My 4001 hardshell case

[gibsonlp]

Hi there,
(continuing the conversation from http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... 2&t=377656)
My 4001 came with a non original hardshell so I bought a late 70's 4001 OHSC on the bay.
It has a home-made handle and no Rickenbacker logo (a friend told me that these days they didn't have a logo on the cases) as well as a small hole where the strap button seemed to eat up the inside and reached the wood, but other than that it is in a very good shape.

However - 1 thing really annoys me - the guitar won't fit into the case, shape-wise it fits exactly, the body sits very well in the roundish bottom part, but it seems that the guitar is short in 2 places:

1. The strap button has a few (~3) good inches space from where the accessory box starts (where the hole exists)
2. The head has the same space from the end of the case.

This causes the guitar to be able to slide forward and back inside the case (of course - the upper side should hold it when it is closed, but still...

I am wondering if this is common or if I should search for a period-correct case as they made them smaller these years...

Thanks.

[rickaddict]

Hi there,
(continuing the conversation from http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... 2&t=377656)
My 4001 came with a non original hardshell so I bought a late 70's 4001 OHSC on the bay.
It has a home-made handle and no Rickenbacker logo (a friend told me that these days they didn't have a logo on the cases) as well as a small hole where the strap button seemed to eat up the inside and reached the wood, but other than that it is in a very good shape.

However - 1 thing really annoys me - the guitar won't fit into the case, shape-wise it fits exactly, the body sits very well in the roundish bottom part, but it seems that the guitar is short in 2 places:

1. The strap button has a few (~3) good inches space from where the accessory box starts (where the hole exists)
2. The head has the same space from the end of the case.

This causes the guitar to be able to slide forward and back inside the case (of course - the upper side should hold it when it is closed, but still...

I am wondering if this is common or if I should search for a period-correct case as they made them smaller these years...

Thanks.

You might not like my reply, Gil but I'll throw in my $.02 anyway:

I'd say sell the old case and get a new silver vintage re-issue case (or the plastic molded case if you don't care about its modern look). Either one will protect your bass better. And it will smell better and look better as well. As I'm sure you'll agree, the job of a hardshell case is to protect your instrument. A case that allows your bass to slide back and forth 3 inches and act as a battering ram into the end of the case isn't doing an optimal job of protecting your bass. I bought a '72 4001 once that came in a case similar to what you describe. The bass had slid back and forth until it literally smashed through the end of the case. The owner then did a shoddy duct-tape job in an attempt to hold the case together. The case smelled bad and didn't protect the bass very well. In addition to this, the wavy Grover tuners were all bent from bashing around in the case as well. It ain't worth it!

BTW, you mentioned that your case was a late 70's case. It is not. The late 70's Rick cases provided excellent protection (but were heavy). They had a foam surround all the way around the bass body and were well padded on all sides. The necks were well supported/protected as well. NO chance of sliding around inside one of those! If you could find one of those it might be your best bet.

I'm not as familiar with the early 70's Rick cases, but from what I understand they came from different suppliers and may have been the same cases Fender used. As I'm sure you know Fender Jazz and P basses are a bit longer than a 4001. From what I can tell these cases didn't protect or fit the 4001 as well as the cases from the late 70's.

[elysrand]

You are right on the mark, Jeff! My first 1971 Rick 4001 21-fretter, bought new in April 1971, came with an original factory hardshell case that had enough room for the bass to slide around inside, and had no Rick logo on it. All I did was add padding of my own in all the right places, and it held the bass fine. Back then, I didn't know that Electro had ever included any other kind of case with their basses.

In more recent years, I have noticed that most of my cases for 1969 through 1974 basses - if original - are also like this

The solution is to buy and use a different era case to get the added protection, like maybe a late-70s case

[ilan]

My '73 4001 lives happily in a 70's Fender hardshell case (orange lining, "amp logo" case).

IIRC John hall once posted that molded SKB cases protect the bass better than the silver reissue cases.