4001 Project on ebay

ken_james · Post by **ken_james** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:23 am

Some of the neck through copies aren't that bad, I gotten into arguements about the quality of the older bolt-neck copies which I still believe are ****, but hey it's their money.
I found a 5 string copy that looked like a 4004 a year or so ago that was great, it was trans green over quilted maple, p/j EMG pickups and gold harwdware. It sold before I could get back to the store, but I think it was a custom luthier bass rather than a mass produced item.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:44 am

Ebay doesn't find anything out on their own, nor do they care, they only remove an item if someone who has enough weight speaks up, or lawyers knock on their door. There was a uuum..... 1968 Silver 4003 (only one in existence, haha!) on Ebay last year and many of us here wrote and rewrote to Ebay, they did nothing. I officially lodged a complaint through the proper Ebay channels and still nothing was done. Ebay does nothing to discourage BS. I have seen a Fender Tele bass neck, that was... rumored to have been owned by Tim Bogart, an SVT head that was wanted by um... someone from Van Halen. (probably was too broke to buy it at the time, they never made any money) Right now there is a 78, I mean 68 SVT for sale and they didn't even start to make them until 69.
All they care about is the bucks, any time they have to invalidate an auction, they lose money, and now they lose two ways, their auction fees and their paypal fees.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:34 pm

Fake!

ken_james · Post by **ken_james** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:46 pm

Damn what took you so long?

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:06 pm

Just letting everyone else show how much they know, that's all.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:10 pm

No it's got the B for Bruno's hand written signature in the treble pickup cavity, it can't be a fake, he worked in the sanding dept for three days in 1974.

wim · Post by **wim** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:46 pm

I too don't think that body is a fake.
Probably the cavities were re-routed to get the original colour out. I experienced the same when refinishing my 4001 (was originally jetglo)
I left the paint in the cavities with the result that you can clearly see it through the pickguard.

ken_james · Post by **ken_james** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:00 pm

Bob, According to the 2nd Smith book, Bruno was a salesman that developed the Blackstar in '69.

rickcrazy · Post by **rickcrazy** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:00 pm

Fake!

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 11:58 pm

One day I'd like to get a fake like this one, just to try my idea of converting it to 8-string by slotting the headstock like a Ric 12-string, placing the smaller extra tuners in right angles. It could be a fun project. Has this been tried before?

marty · Post by **marty** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:29 am

Invalid item!

Looks like the Ric police got to it!

jeff_ulmer · Post by **jeff_ulmer** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 8:33 am

I think it's a fair assumption that ANY fake posted about here will get the axe in short order, as it should.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:35 am

Ilan, I thought of trying the same thing, it sounds like a worthwhile endevour!

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:24 am

And if it turns out to have better balance than the 4003/8 with its longer headstock , maybe RIC will adopt the idea.

It seems unreasonable, though, that they haven't tried it themselves in the past. After all, they were the same people that came up with that neat trick in the 12-stringers.