Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

How rare is the 4001 from that era (72ish..)

If it's Azureglo or this colour...



... Very!

for my money I have zero interest in old basses with weak necks and weak pickups ... I sold all of my old 60s and 70s instruments...

Good point, Jeff - no denying new instruments sound far, far superior - especially Rics!

The new Rickenbacker basses sound far better than they play. The vintage stuff, especially the 60's basses, play far better than they sound!

TOTALLY, Wints. I whole-heartedly agree. Hit the nail on the head, there.

my 10,000 number is a very low estimate ... they made 1000 4001cs basses and they don't pop up on ebay very often and when they do they command a premium price ... so multiply my number by a factor of 3 or 5 and you will get closer ... now some of them are in disrepair like the one currently on ebay missing the neck ...

Quote - "no denying new instruments sound far, far superior - especially Rics!"

Henny, I've never played a new Rick that comes close to sounding as good as my 72 4001...in fact generally speaking I've far preferred the early 70s 4001s to any 4003s I've played soundwise. I guess it's all down to personal taste.

part of that sound is the 8k ohm high gains ...

Late to the dogpile here but I agree with Jeff R and Steve C. I picked up my '85 4003 because I didn't want to bring my '77 4001 out to play on gig night - I want to be able to play not worry about whether or not my "precious" was going to be coming home with me that night.

My '77 is now a nicely aged snotglo with white trim, not a common feature set from what I've seen and my absolute favorite 4001 color combo. Too nice to lose to a barfly *******.

Hmm, my 72, my 73 4000 and my CS all get taken out. They're too nice NOT to take out....I guess if I was touring a lot then I would possibly go the 4003 route, simply for consistency (?) and structural superiority (theoretically at least), but as it stands I'd sooner play my favourite basses. Of course if I find a 4003 I like as much then I'll take that out too...but as I play all original music (well, occasionally we throw a cover in just for the heck of it) it's more about me having "my tone" than having to be particularly versatile. I would tend to agree that a 4003 would probably be more sonically versatile than one of my old basses.

Yes, they were mean't to play!


(Sorry for the lousy pic, it is a very tight crop.)