Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

those replicas of the famous butchered 4001 basses ... the 4001CS and the 4001C64 seem to sell pretty good on ebay

I'm sure it's not because someone finds the shaved horns attractive.

I'm with you on that. Mal got just a little out of control with the sand paper. I guess you're right about using the word 'modified', how 'bout 'slightly altered'.
Back to the original thread, I've never seen a Cheyenne here in Columbus, Ohio. Doesn't mean they don't exsist here, but I've yet to encounter one.

Well I believe there were also a couple of famous guitar players who (modified/had modified) rics, (Lennon, Mcguinn). In at least one if not both of the above cases their mods influenced others to do the same.
I think sometimes who does it influences whether it is acceptable or not.

somebody brought a 4004CII into the local guitar center and the manager flipped out ... the wood was so beautiful ... he thought it was a custom shop bass or something ...

The 4001 were not limited production basses, nor were they discontinued, so the comparison isn't valid.

I regularly mod MIM Strats, but they too do not fall into my area of criticism., as there are millions of them, although even those mods are reversable.

My initial complaint was in reference to drilling holes in the out of production CI, which are scarce, otherwise we wouldn't be posting about them everytime one shows up on ebay (like twice a year).

I have no criticism as to Jeff's workmanship, only the idea of irreversably modifying rare guitars. That siad, if he paid for it, he can do what he likes, but don't expect those like me to give you top dollar for it should you decide to sell it.

Jeff...what would you say to someone who modded a 40th anniversary Strat? Irreversibly, sort of...had to rout out some wood to put some DiMarzio FastTrac1's and a Chopper.

Not mine, I did similar to that to a 66 Mustang (which unlike a lot of Stangs actually is a fine guitar)...but the guitarist I play with did that to his. After hearing my 'Stang...he didn't get quite the same effect, but prety damned close, and it (IMO) made a great guitar really great. But some purists will cringe.

My bud also has an American strat from 96 that he had made custom, he put some Texas special PU's in it and eventually went back to stock. That's a really nice guitar, too, and I lobbied hard with him against the Texas special change. Eventually I like it, and didn't want him to go back to stock!

I guess it really comes down to if it's yours, do what you like!

BTW, I see a few new bids for the 4004 Ci...damn, I wish... But I figure I'm going to put all the money from gigs aside until I have the cash to buy a new one. For moment I'll just have to "suffer" with my 4001 (which I just tweaked and have playing real nice! )

Swapping PUs is a whole different matter than routing or drilling holes in a guitar. I've butchered my share of guitars over the years, so I'm not trying to pull some holier than though attitude, it is just my opinion that folks should leave the rarer instruments to those who want them as they were originally, and do their modifying to more common guitars.

If someone found a CI that had already been altered, like having a neck repair or something, then I'd say it's fair game. But taking a pristine example and chaning it forever just isn't kosher in my book. Enough said.

I'll have a corned beef on RIC!

"... butchered my share of guitars over the years, so I'm not trying to pull some holier than thou attitude"

Same here... and I regret them all. That is why I dislike mods in rare guitars. There will be a time in the future when you might regret it very much, and it will be too late. It's got to a point that I will not replace the ****** 2-saddle bridge in my Musicmaster bass with a 4-saddle unit, just because I'm keeping everything original.

"... That said, if he paid for it, he can do what he likes"

This is the second reason. With some rare instruments, I think of the owners also as keepers for future generations.

Brian,
Your comment on Lennon and McGuinn's improvements sounds familiar. I was typing it myself again and I saw that you had already posted it. It is similar to one I left last week. Clearly, great minds think alike!

I say do what you want with it Jeff. However, if I find out someone takes a Lightshow and converts it into something useless (like a fruitbowl then there will be hell to pay!)

Funny you should say that, as just yesterday Kenny Howes and I were talking about turning his Lightshow into a fruit bowl!

Huh. I was just looking at fruit bowls in the supermarket today, and recalled that. This is weird!

Well, about 8 hours left, and there have only been 4 bids up to $940. Seems like a deal for that axe, especially when that butchered, alleged 73 4001 apparently sold for close to that a few days ago...

Go figure. I hope when I finally get the $1100-1200 saved up in about a year that I see a deal like that, but I might lean towards just buying one new.

Jeff,

Congrats! I just saw that you won the auction and within your price range. I almost jumped in but didn't when I saw you were the high bidder.

Keep us posted on whether you mod this to a 5 string.

Regards,

Paul