4001LH Question

[Rahal]

I'm new here and to guitars and general, so please forgive my ignorance in advance.

I am interested in findind a specific model 4001LH, but am not sure if it actually exists. I was wondering if perhaps you knowledgeable folks could help me out or give some tips or advice.
The exact model I am looking for is any vintage 4001LH, in original Azureglo finish, with a lefty (non-reversed) headstock. Preferably with original toaster pickups.
The problem I am having is that this is a pretty rare bass in general, and I am not sure if vintage 4001 ever had lefty headstocks, even in the later years. Combined with the fact that Azureglo was also a limited time frame and I think it might not exist at all from what I can find.

I do know that 4001v63 had lefty headstocks, but aren't true vintage and have the newer horseshoe pickups. You also can only get Midnight Blue as the closest to Azureglo I believe.
4001c64/s has a more authentic sound and design, but is specifically made with reversed headstock in both RH and LH models from what I can see. Azureglo finish is still an issue.

Can anyone shed some light on what my options are? Thanks in advance.

[badeggs]

Welcome to the forum! If you mean a headstock to match the lefty body (reversed from "normal," high rounded point of the stock on the right), I don't think so. New lefty 4003s have headstocks to match, but a lefty 4001 would only have the plexi TRC with the "smiley face" Rickenbacker logo (silkscreened of course) to differentiate. The stock would still be the same as a righty, with the high rounded point of the stock on the left.

And yes, Azureglo is no loger available from Rick...

But with Ricks, never say never! They could have made one at some point back in the day...

[johnallg]

4003 Leftys are back in production, will have the headstock and inlays going the way you desire, and you could have it refinished to Azureglo easy enough.

And Welcome aboard the RRF bus.

[rickenbrother]

Welcome to the forum, Mira. Maybe if you saw a Midnight Blue 4003LH in person, you might really like it. Just my opinion, but I personally like it more than Azureglo.

[Grey]

Midnight Blue and Azureglo are very different, though.

[Baker69]

4003 Leftys are back in production...

I thought the information received from Rickenbacker was that the production of LH 4003's would re-commence "later this year"?

Have they already started making them?

[leftybass]

A left-handed 4001 in factory Azureglo would have only had an upside-down (right-handed) neck blank, for the color (and the 4001 itself) was out of production by the time Rickenbacker started making "mirror image" left-handed basses....this started around 1988.

So if you want a 4001 LH in Azureglo, it will have to be from the 70's or early 80's.

New left-handed basses from RIC will start back up in late 2012, according to what I was told by a dealer.