Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

bassduke49 wrote:Probably the fanciest leftie Rick 4004 you'll ever see, an early Cii model in quilted Trans Red. It is owned by a Chicagolander who would like to remain unanimous.

Ah, look at that.
Coincidently, 2-3 weeks ago a lefty 4004 Cii flaming maplego, walnut back and gold hardware, was sold over at LeftyBassist. Photos are still there, but I guess I’m not allowed to link directly to it.

jps wrote:I differentiate it this way:

A bunch of 4001s vs. a lot of 4001S basses or 4001Ss. Large S designates the model (4001S), a small s designates lots of them4001s, 4001Ss). I supoose it could be 4001S'.

Yeah, yeah and all that stuff, Jeff. Just dump that freakin' vision-imparing avatar, will ya!! Takes my eyes ages to recover from looking at that darned thing!!

You tell`em Aitch

Wiker wrote:

bassduke49 wrote:Probably the fanciest leftie Rick 4004 you'll ever see, an early Cii model in quilted Trans Red. It is owned by a Chicagolander who would like to remain unanimous.

Ah, look at that.
Coincidently, 2-3 weeks ago a lefty 4004 Cii flaming maplego, walnut back and gold hardware, was sold over at LeftyBassist. Photos are still there, but I guess I’m not allowed to link directly to it.

You must mean this one: That's freakin' gorgeous! If I'd have known about that, I'd have bought it and learned to play lefty!


I put it in the Register too:
http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... =index.php

Wow!! That quilted Cii is just beautiful. I wonder what the story behind that one is; I'm guessing it had to be a special build for someone famous or a special order.

Something I've wondered about - some lefty basses look like they use righty necks, others don't. The pics above already show both types. Is there a general rule that tells when a righty-style neck is used?

johnallg wrote:Wow!! That quilted Cii is just beautiful. I wonder what the story behind that one is; I'm guessing it had to be a special build for someone famous or a special order.

Well, according to the guy who sold it:

When I first ordered the bass in 1998, it was supposed to be a Cheyenne I, which didn't have the figured top, just the walnut wings full thickness. Also, the truss rod cover was mostly black on that model, if I recall. But it took about 7 months for Ric to make it, and I guess during that time they started the Cheyenne II line. I was happy with the changes when I received it. The figured top, the transparent and gold truss rod cover, and the pickup placement (the neck pickup isn't all the way up against the neck like the previous models. I have seen a few with figured tops, but most of those have a color and poly finish. This one has an oil finish.

That figured top is amazing. I have designs on building an 8-string (righty, sorry!) with a nice quilt to it.

cjj - I just noticed that you're just one letter off from being cii yourself!

walker wrote:That figured top is amazing. I have designs on building an 8-string (righty, sorry!) with a nice quilt to it.

cjj - I just noticed that you're just one letter off from being cii yourself!

Well, 2 actually, or would that be one twice? But yeah, that's why I call my customized 4004Cii a 4004Cjj...

Nice! And yeah - I was thinking c + 1j(2) = cjj

Some info.

The development of the Cheyenne II (4004Cii - ii is short for the French "bis" meaning "second" or "next") appears to include a prototype that is in the RIC office museum and was familiar to those attending the 75th Anniversary event as being the stage instrument for the performances. This bass was built like a standard Cheyenne (4004C) with walnut body and headstock wings, maple neck-through plank with maple fingerboard, but with the addition of a quilted maple top. It also had a satin finish applied to the maple top. It appears the first batch of the new Cheyenne II were similar, except that the pickups were now in the "lower" position and had a bubinga fingerboard. This beautiful leftie was from that batch, and the date code on that bass indicates July 1999. Interestingly, when you go to the RIC website serial decoder, they have a picture of a gold-plated single output jack with a July 99 date on a body with a walnut back and quilted maple front! Another one! I've seen photos of only a handful of basses with these construction features, and likely it was not long after that the company switched over to the maple/walnut/maple sandwich construction for the Cheyenne II.

The story on the lefty/righty necks is that until the late 1980s(?), all RIC bass necks used the right-handed headstock pattern and shark-fin position markers that tapered to the right (as seen from the front). McCartney's 1964 4001S (dot position markers) is typical. So in the late 1980s(?) the factory started producing lefty necks with a mirror image headstock pattern, but the position markers were still tapering to the right. It wasn't until recently (2006?) with the introduction of the (likely) CNC-cut fingerboards that the position markers for lefties were made "mirror image" to the righties with the new full-width inlays inserted with the taper to the left (front view again).

Complicating all of that are a few lefty 4001V63 basses made with the "PMC" option (for Paul McCartney) that had the old-style "upside-down" leftie headstock pattern. There are also lefty 4001V63 basses with the standard "mirror image" headstock. And then of course, the C64 family has the upside down pattern on the righties, and, on what few lefty C64 basses there may be, the upside down headstock is standard. Whew!

Here's a little something I picked up the other day at a yard sale.
I don't play lefty so I may use it for firewood.

YARDSALE MY @$$!

"FIREWOOD???"

Oh, you're a witty one, Teeder!

That would be the warmest growliest sounding fire ever!!

teeder wrote:Here's a little something I picked up the other day at a yard sale.

4001-69.gif

I don't play lefty so I may use it for firewood.

Kevin, wait!!
I'll give you 10 bucks for it...it's only firewood, right???