Lemmy's first Rickenbacker

[vulcan_creedler]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3hZisVFCso

Always nice to see this youtube clip, where Mr. John Hall gives us a quick tour of the Ric factory. At 2.53, Mr. Hall shows us Lemmy's first Ric. Is it a 4001s or a 4000, with additional routing? It has dot markers, not triangles, but the shallow drilling for the neck pickup looks typical 4001! Lemmy used to have a Thunderbird pickup in the neck position, on that particular bass, right from Hawkwind days, throught to the early 80s.

I read elsewhere, that some 4000 single pup basses were actually routed under the blank pickguard, ready to take a second pickup!

Anyhow, whatever happened to Lemmy's original bass? Is it still at Ric? Was it ever restored?

Guy

[vulcan_creedler]

This is Lemmy's second Ric, the classic "Born to Lose - Out to Lunch" bass.

Again dot (or star) markers! Is this a 4001 or 4001s, or modified 4000???

This is actually a very recent picture. Note the HB1 humbucker in the neck, and the Schaller strap lock button in the normal position on the top horn (Lemmy doesn't have his their normally) So I suspect, this classic bass may have been fettled recently, ready for more action?????

[woodyng]

Odd,it looks like a maple fretboard in the pic.

I have read that about some 4000's having the neck pickup route,my '74 thankfully does not.

[johnallg]

Isn't that second bass a faker? The one with the interesting TRC?

[vulcan_creedler]

Isn't that second bass a faker? The one with the interesting TRC?

Don't think Lemmy has any fakers! There is now a brass Rickenbastard TRC is on his 4004LK

The second bass "Born to lose - Out to Lunch" (post Hawwind, early 80s Motorhead) has definitely had some refurbishment done. In its last active phase of activity, it had a brass pickguard, and (I think) also a Thunderbird neck pickup, as well as a couple of huge chicken head control knobs, with the jack socket moved onto the pickguard, where the bridge pup tone control used to be. It now also sports a brass "Rickenbastard" TRC, and as seen in the picture in my previous post, it has new black pickguard, new straplocks, new HB1pickups, and all the chrome, as well as the edge binding looks very fresh. It is definitely the same bass, as can be seen by the brown burn, below the switch.

Here's a link to the restoration of Lemmy's current stage basses - (are these Rics 3 and 4, or were there others in between):

http://tcellisguitars.com/Lemmy_Bass_Repairs.html

I have no idea what the bass on the left is classified as!!!!! 4003 neck and bridge and pickup cover (purely a handrest), 4004 body, tuners and pickups!! It looks like the TRC on the left may have been the original that was on the 4004LK, as the latter now sports the "Rickenbastard" TRC. Maybe the left one IS a faker????

[spongebob]

Great video, thanks for posting - enjoyed that!

Lemmy is a primary influence on me - been a fan since I was about 13 - and still love what he does. Totally ageless!

[pflash4001]

My '81 4000 is routed for a neck pup. I don't have any pix now, I'm on my wife's computer since the power supply for my laptop died, but I'll add one when I can get it to light up again.

[henry5]

History records his first bass as a 4000 (in "that horrible salmon pink colour" when he got it, according to the man himself; he sanded the paint off down to bare wood - all early pics I've seen show it sanded - and played it like that for a few years until the neck warped, when I believe he got it fixed up) but I'm not sure we'll ever know for sure. What I did get from a well-known luthier that we both used is that he originally wired it wrong and the output was apparently (and surprisingly) really low.

Back in the day Lemmy thought the maple-necked bass was original - he said it had a Ric-o-Sound socket- but that the fingerboard may have been replaced (it's actually a mod I've considered often) and said it was in a right state when he got it, with the head full of holes. Many seem to think it's a faker, probably because of the board, and again I suppose we'll never know for sure.

Lemmy fitted a T/bird pickup in the neck position of the original bass. He has said he tried to get more for the m/n and white BT basses but couldn't get hold of any "for love nor money" so he got someone to make some copies, which he said weren't as good. You can see both these basses sporting these pickups in early-ish footage. There's also an appearance on Top of the Pops as Headgirl where you can see the white bass sporting a DiMarzio Model One. All his basses have undergone numerous changes over the years.

I first learnt to play by playing along with Lemmy's Hawkwind albums, and if I could own any celebrity guitar it would be his first Ric, which was on all of them except Warrior (which was apparently a real T/bird, later stolen).

[lucidsounds]

I first learnt to play by playing along with Lemmy's Hawkwind albums, and if I could own any celebrity guitar it would be his first Ric, which was on all of them except Warrior (which was apparently a real T/bird, later stolen).

Lemmy's first bass was a Hopf Studio, and is the one that can be heard on Silver Machine (it's in the video too). What most people don't realise is it's the same bass on 'Doremi Fasol Latido', that very bendy midrangy kind of sound. There are some photos that recently surfaced from the BBC sessions in August 1972 and it's the Hopf he's using. The first album to feature him on a Rickenbacker was 'A Space Ritual'.

[godber]

Lemmy's "Kiss My A s s" and "born to lose out to lunch"

[v12al]

Really interesting stuff this... its often been said but never proved but lets face it we all (well lots of us) had early days with no money and bought a dream bass at a cheap price when faking was rife, I think maybe Lemmy loved the style, sound and image and he definatley put it right on the map.
He also modified those 2 masivley (the early white one was never modified and niether were the later year 4004's)... was there a reason? maybe we will find out, maybe we will not.
Something about the lower horn on both of these has never looked right and on the "Born to lose out to lunch" has also looked to have a completely wrong shape headstock.
Now maybe its been over sanded on restoration or maybe not.
I do know however that I own a very similar mid 70's 4001 that I sanded down almost to death to build into a "born to lose out to lunch" replica. I was also lucky enough to have LEMMY sign the back of it whilst sanded down and he declared at the time that I was doing the same great job he did of his and after playing it right in front of me he declared it was a lovely bass.
However mine too has that slightly less sharp bottom horn the same as his and that makes me wonder if there wre some made like that or do I have a true Lemmy fake replica? lol