Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I had to check the calendar to make sure today was not April 1st. So is the time right for baritone guitars? Maybe JH planted odd stuff around the factory to deliberately mislead us - for comedic purposes of course! I once knew a naturalist named Dring who used polyfoam to fashion a large fungus looking thing that he would place in the trees near the nature center where he worked. The sign read that it was Polyfoamus plasticus dringus. Very few people got the joke though.

Ginger is with Dave now? I thought she was with Donna. Well, whatever. That's cool. Dave & Ginger make a nice couple too, and they both play 4002s - how perfect is that!

Nope hon..lol..I'm still with Donna..I think it was a comparison between the 4002s..

Thanks for the fine comments on Dave's 4002. Autumglo and heavy/heavy birdseye maple, one of the most figured Basses I've ever seen!

Ginger and Mark - think Gilligan's Island.

Dale, that's right, I forgot, Dave's 4002 was one of your refins. Great work!

Here's my 4002, from October '77.



It's a little light on the figured maple, but note that case interior color.

This is the earliest 4002 I know of and I had to have it restored to get it playable. It has a replacement fretboard, but not because of any fingerboard separation due to misadjusted trussrods. It plays great and has all of the original electronics and most of the original hardware.

Rickenbacker does describe these pickups as 'humbucking' in their sales literature from the era. The pickups are much different from the modern day HB pickups in both sound and construction.

Thanks for sharing, Greg. Great looking bass! Probably one of the first.

Forum 4002 owner #7.

They are hum-canceling but not dual coils like traditional humbuckers.

Thanks, Mark.

Imagine my dismay when I first received the bass and opened the case, only to find the ebony fretboard so dry and cracked that I was able to pick some of the frets out of it with my fingernail! The action was 1/4" at the 15th fret. Knowing how rare 4002's are, I decided to be patient with it.

Mark Arnquist did most of the work on the bass and its neck been very stable since. He disrupted nearly none of the original MG finish while milling down the remains of the fretboard, but not to the point of exposing the trussrod slots. While it's not perfect and I don't like that the 12th fret dots are so close together, stuff like that can be fixed and I remain grateful that Mark was able to get it to the point he did. As far as hardware originality, the bridge is a replacement part from '97, as are some of the wood screws, but the rest is original.

I've always been on the lookout for 4002 information. I finally emailed John Hall back in 1997 and he told me that there were certainly fewer than 200 built. Others claim somewhere between 25 and 75. Who knows? At one point, I requested a pair of original pickups from John Hall, but he told me that he had none on hand and remembered that the pickup bobbin was very unique. He then went on to describe the bifiliar nature of the pickups and that the bass was probably designed to incorporate features desired by Rickenbacker employee Dick Burke(sp?), not necessarily by the market.

Only the treble (bridge) pickup is tied to the XLR output. The treble volume control plays no part in this circuit, however the treble tone control does.

This bass has the thinnest headstock and neck of any Rickenbacker bass I have ever owned. My 4002 is easily one pound heavier than the heaviest of any of the other Rickenbacker basses I have owned, so the body wood is dense. The pickguard is similarly unique to Rickenbacker, being a 5-ply that is reminiscent of the Gibson guards, but in comparing it with a friend's ES-335 guard, found that it is even a little different that that. Arnquist once joked that Rickenbacker might have gone down the street to a trophy shop to have these made, as needed. Again, who knows?

Even with the Jazz Bass pickup placement, the influence is definitely Alembic. With an original MSRP of $1275.00 in 1977, they certainly weren't priced within everyone's reach.

It is heavier because less wood was removed for the pickup routes. The treble route on a 4001/3 goes nearly through the body but the "2" has relatively shallow routes. This could also explain some of the sound differences.

Right on, Greg. Great history there. Certain forum members here might be able to recreate the 4002 pickups for you. Sérgio Silva is doing some stuff for me; there may be others here who'd be into it as well.

Interesting the accounts I've read about the XLR wiring. I wonder what the theory was behind the design - just the bridge pickup connected, no volume, but tone control...

the 4004 pickups could be a good option in a 4002 ...

It was 25 years ago today that I walked into Musicstop,thinking of ordering an Alembic as a gift to myself..they had a fretted maple 4002 on display there..within seconds of playing it I was at the counter ordering mine, in walnut,fretless,Schallers,checked binding,ebony fretboard..lolyou had to put 500 down just to order it..anyways kinda an anniversary for me an her,its my 46th birthday today

Happy Birthday!!!

Sure you're planning some quality time with that bass today!

Happy birthday Ginger!!!