New Acquisition: '63 4000

[jingle_jangle]

First of all, I would email John Hall at Rickenbacker to see if he would graciously check the logs to see if the finish is mentioned. I would go with that finish. Most likely FG or MG.

BTW...serial number?

Excellent idea, Jwilli. I won't know for sure until I can see it in the "wood", so to speak, but even an oiled finish doesn't penetrate very far into maple.

We could get lucky with this one. Gotta consider the tailpiece area, too, and come up with something that works, looks good, and fits the era appearance.

[basse]

First of all, I would email John Hall at Rickenbacker to see if he would graciously check the logs to see if the finish is mentioned. I would go with that finish. Most likely FG or MG.

BTW...serial number?

Good suggestion! Although, with the paint remnants under the pickguard I'm almost positive it was FG. It was made in Oct. of 1963 with CJ*22 as the serial number...

[cassius987]

Don't refinish it! Just add some protective clear layers if needed... it's got so much mojo now. A refin would kill the lovely mojo.

I'm so jealous of you. Seriously, this is one of those vintage finds that I can't help but drool over... even though I'm pretty hardcore on the modern instrument side of things. Jeez this is nice.

[marc61]

Best of luck finding to correct bridge.

Marc, David said this:

Fortunately, the original bridge and one of the original knobs were in the case

I get a zero in reading comprehension

[s4001]

I look forward with great anticipation to see how this turns out. Nice find! Enjoy that 60's gem.

[doctorwho]

Conggrats, that is a really sweet bass!

Doesn't look too bad...it just might be possible to resurrect it back to FG.

Would that be a treat???

That would be very, very cool!

[leftybass]

Lovely. Lots of cool basses coming out of the wood work these days. Pretty well all there, too. Congrats!

[teeder]

Congrats, David!

I vote Fireglo is possible, then Burg.

[paul_yan]

...the grain is far too nice to cover with a solid color

I couldn't agree more! Very nice, congrats David. Just my humble opinion that since it was born Fireglo, it should return to being Fireglo. But if I really had to have a solid color, Jetglo is the way I'd go. Can't go wrong with a Paul W refin.

Ditto!

Congratulations, David! Any see-through finish will be nice on the baby!

[86kubicki]

Very Nice Dave! Was this a local find?
Paul would be the man to do a "proper" refin (in fact he's currently doing a refin for me on your old 4005). It would be great if it could go back to its original Fireglo, but if you need to go solid, keep your options open (I think you have). As you say, Sea Green is kinda nice....

[basse]

Thanks again guys for all of the kind words! You gotta understand how shocked I was when I saw it! And how happy I am to have it at home.

Very Nice Dave! Was this a local find?
Paul would be the man to do a "proper" refin (in fact he's currently doing a refin for me on your old 4005). It would be great if it could go back to its original Fireglo, but if you need to go solid, keep your options open (I think you have). As you say, Sea Green is kinda nice....

Hey Steve, yep it was local if you can believe that. And it just goest to show that luck and stupidly perfect timing can work in your favour. Last Saturday morning I walked into the 12th Fret to have one of my Wals shipped away to have some work done on it (it WILL be coming back). Of course I wandered into their bass room to check out what they had available... And there, staring me in the face, right at eye level was the horsehoe! I hadn't even recognized it as a Ric when I first walked in because the headstock was near the ceiling and the finish was so different. But, man that horseshoe made me take a VERY close 2nd look.

It had come out on the floor that morning after having had the neck and truss rods aligned and hadn't even hit the website yet. I played with it for a bit, got miffed at the finish and left to pick up my daughters at gymnastics... But I couldn't get it out of my mind. So as soon as I got home I e-mailed Grant there and had them put it on hold for me for 2 days while I checked out whether it could be refinished or not.

I went back on Monday to take a closer look under the pickguard and to make sure that the body hadn't been destroyed when it was stripped. And everything looked good according to some reference photos I'd brought along. Then I talked to the guy who had worked on the neck to make sure that there weren't any issues with the truss rods, and to make sure they weren't close to being stripped.

Of course I'd posted the question about whether it was possible to get it refinished across several forums - because the guys at the 12th Fret didn't think you could paint over an oil finish. Thankfully, Paul W (and 62bass from Hamilton over at Talkbass) said that it was possible and even suggested what to use. So, particularly with Paul W's confirmation that it was possible I went back and picked it up on the way home yesterday.

And thankfully Paul's expressed interested in working on it - woo-hoo!!! We'll have to get that beer scheduled so that you can try it yourself sometime since it'll probaby be many months before Paul's ready to work on it.

So... What colour you doing the 4005? Y'know there's some pretty serious speculation that that one was one of the VERY few, original green bursts - driven mainly by the smudge on the top horn!

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

Wow... Cool bass.

It looks exactly like my memory of Bob Doidge's 4000 bass which he played on my CD back in 1994. Bob was in the band TRANQUILITY BASE in the 70's, and has won Junos for engineering bands like Crash Test Dummies and solo acts like Sylvia Tyson and Gordon Lightfoot.

http://www.grantavestudio.com/staff/

I wonder if this one was formerly his - maybe he has gotten rid of it in the time since then. Hamilton isn't that far away from Toronto after all.

My memory of Bob's bass is that it was sanded down to just the maple, how old is the oil refin job?

Either way - Good score! Leave it a 4000 though - don't add that extra pickup!

Also please add pics and info to the registry.

Cheers!

[Lefty4003S8]

David, I am SO very happy for, AND, am jealous of you!!!!!!

That is one SWEET find!!!!! Enjoy it!!!!!
I vote for FG as well........those old 4000's look AWESOME in FG.



Lefty4003S8

[ken_j]

... Gotta consider the tailpiece area, too, and come up with something that works, looks good, and fits the era appearance.

That was my first thought when going for a transparent finish. It looks as though the piece of wood set in at the bridge may not be covered by a stock or Hipshot bridge.

[brycycle]

ugh! right here in Toronto?! congrats!

if you wouldn't mind PM-ing me what you paid for it, that would be of interest. 12th is usually quite reasonable.