Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

danomar wrote:The neck appears bass length, unless there is some sort of extremely long guitar scale I don't know about.

Danny Gatton used to play a Fender custom shop double-neck Tele in which half was a Baritone guitar and the scale was obviously longer than a standard Tele. IIRC it was tuned an octave lower.

This is a standard scale bass, judging from photos...a bari is usually around 27"--much shorter. Noticeably shorter.

It must have an Ultra Light set of strings on it. 6 string piccolo bass if you will.

jingle_jangle wrote:OK, so it's the only 4005/6 LH ever made, and it's running some sort of weird string setup (how do you intonate it with strigs that are so far off? Note all the guitar strings on the wall in the background... at least there's something there that'd fit.

Any other info as to who has it? Provenance, maybe?

I believe it made in '67. When I knew about it being for sale sometime ago (6 years), it was in California....before the 4005 rush and they went up in value in a big way. Other than that, dunno much. I'd like to know how close the sn# is to my '67 360/12 LH, I'm wondering if they were made close together.

Our own Peter Levett has ran across it since I think.....

I understand that CME had it for sale at a ridiculous price a few years ago...maybe they still have it stashed somewhere?

jingle_jangle wrote:This is a standard scale bass, judging from photos...a bari is usually around 27"--much shorter. Noticeably shorter.

May I offer some speculation? Couldn't the scale be 30"? The Fender Bass VI was 30" and is often referred to as a "baritone," although it is probably more accurately described as a short scale bass. The way the guy in the picture is holding the bass - without a strap and off to his right - and the fact that the bridge is obscured by his other hand could make it look longer.

Also, the Bass VI was normally tuned E-E, just like a regular electric bass with two extra high strings (so like a guitar but an octave lower). Even if this bass was originally intended to be strung this way, someone could have tuned it differently, like A-A or B-B. I have an Alembic baritone that is strung A-A, even though the scale length is 30". It would have made more sense with a 27" scale length, since the low E string is what suffers from the short scale.

It appears to me from looking at the photo that it is a normal (33.25") scale. This guy appears to be big. All four of his fingers just span 3 frets.

The 4005/6 is a full-scale 6-string bass tuned E-E one octave below a guitar. The full-scale is what made it so interesting to me, I own and have owned several 6-string basses and a full-scale one would be great.

Yes, this lefty 4005/6 was full scale, but some of you may remember one that is a bit more wacky than this one, the 4005/8 that is a short-scale and has a dot-inlayed neck. The original owner of that bass paid us a visit some time ago and talked about it here on the Forum.

I saw the one that was at CME a few years ago. It was a late 60's FG righty 4005 six-string. It was the same scale as a regular 4005 and I believe it was as Ron said, strung E-E.

I don't remember the price. It didn't interest me much as I think the 4003S/5 is already a little too tight spaced for me. I mean...it was very interesting to look at, but I couldn't see myself playing it, so I wouldn't want one.

leftybass wrote:Yes, this lefty 4005/6 was full scale, but some of you may remember one that is a bit more wacky than this one, the 4005/8 that is a short-scale and has a dot-inlayed neck. The original owner of that bass paid us a visit some time ago and talked about it here on the Forum.

Here is the fellow.....

That 4005/8 short scale also had a zero fret on it. I know of at least 2 that were made.

Nice pants!










Oh, the bass is cool too.

rikk wrote:Nice pants!


Oh, the bass is cool too.

That comment was made in the original thread also. It was typical for the times, man!

jingle_jangle wrote:OK, so it's the only 4005/6 LH ever made, and it's running some sort of weird string setup (how do you intonate it with strigs that are so far off? Note all the guitar strings on the wall in the background... at least there's something there that'd fit.

Any other info as to who has it? Provenance, maybe?

Here you go Paul,

Some information on where I found the picture, and the DEALER who has it posted on his web site.

Hope this helps!


http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... 97#p403797

That 4005/8....What a cool piece...

Don't you wish you could still order stuff like that today?