'68 4001 Opinions?

[libratune]

The 68 MG 4001 mentioned by the OP is back at Guitar Villa: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-Rickenback ... ?pt=Guitar

[Kopfjaeger]

Hmm, If I do shoot over there early next week, I'll take a gander at this one as well. It would seem the owner, John, owns a few "misfits" The 1964 modded instrument and this one with the ugly P bass route under the guard. Jon, how did this one play??

Does anyone but me find it odd that both his horsie basses are missing the original treble pups?? I realize that sometimes the shoes in the older basses have lost their charge and can be a pain to maintain but for a collector such as the owner indicates, why did he not go the extra mile to retain the value of his investment?? I just find it odd that both basses have the exact same pup, the re-issue horsie, in them. A more period modification would have been to install Rickenbackers latest treble pup at the time. Maybe I'm reading too much into it??

Supposedly, this guy is quite knowledgeable with Rickenbackers and has written articles about vintage instruments. Why is it that he has a mixed bag of pots in both basses?? Unless he got them this way?? Could he be selling off the less valuable basses from his collection??

Yea, I'm just spit balling right now.

Sepp

[mc2NY]

Yeah....I had bought this bass but returned it after deciding it had too many issues for the price.

The final straw was finding an undisclosed route under the horseshoe surround when I pulled the cover off.

I made the seller a reasonable offer based on all the issues and missing parts but we could not come to an agreement.
He actually offered me that 64 Fireglo with the volute and other "iffy" features, as a "two-fer" deal to try and save the original deal for this '68.....but it was silly money for the two...wanted me to send him another $5k over my initial money for the boogered '68 and the questionable '64. BTW...that is the same "odd" '64 that Andy Baxter's U.K. Site sold not long ago...and the same bass pictured in the RR gallery.

A shame about the '68. I've tried for a long time to find "the one" and thought I had from the seller's claims and professed expertise.

...but it is missing all the original electronics, the horseshoe, the Horsie surround... saddles are notched pretty deep already and to get it to where I like it, it would have to be notched deeper....the neck angle is already close to a problem and the bass has two filled screw holes on the headstock from a previous string retainer.....I think the bridge saddle base may be wrong, as it flops forward despite being all the way lowered on the treble side (I read somewhere here the wrong newer replacement will not sit upright.). PLUS it has a PBass pickup route under the horseshoe cover.
NOTE: I DID NOT PULL THE BRIDGE TO LOOK UNDER IT FOR ANY EXTRA ROUTING...but in hindsight, anyone interested should, since so many parts are changed/replaced.....because there IS a slight discoloration at the top edge of the bridge that matches the same age/discoloration that was under the horseshoe surround....maybe from a changed bridge back when it had a PBass pickup on it. Some play wear thru finish on the back and neck but no abuse. Binding loose at tail and needs to be reglued. Non original black beater case. Nut may be replacement, as it was loose.

My main problem was that, when I lowered the action down to try and get it to play like my '66...I could not get the G low enough. I bottomed out the bridge and the G saddle was notched pretty deep already. The neck truss rods had the neck pretty much flat. So.....IMO....in order to get it to where I wanted it, I would have had to notch the saddles deeper. So, I assumed the neck angle was borderline. The bass had heavier round wounds on it when it arrived. I put on light gauge strings....got it playing OK ....but there was fret buzz if I leaned into it. Playing VERY light it was OK...except the G was too high...ALL the strings were higher than my '66. IF I was to notch the saddles more, it would be getting down to where the string break angle at the saddle would almost be straight across on the G. Since I decided to return the bass, I did not want to make any physical mods to the bass. but, again, it appeared that this was NOT a new problem with this bass, since there were signs of a previous string retainer on the headstock to keep the strings in the nut grooves. If you like medium or higher action, maybe you would like the bass. I like low action. My 66 has low action, practically no saddle notching and the bridge is only dropped maybe halfway....so, I used that as my comparison to what a "good" 60s Ric Bass neck angle should be.

On a positive note...,the guy DID refund my money, no problem and seemed like a nice guy.

....BUT I find it suspicious that a knowledgeable Ric collector did not know about the route or neck issues. The Horsie and bridge happened to be the only parts not removed/photographed in the original EBAY listing. He RAVED about what a GREAT player the bass was and how he loved playing it....but it arrived with VERY old, dead strings and set up like ****.

I was bummed about the deal. It was such a nice match, appearance wise and neck profile, to my '66 4001. Oh well.

Back to my search for a great '68.....

[Kopfjaeger]

Jon,

Did you meet the owner or were all your transactions via email? This is what I've found on vintage Rickenbackers. I look at bridge fotos. If the bridge is lowered all the way, I'm very cautions. Seems that the good players all have the bridges raised a bit. The ones lowered all the way are masking a neck angle issue, for the most part. If the screws are all the out and action looks high at the 19th fret, walk away. There is no fixing that easily.

I believe the seller knows full well everything about his instruments. According to Vince Gallo, the guy is a collector and he knows his facts. He knows what is wrong and right with his instruments. The bridge in the 64 looks funky as well. I was under the impression the new style bridge is too large for the well of the old cast tail piece. I'll ask around to see if that is the deal. Finding a cast bridge is a very tall order! Almost like finding a set of 68 horseshoes!! So, he would have sold you the 64 bass for an additional 5k?? That's good to know. Now I know where his start price is.

Sepp

[mc2NY]

Keep in mind that extra $5k was IN ADDITION TO my other $7k he already had that he was trying to figure out how to keep!!!

So I said to forget it.

I had the bass for about a week, trying to get it to play right. No luck...and I'm real good at setting up basses.

I agree with you that the seller likely knew exactly what he sold me....thinking I wouldn't look close to find the route or know how to set it up and spot all the issues and swapped out parts.

WAAAY too much money for what either of these basses are IMO.

If it played as good as my '66, I would have dealt with all the other stuff....but since it wasn't a great player, I figured why bother?

[Kopfjaeger]

Jon & all,

Update, just chatted with the owner of both the 68 and the 64. He informed me that he is attempting to raise capitol for an instrument manufacture project he is working on and that he has a 1968 4001 that he is willing to let go. He sent be a somewhat blurry foto. Yes, from a blurry foto it looks OK but the horsie grabs your attention right away. I asked him what pup is it since the shoes look too flat to be from a 1968. He did not mention price or specifics. I'm just curious to see where he goes with it. I'm seriously not interested in it at all!!

Sepp

[jps]

We're talking the same dealer of rare, vintage instruments, right? If so, I had a very unpleasant experience with him (the first and only time I tried to do business with him) in the mid '90s. Nice to see he hasn't changed any!