Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

one more to add to the count... '74 4001 that had the frets and lacquer shaved off before I found it back in the 80s. Like Boz Burrell, I believe fretless belongs quite nicely in any rock setting. Although I do some slides, I mainly like fretless for the low action... and tend to play like it was a ...

FretlessOnly wrote:

ricken5er wrote:cool info,
What kind of tones are people squeezing out of the 4003FL?

Check the Rickenbacker Recordings Section.

FretlessOnly... some nice tones you're squeezing from that Ric...

I can speak of a 4001 mod but can’t compare to a true 4001 fretless. I just found out the ’74 4001 I’ve owned for the last 25 years was a defret… very nicely shaved off the at fretboard. I always liked the sound and thought it was a typical “Ric” sound but had nothing to compare as it was the first ...

I always found the fret lines to be annoying ( can't see them when playing normally )

Word.

In '74, the FLs had side dots on each note; if your sidedots are at 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, and 19 and they are between the lines, then it's a de-fret. I suppose there's always that 0.01% chance of an odd ...

IDK, the factory did do some unique things, but I vaguely remember someone saying the strings vibrating on those inlays COULD cause issues with them cracking.

Hopefully, some more informed than I will chime in, but I've never personally heard of this being done.

That does make sense the ...

I'm surprised as the fretboard shows no signs of damage if the frets were removed. I never had any reason to suspect it was other than factory... but researching it recently I couldn't find anything like it... If it was a mod, it was very professionaly done...
Is it possible it could be a special ...

I have a '74 4001 FL with wedge style inlays and fret lines. I bought it used back in the 80's and always assumed it to be completely factory as the fret lines are completely flush with the fretboard and there is no signs of any work ever being done on the neck. Now I am seeing that all other ...