Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sergio, you might be right. Oval bobbin would be a reissue.

"Now Graham, there are not enough of these to go around so it is not fair that you have two of them! Next time you are in the US come to Cleveland, visit the R&RHOF&M, and deposit one of the two '59 4000s with me, please."

Graham,

There's no reason to go all the way to Cleveland. You can save 100 miles and drop it off in Erie! Think of the gas money you'll save!

Well, it appears I came to the right place again . Given that the P is a B, and Graham has 9139, which is older, that the bass Kelley has is simply an early production model.
Thanks for the help!!
Greg

I'll come by Apple on Wednesday and call Kelley 1st. I'll also bring my camera and take some pix...Thanks Greg. Nice looking Mahogany neck Maple Body and notice you can see the truss rod slots thru the Gold Pickguard. The old ones were like that, thin gold lacquer that faded over the years.

I thought that the serial number on these was located on the bridge. Anyone know what year that changed?

Thanks for the enlarged pic, Greg. I stand
corrected: the pickup does look original to me now. I had never seen one of those up close. So, the re-issue HS bobbins closely follow the original design. I once exchanged a few e-mail messages with Treena Foster, and she would tell me that her late '50s/early '60s 4000 sounded like a P-Bass on steroids. Which means the squat bobbin/large polepiece pickup design works beautifully.

The P/U's are like the lapsteel type from that era, except polepieces of course.

In the mid 60's, they go to the softer plastic moulded bobbin with the lip.

Doc Kauffman made those for the factory. I had some up until last week. After mentioning this on the forum I sold them quickly..I saved 1 for an example to have them replicated...

Neat picture, Graham. Are those polepieces somehow adjustable, by any chance?

Yep - they are screw top poles.

I went to Apple Music yesterday and met with Kelly,(owner of said Bass) Here are my observations: Almost in Mint condition, totally original having nothing, not even the flat blade screws were changed. A 20 fret Mahogany neck thru body with a Paduk dot inlay fingerboard. The body wings are lightly figured Maple at 1&5/8ths. inches thick. This is a fairly heavy instrument that weighs(approx.) 9Lbs. The finish, Mapleglo which has Ambered somewhat, is perfect showing no wear at all. The Jack Plate Serial#: P 9141..No mistake, this is it, there are no over strikes or a B that looks like a P. The Gold pickguard has no cracks but the underside color has faded and you can see thru parts of it especially where the dual T-rods are cut past the end of the fingerboard. Kelly has one of the largest collections of Vintage instruments in the North West, all of which are NFS. He bought this over 6 months ago, it came out of Alaska, nothing was mentioned about it's past owner or the price he paid, but he did mention he had turned down an offer of over 26K, which makes anyone of these 4000 series Basses, even in not so great shape, like the one that Graham just bought from the Bay area, worth more as time goes by. They are very beautiful to look at and compared to the newer body shape/horns which are slightly longer for balance on the 60's 4001's. This is the nicest Vintage Bass I've seen in many years.

Would P = Prototype?

I was sure, that it was a P, but I digress. thanks for going down and checking it out Dale. Get any "better" pics of it?