Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Bob, mine is not that flamey, but the body is a beautiful fireglo. Its not in mint condition, but I looked for a bass like this for a long time, and I love her very much! Apparently, 21 fret 4001s were made from about 1970 to 1971, as far as we've been able to tell. Mr Sergio Silva has one from 1970, I believe, in fireglo, and there is another member here who has a burgandyglo 21 fretter, don't remember the year. I need to get my digital camera fixed, and when I do, I will get some pictures out there! Oh, and by the way, my bass is a Feb, '71. It seems to me that around 1972, Rick 4001 basses became more plentiful, relatively speaking, and I only rarely see 1970 or 1971 models, altho I go to a lot of Guitar shows looking for just that. Whatever the year tho, I love Ricks, and although the sound of the new ones is different in some ways from the old classics, I dearly love both in their own ways!

Hey Bob, here's some 21 fretters for your viewing pleasure: Gene's Feb 71, Grant Arthur's Jan 71, my Nov 70 (pickguard not original), a (presumably) late 71 which appeared on Ebay in July 2003, and a (presumably) 70 from someone's bass collection.

Here is Chris Squire with his 21 fret 4001 in '71

Those are all really nice

bob,what a nice bass,beautiful color,great shape you must be proud.

Please forgive my ignorance....
Would someone enlighten me on the 21 fret deal?

Why do they exist, how many did RIC produce and what years???

Im with Chris, was it an idea that never really got off the ground?

What was the advantage?

Also, did they compensate the extra length by moving the bridge up a touch? I think this kinda looks odd.

The advantage of 21 frets is that you now have a full three octaves from E to E.

And yes, the bridge assembly was moved up a bit accordingly.
Another advantage of that feature is that it now imparts added desirability to the perennially fascinating 4001 Model bass.
(Ah! I always wanted to say that line!)

Ok...got all that, but was it a special order option?... Or did they just show up here and there as an anomaly to the RIC line?

Oh, and do they take the same length truss rod system?

Taking a wild guess here, but since J Hall commented here that you can chop 1 inch off your old-style rods and they will be good as new, I'm assuming RIC used the standard length rods for the 21 fretters. But I don't know that for sure.

I wonder if the 21 fretters sound different from normal 4001's of the period; and if they sounded better, maybe that's what prompted RIC to move the neck pickup back another half inch three years later.

Chris, most of these 21-fret 4001 basses show up from late 1970 thru 1971 production as was posted above. It appears that building basses with 21-fret necks was not a standardized practice at Rickenbacker, and I believe it was something that most people didn't even notice at the time....not that these 21-fret basses are considered as a custom-built piece, just extra-ordinary.

Rickenbacker was building many interesting instruments during this time...MANY custom-built pieces went out the door, as well as instruments like the Light-Show guitars/basses, slant-fret necks, the first 24-fret neck 360's, Greenglo and Blueglo finishes etc...

Ah..Thanks John...I somehow missed Gene's post

Just another interesting aspect of RIC's production practices!!! Fascinating!!

So, it sounds like the 21 fretter's are truley the "Holy Grail" of Rick basses, with the exception of maybe the 4002.

I'll ask the obvious, what would you expect to pay for one from a dealer?

Also, any clue on how many were made?

"... sounds like the 21 fretter's are truley the 'Holy Grail' of Rick basses, with the exception of maybe the 4002"

4002's are all 21 fretters. Right, Ted?