Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

pag wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 3:47 pm ...Also theres footage of Mike Rutherfords RM showing some customisation on the pickup outputs with a jack on the pickguard..maybe he had another jack added to the body instead.

pag wrote: ↑Thu Jan 11, 2024 3:47 pm 'Back in the summer of 1976 I went from Manchester to Rhodes Music on Denmark St to check out an RM1999. At the time these 60s basses cropped up from time to time in the for sale and music shop ads in the back of the Melody Maker and were practically always described as “60s dot neck Rickenbacker 4001 bass”. The one I saw in Rhodes Music in ‘76 was (as expected even back then) overpriced at around £300 if memory serves. (By comparison with London prices I bought Maurice Gibbs RM..I didn't know that at the time though!..for £275 from Honky Tonk Music in Essex in 1978 after knocking them down by 20 quid because it had no case!).
Anyway the FG RM at Rhodes was advertised as “Ex-Blackfoot Sue” who were a well known heavy rock band at the time. Frankly the poor RM looked like they had been digging the road with it! I tried it out and it played well but it had been abused to the point that it looked like it was going to fall apart. The point being that it might not have raised any interest from buyers back then and could well be the very same bass your friend picked up from a shop in the ‘70s. Who knows? Also theres footage of Mike Rutherfords RM showing some customisation on the pickup outputs with a jack on the pickguard..maybe he had another jack added to the body instead. Could it be that RM? Interesting bass you have there and great to see it in action for all these years!'

pag wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 4:29 pm Yep. Thats the bass. It was a right mess when I saw it.

pag wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 5:32 pm I cant remember exactly what the damage was but it looked like someone had slung it out of a car window down the street.

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 06, 2024 8:02 am This is a follow-up on my post from 2019, below; I dismantled and rebuilt what turned out to be (probably) a 64 RM1999.

viewtopic.php?t=415905

I've toured, recorded it and loved it, since my rebuild.

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HOWEVER, I am intrigued, to say the least, about it's history; who treated this bass so badly ?
Who pieced the pieces back together, painted it rattle can red and the scratch plate white ?

Possibly someone smashed it up on stage, not so easy to smash it in two halves; does anyone know of anyone doing this?
Or a tragic accident; a piano fell out of a two story window onto a passing Rickenbacker... ?

I have a theory that possibly the previous owner played in a Hawkwind or Motorhead covers band.
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I've never see another Rick with the lug on the heel; Lemmy always did. Anyone ?

Also the bass appears to have been modded to fit a Rickosound Stereo jack, like Lemmy - but why the crosshair hacksaw attack ?
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Possibly someone attempted to sell this bass, with its brass scratch plate, as one of Lemmy's basses and the dealer smashed it up because it's a 'fake Lemmy bass' - thoughts ?

Finally, somebody suggested in my original thread that I replace the 73 jack plate with a 64; can anyone help with that please?

Thanks
R

corduroyboy wrote: ↑Mon Aug 05, 2024 2:40 pm Sorry; haven't checked the thread for a while.

I have the number '4' on the scratch plate for a couple of reasons:
It's my fourth Rick.
My first, a mid 70s burgundy 4001 was stolen from a recording studio in Denmark street in 1993.
My second was a 72 checker binding natural finish, as was my third.

Also, it's a nod to Pete Townsend numbering his guitars (see The Kids Are Alight movie).