4003 Blackstar

[ilan]

You can post a question in the Rickenbacker Appraisals sub-forum: viewforum.php?f=17

Better late than never: Welcome! And thanks for sharing the pics and info of this truly unique bass.

[bassduke49]

Right, not a Blackstar. However, the fretboard is different from the usual Rick fretless board as it has no face position markers. It's also a bit light and highly figured, but I think it is the Rick standard bubinga. At one time, I had one similar to this (right handed, though) with the BT/BH, and sold it Darren down in Hawaii. Maybe he'll chime in with a shot or two! Thanks for posting photos. Beautiful bass!

[lefty1964]

The board is light (lighter than it looks in the photos), it has a golden tone rather than the reddish brown of bubinga, it also has a matt lacquer.
Do you have photos of yours before you sold it?

[hieronymous]

Blackstar or not, it's beautiful - I love it!

[FretlessOnly]

Very nice bass - that's how a FL fingerboard should be (although the side dots at every half-step drive me bonkers).

What's confusing me is that your wife indicated when she got it that it was a special order, but then later you state that you're the second owner. It sure looks like a one-of-a-kind to me, but the key is whether that's how the bass left the factory or if the previous owner possibly took a fretted bass and made it fretless by switching out the fingerboard rather than pulling the frets and filling. So, as a possible one-of-a-kind, the difference in value between it being factory original and significantly modified is likely quite substantial. As it is, as second owner with no paperwork, you're relying on the word of the previous owner as to it's "special order" status.

Maybe some others could weigh in here, but I've never seen any fingerboard anywhere close to that on a Rick. And the matte finish? Sounds to me like some mods may well have been done. Either way it's a great-looking axe.

[lefty1964]

My Wife bought it second hand from a shop in London quite a few years ago and didn't get any paperwork with it, it's serial number is from 1994, I took it to get it restrung last week, I can only go on what the guy said but after looking at it for a while he said the fret board was original and that he had never seen a rick like it before (I didn't know what to look for on the fretboard). It's not exactly matt, satin is more descriptive or natural...

[ilan]

It makes sense that a lefty fretless with a black trim and no face dots was a special order.

[chrisdski]

David, FYI here is the Blackstar listings in the RRF registry (upper right of the web page). You can see what a Blackstar painted fingerboard looks like. Your bass looks really cool and is very unique.

http://www.rickresource.com/register/in ... celebrity=

[FretlessOnly]

I'll go along with that, Ilan. What gets me is the fingerboard wood and lack of dots. I've never seen that sort of grain on a Rick fingerboard - it doesn't look like maple to me either. Rick has very recently done some very limited satin/matte body finishes, but I'm not sure if it was an option in 1994.

I'm not trying to be a downer here; it just looks very out of the ordinary (and very nice, I would add again).

[ilan]

The fretboard on my Shadow has similar attractive grain, but darker. The satin feel could be fretboard wear, expected in a fretless.

[johnallg]

The fretboard on my Shadow has similar attractive grain, but darker. The satin feel could be fretboard wear, expected in a fretless.

Or the previous owner lightly sanded the gloss to matte because of preference. Very beautiful fretless David, and welcome aboard.

[weemac]

It still could be for real... Remember the 4003/5 with the maple board that had everyone up in arms, that was then proven to be real...

Eden.

[ilan]

It's real and probably original, just not a Blackstar.

[chrisdski]

Blackstars date 1988-1990. This is dated 1994. The black strip on the edge of the fretboard looks factory to me. Very unique bass- a one off?

[marc61]

I love it. I would just play it upside down.