Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I think it's a refin. ALthough I'm no expert. Have to say though - cream works real well with Ricks! I like it!

I don't know what to make of this one. I'm inclined to agree with Andy. And yes, the bass looks really cool in cream. Would be a welcome addition to my collection. You can never get enough of Rickenbacker basses, no matter how many you own or play.

The only way to really know is to pull off the guard and see if the factory chicken traks are in the cavity with the same color ...

is the color under the guard different ?

perhaps white !!

maybe a yellowish color , in a reaction with the acrylic guard stock .

I personally think this is an all white bass with white binding , we made lots of those when I worked there .

thanks for the input

Everyone talks about Chris Squire's Ric turning cream from white, but I have a video, and have read several interviews with Chris stating that his "trademark" cream colored Ric started out FireGlo, was seriously shaved (thickness), and was refinished by a Britain luthier to cream-yellow.

Squires' 4001s Was originally Fireglo, then, stripped and refinished in natural,Then sometime later, the cream paintjob was done.

I like the white with white binding!

Some of you may remember a thread where it was stated that there were some basses made during this period that were a factory Cream finish....Someone (possibly John Hall) had stated that most of these basses went to the European market (Germany?).

There is someone familiar to the Forum who owns a late '70's 4001-S that has a factory Cream finish...the bass above may not be 'yellowed' white at all.....

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the color doesn't look much like the yellowed-out white on my '78 4001. Mine is a deeper yellow (perhaps partially from nicotine "dye"), and (more importantly), the yellowing is pretty uneven/inconsistent (deep yellow in places, lighter yellow in others, even still white in a couple spots), while this bass looks to me like it actually *was* finished with the cream color that covers it consistently. But I'm no expert ...

Under the thread "Rare 1971 4001-S ? or what?" in this section I posted a picture of the neck pickup rout on my "white" 1975 4001S. Granted, the picture isn't great, but you should be able to see that there is no color difference between the 'exposed' and 'unexposed' areas of the finish: it is a uniform "cream" (i.e., yellowish-white) color.

I don't think it was exposed to the staining effect of second-hand smoke, either, because I bought it from the original owner, a one-time RIC dealer, who custom-ordered it from the factory back then, and the guitar hasn't seen much use at all.

I have a 1998 4003 WHT, too, so I'll see if I can get a picture of the two side-by side and post it in this thread.

Well, yes it's been a while since posted that last message, but here, finally, is the picture I promised:





I think it's easy to tell which is which. As I mentioned, there is no evidence under the pickguard and trussrod cover to suggest that the finish on the 1975 4001S has actually changed color due to exposure.

Gary,
Explain something for me please. In the pic above, the top part of the pic is a 1975 4001S right? And below is your 1998 white 4003 with white binding?
I've always liked the white finish, but hated the black binding. I like both of them but that 4001S is very cool and I bet there aren't many around.

ANY Rickenbacker bass is very cool, period.

Amen, Sergio!

Gene, the 4001S is very special. It was an acquisition from eBay; it was custom ordered from the factory by the original owner, who was a Rickenbacker dealer at the time, and he was the only owner (and hardly played it). It has a set neck because it started out as a Model 4000 (in fact, it says so on the truss rod cover!). It sounds as nice as it looks, too!


The 4003 WHT/WT was a local purchase; the white binding is what made me interested in it because, like you, I don't find the black binding that attractive. Of course, the ultimate white RIC bass is the 4003S Tuxedo: