New! "Model of the Week"!
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- melibreits
- Senior Member
- Posts: 4081
- Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2003 6:00 am
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Thanks all for the comments, most kind. She really is a looker. One of the neat things about the wood on this guitar is that the heavy flame in the neck naturally "stops" at about the heel & the figure turns kind of curly (like the tail of a comet) - that's just on the back side. As you can see, on the top of the neck-through the flame goes all the way to the tail.
Unfortunately with the small pictures you can't see the grain too well, but that gives the guitar a very unusual aesthetic when viewed first-hand. Sorry about my ****** photography.
Unfortunately with the small pictures you can't see the grain too well, but that gives the guitar a very unusual aesthetic when viewed first-hand. Sorry about my ****** photography.
Sytý Hladovému Nevěří
- sloop_john_b
- Rick-a-holic
- Posts: 13843
- Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:00 am
- markbass99
- Intermediate Member
- Posts: 1267
- Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:23 am
Yeah, this bass sounds truly great, even when it had the hi-gain in it, which of course, I still have.
Years ago I started putting those Hipshot Ultralite tuners on my Zon basses as they are a direct drop-in replacement for Gotoh GB7 tuners, which it seems most manufacturers use. The ULs are lighter, have a higher tuning ratio of 27:1, and feel great. The 4001 had falling apart, sloppy feeling Grover wavy tuners, that I sold on the 'bay when I installed the ULs. As for the 4005WB, back in the early '80s I replaced the now long gone RIC tuners with Schaller M4S tuners. I had to drill out the headstock to 11/16" to fit them, but at the time the bass was just an old bass with no vintage appeal, and I liked the Schallers. I had them on the 4005WB until I found out that Hipshot started making the ULs to fit 11/16" holes a couple of years ago, so I got those to replace the M4s tuners. The ULs feel like they took a couple of lbs. off the headstock and the bass balances great. Back in May I got those NOS RIC tuners from Ric-Outlet that will some day go on the bass.
Years ago I started putting those Hipshot Ultralite tuners on my Zon basses as they are a direct drop-in replacement for Gotoh GB7 tuners, which it seems most manufacturers use. The ULs are lighter, have a higher tuning ratio of 27:1, and feel great. The 4001 had falling apart, sloppy feeling Grover wavy tuners, that I sold on the 'bay when I installed the ULs. As for the 4005WB, back in the early '80s I replaced the now long gone RIC tuners with Schaller M4S tuners. I had to drill out the headstock to 11/16" to fit them, but at the time the bass was just an old bass with no vintage appeal, and I liked the Schallers. I had them on the 4005WB until I found out that Hipshot started making the ULs to fit 11/16" holes a couple of years ago, so I got those to replace the M4s tuners. The ULs feel like they took a couple of lbs. off the headstock and the bass balances great. Back in May I got those NOS RIC tuners from Ric-Outlet that will some day go on the bass.
Hey, time for 4001's! Here's a few - sorry for the lousy pics:
The '77 MG:
And the '79 JG, which is fairly beat-up:
I've always wondered about the JG, whether it was a 'faker or not. I know Rics vary, but still...the 'guard is screwed-in too close to the edge (and is quite wide) and the whole right body wing was attached about 1/4" too high. The neck pickup looks a little too far from the neck. The routs and the skunk stripe (which you can barely see through the finish) look spot-on. It was resprayed - you can see FireGlo peeking out all over and in the cavity (where the graffiti was taped over twice - once for the FG and again for the JG - sorry no pic of that on hand!):
I guess the graffiti also points to it being real - maybe it was a "learner" bass for someone new to the shop? It's been dropped at some point (check out this crack):
and has scratches on the bridge and jackplate that look like a bear attacked it! It's beefy (as opposed to the MG which is super crunchy).
I love 'em both, but some of you guys got me jealous! Great stuff all around!

The '77 MG:
And the '79 JG, which is fairly beat-up:
I've always wondered about the JG, whether it was a 'faker or not. I know Rics vary, but still...the 'guard is screwed-in too close to the edge (and is quite wide) and the whole right body wing was attached about 1/4" too high. The neck pickup looks a little too far from the neck. The routs and the skunk stripe (which you can barely see through the finish) look spot-on. It was resprayed - you can see FireGlo peeking out all over and in the cavity (where the graffiti was taped over twice - once for the FG and again for the JG - sorry no pic of that on hand!):
I guess the graffiti also points to it being real - maybe it was a "learner" bass for someone new to the shop? It's been dropped at some point (check out this crack):
and has scratches on the bridge and jackplate that look like a bear attacked it! It's beefy (as opposed to the MG which is super crunchy).
I love 'em both, but some of you guys got me jealous! Great stuff all around!










