4001 colors

joev4001 · Post by **joev4001** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:30 pm

so i was looking up the color of my 4001 and i always thought that it was called autumglo or whatever. but i read somewhere that they stopped that color in the mid 70s or something. mine is a 1980. it looks exactly like David McDonald's 1976 4001. did ric have this as a custom color? the guy i bought it from said that it wasnt a refin.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 4:39 pm

I think they made a similar color called Walnut, was less glossy maybe?

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 6:23 pm

walnut

autumnglo

joev4001 · Post by **joev4001** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:27 pm

oooo ok i guess i have a walnut then thanks everybody

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:06 pm

Walnut and Autumnglo are the same color. Walnut is glossy and Autumnglo is matte. These two examples have totally different applications of the color.

Autumnglo

Walnut

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:13 pm

The 4001 in the above picture is a 1980 and the 4002 is a 1979. I believe the color was discontinued not long after these basses were made. This brown was apparently never a favorite of John Hall's. He has since done it up right with the creation of Montezuma Brown. I never liked the look of my Autumglo but my walnut 4002 was always beautiful to me. The difference is in the application.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 5:51 pm

I like the autumnglo a lot except I don't like the abrupt change from brown to natural in the middle.

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:55 am

Ted, I think both of those basses are some of the nicest Rics I've ever seen. If you want to sell that AG send me an email.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:20 am

I bought them from the same Rickenbacker dealer within a few months of each other back in '80 -'81. Nobody wanted either of them at the time. I paid $550 for the 4002 and under $300 for the 4001. The AG was my backup bass and was rarely played, which is why it looks so good today. I favored my JG 4001's and my '72 jazz bass back then. The AG has a few blemishes from it's original owner who installed a Gizmotron, gold Grovers, and a gold Badass I before dumping it in favor of another bass.

RutleDirk · Post by **RutleDirk** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:38 am

Gosh, that Walnut is just gorgeous!

I've never seen either in person.

A few questions about Autumnglo, If I may:

The idea of a matte finish seems to be a rather anomalous one for Rickenbacker. Anyone know of a particular reason Autumnglo was done this way?

How "matte" is it? More of a satin or "eggshell" kind of thing, or is it really flat?

How similar are Autumnglo and Montezuma Brown?

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:08 am

One more question: if it was matte, why the "-glo"?

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:03 pm

There are only a few places to see the original lustre these days. The back of the neck is polished to a gloss that is nearly the same as the standard finish. Under the guard, TRC and tailpiece the finish is still relatively prisine. The texture is very similar to that of matte scotch tape. It is slightly bumpy to the touch but silky feeling. It is not rough like a flat finish.