-
- Model
- 4001
-
- Strings
- 4
-
- Finish
- Burgundy
-
- Manufacturing Date
- 1975-01
-
- Serial #
- OA127
-
- Celebrity owned
- Steve Steele
-
- Registration Date
- Nov 12 2012
-
- Country
- USA
-
- State/Province
- Pennsylvania
-
- Lefty
- No
-
- Collected Item
- Yes
-
- Registered User
- Yes
-
- Comments
- http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/msg/3400147348.html
I grew up in upstate NY and bought this axe in 2005 from a local musician who had bought it from Steve Steele. Steve played on Alice Cooper's 'Raise Your Fist and Yell' tour in '87, was a member of the Kane Roberts Band in the late '80s, and started a metal band in Syracuse NY called Mesomorph in the mid-80s, (see the photo of the case below, "URTHMAN" is a reference from that band). At the time I was more excited to buy a Ric than anything else, but I was told that Steve took this bass on tour when he played with Alice Cooper. I don't have any photos to back that up, but based on his Mesomorph-era stickers on the road case, Steve did own the bass at the time he was playing with national touring acts so it's plausible that he played this bass on tour with Alice Cooper.
He also made some interesting modifications, replacing the original Rickenbacker electronics with a humbucker and black (instead of white) plastic pickguard and truss rod cover. Also replaced the original bridge with a thicker "Badass II."
The serial number on the output jack (see photo) puts the date of the instrument in the early '70s. By the time it got to me in '05, the dual truss rod setup had gotten kind of funky. Fortunately I had a local contact with a guitar builder who had worked at the Rickenbacker factory in the late '70s. He took off the fretboard to correct the truss rod issues, and did a great job with it, the neck's been absolutely perfect ever since and you can't tell by looking at the neck that any repairs occurred. I also had him remove the humbucker and put the original electronics back in to get that distinctive sound again.
-
-
This entry contains images:
-
-
Download Large Format:
Body - Front
Body - Rear
Full Instrument - Front
Close up - Free
Free image
-
-
This item was identified as a Late vintage (1973 up to and including 1983) instrument
The following is a summary of sales of above referenced model gathered from actual sales on eBay:
*Basis for comparison: Same model, same strings number, same "special" features, same era
| Sample type | Min | Avg | Median | Max | Sample Size |
| Same model, same era: | $710 | $1784 | $1695 | $4995 | 1369 |
Price History Chart
