“Professor Plum” The 1970 4001 21 Fretter

[xsubs]

Nice dark burg finish... good score.
The inscription isn't original... it is anyone's guess as to the 68 date.

The harness doesn't look original to that bass... the solder joints are a giveaway.
It's been refretted as well.

Lovely bass!

[iiipopes]

Nice dark burg finish... good score.
The inscription isn't original... it is anyone's guess as to the 68 date.

The harness doesn't look original to that bass... the solder joints are a giveaway.
It's been refretted as well.

Lovely bass!

I must disagree. Hand-done, definitely. But look how neat the shielding is unbraided from the leads to ground, and in spite of being concededly sloppy, it appears to have original capacitors, and the jumpers are exactly the same length. And each solder joint looks like one sloppy blob of solder, not two or more tries at soldering layers. Also, Since the OP says the pots are older than the date of the serial number, it appears original to me, or at least no sloppier than the rest of the physical construction of the bass, which is also concededly original.

[henry5]

That is a real beaut!

[xsubs]

I didn't say the harness wasn't original... it's just not from this bass.
There's a cut piece of stranded wire on the bass tone pot, on the same connection as the tone cap, which doesn't belong.
Also, the pickup solder joints on the switch tabs have been resoldered.

The harness came out of another instrument in its entirety, but is clearly not from the year of manufacture of this bass. In 1970 Ric used potentiometer stock within a few weeks of manufacture. You won't see pots from Q1 of 1968.

[fireglo330/12]

The inscription in the neck pocket was most likely done by the original owner (I’m not 100% sure but it seems the most rational explanation, still kinda cool though; by way of provenance). That was principally the subject I was hoping to investigate, with help from the Ric cognoscenti on the forum. The pots definitely have to make one wonder. The two ‘67 4000 basses I once owned, had pots dating to late 1965 and sometime in 1966 iirc but the pots in the ‘70 are at least 3 years earlier than what I would normally expect to see. I think our fine fellow member Teeder, has about 100 Ric basses from this era, so maybe he knows what pots are in his... haha! Teeder?

I wasn’t entirely sure about the pots (other than it definitely appears to be an original period Ric 4001 harness but let’s face it, they’re not growing on trees. The chances of finding an original one from the ‘60’s are extraordinarily low, considering finding an actual bass from the ‘60’s/1970 is extraordinarily low — making me think this was either an overstock of pots, or they ran short, and used what they had lying around, in order to complete the instrument and get it out the door. I do see pot dating anomalies like this from time to time in vintage instruments, Fender in particular but that was definitely an issue of CBS overstocking pots which lasted for quite a few years into production. however, that clearly doesn’t always apply to a smaller company like Rickenbacker — in this case. Anomalies can, and do exist but most collectors feel more comfortable dealing with fairly strict criteria, even if it may in fact be original, it can’t be proven (some solder reheating kinda changed that), so therefore inadmissible in the court of general consensus.

Here’s what I do know — with certainty (I’ll be mentioning these deets when I list it of course. Far too many sellers lying by omission out there, a popular pastime, and I don’t want to be counted among them)...

When I acquired the bass, it had a non-original Rickenbacker-like custom-made pickguard on it that left three extra small pickguard screw holes on the top. I brought it to a highly skilled and reputable luthier nearby (Mike S. at the Peghead in Hamilton, ON), who filled these in and touched it up pretty much invisibly (wow) but in doing so he had to desolder points on the harness to have a clear working area on the body, without a pickguard dangling off of it.

The strap pin was relocated to two different locations on the back, which have been touched up and filled by Mike but the touch up isn’t to the standards on the face of the instrument. With the overall natural relicing over years of playing, it just all blends in. Mike also made a perfect reproduction pickguard which conforms exactly to the original mounting hole positions and shaped to precisely match the shadow of the original pickguard, and Tony at Pickguardian supplied the lucite tug bar.

The original nut (yes, they used bone as well as bakelite at this time), has been raised using a precisely cut shim to conform to the contour of the original nut.

The action is about 2/32”. The frets do have some wear but it plays pretty well and the neck profile is reminiscent of my old ‘67 4000’s.

I noticed some wire exposed on the bridge pickup coil and I think ... think, the original coil may have possibly been repaired? The protective tape around the winding is a bit different from the typical electrical tape Ric used, so the tape may have been replaced. When I get around to it, I’ll have to remove the pickup and take more pics.

I had the original bridge professionally replated, as most of the plating flaked off and it looked like $#!€ but it looks great now. I don’t typically alter original parts in any way but this was done beautifully, and at great expense. All the routes are unaltered factory (whew! ... the stuff that really matters, not nitpicking about the small stuff).

The previous owner who purchased the bass from the original owner’s estate, didn't do anything to it other than put a newer Ric 5-hole bridge on and left the dilapidated original aluminum bridge in the non-original hardshell case. I promptly reinstated the Aluminum tailpiece after having it replated.

This is what the original aluminum tailpiece looked like before I had it re-plated...

[teeder]

I think our fine fellow member Teeder, has about 100 Ric basses from this era, so maybe he knows what pots are in his... haha! Teeder?

Ha! It seems like it sometimes! Right now, I'd like to have just one!

Interestingly, I just went back and looked at pictures of my two previous 21 fretters, both from early '71. Both had pots from the 8th week of '67!

[fireglo330/12]

I think our fine fellow member Teeder, has about 100 Ric basses from this era, so maybe he knows what pots are in his... haha! Teeder?

Ha! It seems like it sometimes! Right now, I'd like to have just one!

Interestingly, I just went back and looked at pictures of my two previous 21 fretters, both from early '71. Both had pots from the 8th week of '67!

Hmmmm... Thanks for sharing that info Kevin. Your former 21 fretters help to shed light on the subject and gives us further insight into the anomalies that can, and do occur in production. This is why I believe forums like RR, can be valuable resources. Minefields too though but this stuff really helps to build a large reference database.

[fireglo330/12]

The bridge PU route and PU...

[fireglo330/12]

I suppose this thread better jump over to “appraisals”. I’m trying to come up with a fair market price for it but I don’t see many examples with which to draw upon...

[iiipopes]

Potentiometer dates? Economy of volume. When manufacturers purchase potentiometers, they do so on a huge scale to get the best price. This may involve an entire factory run. So pots may be around in the bottom of a bin for years before being used. And even then, if the bins are not empty, the next order of pots may be dumped in on top, leaving the spurious pot at the bottom of the bin with an old date just to give us all headaches when it finally surfaces and is installed in an instrument made much later. Fender was notorious for this. This is also the reason for "zebra" coils on Gibson PAF humbuckers. Come to think of it, I buy bass strings in bulk and I have a few in the back of the bookshelf I need to pull out before they rust on me....

[lumgimfong]

This bass thread is reminding me of my bio-uncle who I just discovered thru DNA last year. Turns out he played a circa 1970 Mapleglo , circa 1970. It was funny to find out he was a musician and see a pic of him with it.

[Isaac]

Too rich for my blood.

[BigGlav31]

Hello I’m in for the sale what are you looking to get please let me know?
Best
John

[morrow]

I'm always amazed how much people are willing to pay for that extra fret .

[GMoney101]

would like if you could email me or call me please!!would like to give you more info on this ! OR IF ANYONE KNOWS THIS GENTLEMAN COULD FORWARD MY INFO TO HIM PLEASE!

Garan
Garan.yablon@yahoo.com
780-897-5452