John Entwistle 8 string 4000....wavy headstock

marty · Post by **marty** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:35 am

Here's a picture of an 8 string 4000 owned by John Entwistle:

http://www.8stringbass.com/entwistleaug73ric8.jpg

I know he used Rickenbacker basses sometimes but I've never seen that one before....I assume with that headstock it was custom made for him?

The page I got the image from is here:
http://www.12stringbass.com/John%20Entwistle.htm

marty · Post by **marty** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:42 am

Sorry I misread the page.....it's a Rickenbacker 400 apparantly not 4000....is that right?

I didn't know there was a 400 bass.

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:59 am

I think its a 4001-8. It was the 'prototype'? to the 4008, which became the 4003-8. I believe only a few of these were made. I only know of 2, John Entwistle's and Chris Squire's. The head piece is referred to as a frogfoot. Thats about all I know. Help me out guys.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:59 am

That looks like a standard 8 string headstock shape. Look at the photo of a short scale 4005-8 on page 208 of Smith's Rickenbacker book, this was is in a reversed shape. Here is another 4005-8:

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 2:39 pm

And here's the back:

The whole thing: Oyama Katsuyuki's 4005/8 WB

Headstock of Chris Squire's.

By the way, I like the look of this "4 to 8" tuner mod done to this 4001 C64.

Small tuners for the small strings like the 2 'frogfeet' above. Notice the "octave string on top" arrangement, which is the best way for a picker like me. The headstock looks a lot better than the long headstocks of 4003S/8 or 4008 basses, in my very humble opinion. Gotta be the RIC 8 string with the least head dive too because of 4 smaller tuners and smaller mass of wood for the headstock. Among all reverse headstocks, this is the only reverse headstock that I like, thanks to the tuner arrangement!

Hmm, maybe I should get a 4003 and do the mod...

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 3:17 pm

God .. I love it ... I'm going to have to do that ... then string it low B ....

OOOOHHHHH ... that is beautiful ...

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 3:31 pm

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more tempting it gets!
I will finally have a 4003/8 with triangle inlays and body/neck bindings, haha! Then, all she needs is a custom bridge with 8 saddles that fit in the stock tailpiece. (4 saddles for 8 strings just can't get perfect intonation, as the law of physics has it, IMHO.)

Man, I'll do it!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 4:12 pm

If Ric won't build the 8 string basses we want then we will have to modify them ourselves ... man ... A 4003 with triangle inlays and 8 strings ... or a v63 with walnut headwings and 8 strings ... or a 4004 with 8 strings ... or a 3000 or 3001 or a 2030 or a 2050 or a 4002 or a 4005 ... man I got to do it ...

cheyenne · Post by **cheyenne** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 4:25 pm

Get a grip on yourself Jeff!!!!!!!!!!!! Just think of a 10 string, BEADG . AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 5:14 pm

No dude ... 15 string Rickenbacker ....

heheheheh ... that would be cool ...

route66guitars · Post by **route66guitars** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:26 pm

I don't believe that Rickenbacker ever made a short scale 4005. There are no published photos of one. I had several 4005/8s, single and double bound, and a 4001/8, new-old stock from the factory in 1989-1990. Oyama's is one of them (in fact the vast majority of his impressive collection came either directly or indirectly from me.) Mike from Van Halen bought one, as did Tom from Cheap Trick. Very cool basses. If only I weren't left handed...

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 10:14 pm

yes but did it have this?

wints · Post by **wints** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 1:23 pm

Martin, the Entwistle bass was sold at auction last year. Personally I thought it was far more interesting than the 4005,s that were also there. It had a estimate of 1500-1800 pounds and went for around 4500 pounds if I remember. The 4005,s fetched around 2000 pounds more...I think someone got a great bass and a real piece of Ric history. I especially like the old frog style headstock...very individual and cool....

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 2:24 pm

The 4005/8 in Smith's Rickenbacker book looks like it is short or maybe medium scale because the bridge and treble toaster are closer to the neck than those on my 4005WB. Look at the relative position of them vs. the controls and the R tailpiece. This particular bass also has a 21 fret neck. Very interesting indeed.

marty · Post by **marty** » Mon Feb 02, 2004 2:44 pm

Slightly off topic here ,but John Entwistle had a bass known as the Peter Cook custom Fender bass:

http://www.rockmine.music.co.uk/Ox2.html

Anyone know more about this?

I ask because I come from Entwistles home town in West London and there is a guitar store a few miles away called Peter Cooks Guitar World....I just bought my 4003 there last week.

Anyway, I have heard the name Peter Cook in connection with Entwistle before regarding an Alembic bass that he brought to the UK from LA and had a guy called Peter Cook modify for him.

I'm just wondering if it happens to be the same Peter Cook in my local store.

I'll ask him myself, but I'm not going there for a couple of weeks and thought maybe some of you guys knew of the origins of that custom bass.

Thanks also for the info on the Entwistle 8 string