Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have the opportunity to buy a lefty 1976 4001, Mapleglo, for $600. I haven't seen it yet, but have a picture of it. Here's what the owner said about it:

"It has a satin tung oil finish, Schaller machine heads, bad ***
bridge, seymor Duncan pickups (includes original rickenbacker pickups as well) frets are decent. I bought the bass in 1976 it's in good condition."

I need my next bass to be very light, and he said he weighed it on his bathroom scale for me and it was about 7 lbs. Is this possible for a 1976 4001 with these mods? If so, this could me my dream come true. Here's some background.

I have a lefty Fender Jazz Bass. I like it the neck a lot, but it's just too damn heavy for me. I got afterwards a lefty Danelectro DC Bass. Super light, which I love, but I hate the neck. What I also love on it, which I didn't know about before, is that the string spacing is much narrower at the bridge than the Fender or most other basses. I think just under 2". I also like how the pickups are shorter, so since I rest my thumb on the bridge pickup, I am closer to the strings. I know that the string spacing at the bridge on the Rickenbackers is narrower than a Fender, right? I am guessing that it's between the Danelectro and the Fender?

So, if this guy is correct, and it does actually weigh around 7 lbs., and the string spacing is indeed narrower, this could be perfect for me. And yes, I always loved the Rickenbacker sound. I'm not worried about the pickups since I can put back the stock ones if I don't like the SD's, and I could also put on a stock RIC bridge or the Hipshot one, since I think the Badass looks ugly on the Rickenbacker.

Thanks a lot for any feedback on this.

Hehe...I was in a band once named "Haz Mat"...

If there is no major damage from these mods, and you can put in the original PU's, then $600 is a fine price.

when you refinish a Ric bass in oil finish it will weigh a pound or two less than a high gloss finish ... it will resonate a little better as well ... the seymour duncan Ric replacement pickups don't sound very good .. get some 4003 pickups and put in there ...

hey I used to be a Unix system administrator ... but these day the network I run is microshaft ... uhhh ... Microsoft ...

Jeff, are you serious about the finish making that much of a different in weight?

And as for the job change, my condolences.

The Bad *** might be the only issue depending how it was installed,if they routed out the tailpiece area or not.

The original owner musta really disliked this bass, you gotta wonder why he bought it in the first place.

About the only thing he didnt change was the binding.

I like the knobs.

Welcome, & you probably WILL put the RIC pups back. I installed SD's on a 4001 which had the bridge pup replaced with a J style pup & the neck pup was dead. The original pups sound MUCH better, now that I've finally had a chance to hear originals in person.
The SD's aren't horrible, but they're just not that great. A little bland sounding.
The bridge is probably not a problem to put back to stock as well, but I'm not sure.

If the refin was done well $600 for a lefty 4001 that can be easily returned to (almost) stock is a VERY good deal!

The knobs remind me of old stereo knobs, like the ones on the Marantz we had when I was growing up in the 70s.

If I get the bass, I will most likely put on the Hipshot bridge, or locate a stock one. And I would probably put on stock knobs, I guess those vintage ones. And probably Hipshot Ultra Lights.

Thanks again for the continuing comments....

Good choice on the Hipshot parts.

Yes oil finish as opposed to conversion varnish ... it can weigh about a pound less ... I haven't weighed a bass before and after but it makes a difference ... and it changes the sound ... I really like the sound of oil finish basses ... when I make fender style basses I oil finish the necks ... it improves the sound ... I have 4 basses with the oil finish ... they all sound great ...

as per work ... I am the network administrator for an architectural firm ... we used to have a Unix network in the old days ... but in 97 we switched to windows to be more mainstream ...

Ever since I got my MG 4003 about a year ago I've been studying the pics of every other one I see, which has verified how lucky I was to get such a nice consistent grain pattern in the maple. Out of the hundreds of pictures I've looked at, there have been about two or three that could compete with mine. The one in the link is one of them. Very nice!

Are you refering to this MG 4003?

I've loved that bass since the first time I saw it, Jeff. It has one of the most pronounced grain patterns I've ever seen. Everything else you've done with it looks super cool too. I'd have to say yours is in a class by itself, while the grain on mine more resembles the picture linked in the first post.

I just realized how useless my comments are without pictures too. It looks like I won't be able to put off buying a camera much longer.