Smaller headstocks on different 4000 series bass models?

[lumgimfong]

I see some pics of older 4000 series basses that look like they have smaller headstocks than my 2016 4003.
Was wondering if it is true some older 4001 or 4003/s, etc., have smaller stocks. Just wondering. Maybe just the pics make it look that way. Sometimes when I am playing my headstock looks like a giant paddle on the end of the neck to me. Unnecessary weight maybe.

Length: 8 3/16" from nut edge (on the headstock side), with ruler laying over the E and A tuners, and to the end of the longest edge of the headstock along that line.
Thickness: 6/8"
Width: 4 3/8" from point to point on the points where the headstock flairs out after emerging from the end of fingerboard.

[cjj]

In the days before CNC machining, the headstock size varied over the years. So did the shape of the bodies...

[bassduke49]

Yes, the headstock shape varied noticeably over the decades. It was a bit smaller and more "square" when they redid the neck-through structure with the addition of the central shedua strip in early 1972, and the shape pretty much stayed the same through the remainder of the 4001 era - into the early '80s. They got a bit longer later on. You can see the subtle changes of the shapes over the 63 years in the photos in the reference book that is out there.

[henry5]

Yes, the headstock shape varied noticeably over the decades. It was a bit smaller and more "square" when they redid the neck-through structure with the addition of the central shedua strip in early 1972, and the shape pretty much stayed the same through the remainder of the 4001 era - into the early '80s. They got a bit longer later on. You can see the subtle changes of the shapes over the 63 years in the photos in the reference book that is out there.

Paul, the smaller headstocks started well before ‘72, and well before the shedua strip. My Feb ‘72 has the smaller headstock (with walnut wings), albeit it a slightly different shape to my Aug ‘72 with shedua strip, as did my ‘21 fretter, and I’ve seen numerous others the same. In fact I’m pretty sure all the 21 fretters had the smaller headstock. Chris Squire’s certainly did. Lemmy’s original bass, which I think was ‘70/‘71, also has the smaller headstock with walnut wings. Roger Glover’s ‘71 (IIRC) also. And I briefly had a thru-neck ‘72 4000 with walnut wings which also had the smaller headstock. That’s one I should have kept. Got it for a bargain price but it needed a fair bit of cosmetic work and after the debacle of my last restoration - and a severe lack of funds - I let it go.