Time for your May birthdays.
I'll start with my 1979 4001V63 JG. The bass started out as a straight 4001, but has been drastically modified over the years.
In 1983, I had the bass refretted with jumbo-size frets that to this day have YET to show any significant signs of wear; this bass was my main player for a good 20 years.
In 1984, I had a custom chrome TRC made for it to match the chrome Schecter pickguard it came with.
1990 - I replaced the stock pickups with the V63 reissue toaster & horseshoe.
1995 - I had a new chrome pickguard built with the correct pre-1975 toaster spacing for a V63 bass.
1998 - I found a set of old Grover Titans to replace the stock keywinds.
2006 - I had the bass custom wired for series/parrallel, phase normal/reverse, and .0047 cap in/out.
I FINALLY replaced the Star Parts bridge with a stock Rick tailpiece & bridge which DRASTICALLY improve the sustain.
I should have done it two decades earlier!
I also strung the bass as the lower register of a 5-string (B-E-A-D) and intonated it accordingly.
This was my first "real bass," and first Rick. I bought it when I was 16 for $450 with money I had saved from a dish-washing job. I saw it at Portland Music in 1982. It was the only black Rick there, and had the chrome pickguard on it. Then you're a 16 year-old guy, black + chrome = cool. Because of this, I paid no mind to the huge patch of bare wood on the back from the previous owner's belt buckle, and the badly eaten frets. INCREDIBLY worn for a three year old bass. I took it to The Twelfth Fret in Portland for the refret job, and their head-luthier Chris did an amazing, flawless job. He was still doing work there when I took my bass in again in 2002 for a slight bridge ajdustment.
The bass really is an amazing work-horse. I've played the hell out if it for years, and it's had no neck issues or shown any signs of losing it's physical or electrical integrity. It's also the loudest bass I own with the horseshoe weighing in at 14k, and the toaster at 12k. Here's a sample of the great distortion this bass gets when you hit a tube amp nice & hard:
Mazzy Star's 'Be My Angel'
