I've seen some other shots, and it's a nice bass. However, I don't think the owner is keen to shift on price at the moment.
$1400 is around £450 less than he's asking - and $1200 is £600 under. For that I'd snap it up and risk another repair!
He's obviously trying to price it just slightly under the going rate. 4001's go for good money over here - seen many in the region of $2800+ - so he's hoping.
Trouble is, he'll probably find someone willing....
If it is fixed right, it won't be a money pit, I've owned basses with breaks like this and once fixed correctly they work fine, as long as you don't go twisting the trussrods like a crazy man.
The problem is that you are buying a bass that is not right, and putting it right will cost some money. That ought to be reflected in the price of the instrument.
I don't know the market for these bases, but I do know that that the headstock could be broken clean off and you could still fix it right if all the other stuff is there, like trussrods, spacer, nuts etc. Course you need all of the wood too.
Where is aceonbass on this subject???
I wish you best of luck on this, if you don't get this one, you might find someone here who can help you find another in the UK. This is a great site to find info about all things Rickenbacker, with folks far more knowledgeable than I on all of this.
When I bought my 74 it had a repaired crack didn't have a problem for decades then, well, I did during an adjustment. My thread "a tweak too far" covers the story and it wasn't expensive to rectify.
