Hmmmmmmm... FireGlo!

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 3:38 pm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3705605879&category=4713

A little corrosion, but hey... it's a grover'd, checker'd '73!

jps · Post by **jps** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 3:50 pm

Man, that's just like mine! Except that I replaced those lousy Grovers with Hipshot Ultralites. Mine is MGxxxx.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 5:51 pm

Notice that it has the checkered binding with the new style inlay? Isn't that a strange combination? Every checkered one I have seen has the full inlays! Must have been a transition piece...

squirebass · Post by **squirebass** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:47 pm

I've seen a couple others that had checkered binding w/o the full inlays... And at a guitar show a year ago or so, I saw a 1972 bass with white binding and full crushed pearl inlays!!!

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:55 am

The bizzaro world of the "changeover" continues...

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:13 am

It's also missing the split tailpiece. May 73 seems to be the month that the transition began.
My April 73 has full width MOP inlays and split tailpiece that this bass is missing.
Either way this is still a real nice bass!

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:14 am

Maybe the transition basses can be sold for $thou$and$ as rare and unusual! Mine as checker binding and new style inlays. :0)

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 4:31 am

Just when you get used to seeing a particular trend and then come to rely on it, a curve is thrown in for good measure. I love these variations. As Mr. F. C. Hall once pointed out, the company was not making automobiles.

By the way, what is with the deteriorating jackplate. Did the owner store this next to his old batteries? There is some significant corrosion going on here.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:43 am

Maybe it was owned by a guy who could never find the input jack and plugged in really violently?

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 7:32 am

he played acid rock?!

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 9:30 am

Or maybe it was stolen at some point and acid was used to try and get rid of the serial #...

GASP!

dead_in_okc · Post by **dead_in_okc** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:26 pm

Man,that's nice.....I've always wondered why they never ran the binding around the body entirely,instead of having that unbound gap at the bottom of the bass....

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 1:34 pm

Rickenbacker made basses in the old days like Ferrari did; among a series of cars there were individual variations, so F.C. Hall must have been a tifosi!

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 1:35 pm

Yes, I believe April/May 1973 to be the exact transition point for the 4001 Model.
As for the unbound gap, I believe this to be deliberate. Looks better that way, IMO.

mortivan · Post by **mortivan** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:17 pm

The jackplate corrosion is strange. Maybe someone left a wireless transmitter plugged in the untouched bass for a few years and the battery leaked? (yeah, right!...)