Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So I was told that this guy had a '63 4001 that he wanted to sell. It was a little beat had been seriously modded but was largely intact. It turns out that the seller is a really good guy who didn't know any better about Ricks. The bass was really a '75 that had in fact been seriously modded but was not really playable. The fingerboard was falling off and a third pickup route had been cut. Here is a shot of how it looked when I got it.



A little closer if you are curious....

I have been mulling this one for about 2 years until last week when I finally decided what to do with it. First, I stripped off all of the hardware.



Then the body wings and fingerboard.




Then I used my dado cutter to even out the wood in the middle of the neck slab.



Then I made a new middle section out of maple and shedua and glued it in place.

Taking shape Ted!

Incidentally, the route in the upper wing... what in the bloody Hell was in there? A clock?

If you can bring this one back, you're truly the man!

Then I added walnut wings to the headstock and routed it for binding.




Then I bound the headstock in .040 black binding. It is not easy binding a 4001 headstock. All of those curves and bends will really try your patience!

A clock! LOL! That is the best guess yet!

Now we introduce the black gold. Have you priced ebony lately? Yikes! I made 4 fingerboard blanks from one board that cost about $140. I could have bought a boat load of bubinga for the same money.



I cut one of the blanks into a fingerboard. Here it is dry fitted to the neck slab.



Is my plan becoming apparent yet?

Ted's Excellent Adventure! Was that crater for electronics or batteries?

BTW, is this headed for 4002 land?

Hmmm... 2001 X 2?

1/2 of 8004?

Yes it is.

Go get 'em, Ted!

What about pups?

In case you were wondering, the neck slab is a bit taller south of the fingerboard than it will be in the finished bass. The fingerboard is currently resting on what appears to be the top of the bass. The maple and shedua will be taken down a bit later on.




Here is a big hint as to what I am doing (as if you needed it).

Ah! So me math is correct!!!

The force is strong within me some nights...

It is going to get a set of HB1s for now. I still have to work out the electronics. There is a really nice chunk of maple on the way to me that will become the body wings. I decided to make them from scratch out of really choice birdseye or flame maple.

The back of the headstock is truly a mess. This thing had at least two different sets of tuners over the years. I pulled several broken screws out if the wood and the tip of a drill bit!

I decided to do this mod because of the poor overall condition of the bass. I would not do this to an intact instrument. The wood is especially nice. There is lots of birdsye in the neck slab and body wings. It is a shame it is so hacked up. It will only look like a 4002. It will not have the fancy electronics but it will have a 21 fret ebony fingerboard, walnut wings, bound headstock, 5 layer pickguard, and nicely figured maple body and neck. I realize that some day someone could try to pass it off as a real 4002 (if I do my job right) so it needs some detail that would make its pedigree clear. I just have not worked that part out yet.