters, as the tailpiece is moved away from the body end and it throws the aesthetics off.

I've often thought that if I ever needed my fretboard re-doing, I'd have it extended towards the neck pickup (didn't Macca have that done?).

[yabbadehut]

Amazing bass Marc - one of the nicest Rics I've ever seen...

Thanks, it's sitting in it's case, since i do not play active bass anymore, earproblems did ended my active playing unfortaintly, still a beautiful piece to look once a while I had also 2 normall 4001's i sold them last month..

[henry5]

Kevin's Fireglo came to me. However I sold it on too, to another Forum member I believe. The neck on it was wonderful, but because of the bridge placement I couldn't get the action anywhere near as low as I like it (very low) with correct intonation. To be honest, I wasn't keen on the sound either; it lacked that sing-song hollowness I like. It had more of a Jazz-bass vibe sonically, at least in my hands, and I don't really get on with Jazzes.

[chefothefuture]

...The 69 (left) is too far back so it's a bit flat...

Maybe the idea was for that to be in perfect intonation when using the mute, then?

By gum I think you're onto something!

[squirebass]

Kevin's Fireglo came to me. However I sold it on too, to another Forum member I believe. The neck on it was wonderful, but because of the bridge placement I couldn't get the action anywhere near as low as I like it (very low) with correct intonation. To be honest, I wasn't keen on the sound either; it lacked that sing-song hollowness I like. It had more of a Jazz-bass vibe sonically, at least in my hands, and I don't really get on with Jazzes.

Interesting, henry5, so the bass I used to own ended up with you, and now someone else has it. I also had issues with how it played, especially the neck, and I much preferred my '73 or my v63 to it just to play. It had clear evidence of a repair to fix a place where the fretboard popped off the neck near the nut(Now HOW could THAT have happened??? ) I always figured that it would take a really good luthier to work on it(like Paul Wyzan.., Paul Wyzie.., uh... that RIckenbacker Curmudgeon) to fix it right. So, as a result, I never really played it much during its time with me, and I hope it has found a good home with someone who has taken the time to fix it right, and play it a bunch. In case anyone is interested, I purchased the bass from a guy in Duluth Minn. via Ebay back in 2002-03....

[henry5]

Kevin's Fireglo came to me. However I sold it on too, to another Forum member I believe. The neck on it was wonderful, but because of the bridge placement I couldn't get the action anywhere near as low as I like it (very low) with correct intonation. To be honest, I wasn't keen on the sound either; it lacked that sing-song hollowness I like. It had more of a Jazz-bass vibe sonically, at least in my hands, and I don't really get on with Jazzes.

Interesting, henry5, so the bass I used to own ended up with you, and now someone else has it. I also had issues with how it played, especially the neck, and I much preferred my '73 or my v63 to it just to play. It had clear evidence of a repair to fix a place where the fretboard popped off the neck near the nut(Now HOW could THAT have happened??? ) I always figured that it would take a really good luthier to work on it(like Paul Wyzan.., Paul Wyzie.., uh... that RIckenbacker Curmudgeon) to fix it right. So, as a result, I never really played it much during its time with me, and I hope it has found a good home with someone who has taken the time to fix it right, and play it a bunch. In case anyone is interested, I purchased the bass from a guy in Duluth Minn. via Ebay back in 2002-03....

I thought about having further work done on it, but I doubt very much that it could have been made to intonate whilst keeping the action as low as I required without moving the bridge, which given the routing under the bridge would have presented other problems, unless a complete refin was also being considered. As I wasn't that keen on the sound either, there was simply no point even trying. Looks (and amazingly slim neck) aside, of the 15 or so Rics I've owned it was easily in my least favourite 2 or 3.

[jai_the_bass]

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

[teeder]

"She's" been around!

[squirebass]

"She's" been around!

Apparently so! I always wanted to get her fixed up right, but just never had the money or inclination to have all of that done...

[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.

[jai_the_bass]

Earlier this year I played on the same bill as Martin Turner of Wishbone Ash

First band I ever saw - Sheffield City Hall Oct 1977...the night they recorded "Bad Weather Blues" (which became the B-Side of "You See Red")

[squirebass]

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?