Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My '76 4000 has been modified so that it has two pickups. I got it in '78 and it already had the neck pickup at that time (toaster style). The pickups, nobs, switch, etc look exactly like a 4001, but the body and neck are more what you would expect from a 4000.

Could the factory have made these modifications, either at time of order or as a rework? The guy who sold it to me claimed that it was originally given to a famous rock bass player. To be honest since the guy was a total bs-artist I never gave the story much thought, but now almost 30 years later I'm wondering if the 2nd pickup was done in the factory.

Thanks for your thoughts.

It could very well be a 4001S, which were just 4000 basses that were modified at the factory to have two pickups. However, I don't think that they came with a toaster from the factory at that time . . . so I'm not sure exactly what it is. Pictures might help, if you have them.

A picture of the body under the pickguard would be very useful in determining its history.

Welcome Dan.

Post some pix please. It's a set neck bass I presume?

They came from the factory with the neck pickup routing and I think that's all. Someone else must have done the mod at some point.

Here's my 1976 4000. No rout, but a small starter divot where you expect to start routing.

I must have been misinformed.
...Sorry...

Kevin,
That's a nice Fireglo, care to show more !!!

Sure!
I never noticed how pink it is under the guard until looking at that pic.
Ummm...just ignore the, uhhh, unusual pickup, the proper one is back home where it belongs.

I bought this baby in '86 from the local music store who were selling it for the original owner.
It still had the original 10 year old flats (which were starting to unwind), loads of crud under the guard.
The rods have never been touched, it's a great player, fairly thin neck.
It's extremely neck heavy, though: the body's quite light.

Hmmmmmmm ........ Fireglo, Nice, very nice !

Thanks, guys!
It's really almost a TransRed rather than FG.
The Scratch-X & Zymol treatment really show off a dark finish.
In pics of me playing the 4000, I'm usually looking downward. I'm not watching what I'm playing, just looking at the color!

I'm no photographer, but it seems to be fairly easy to capture the proper color. Maybe having a lot of natural light is the key.

That, and a camera with good sensitivity to red.

Here are some pics, and based on my recent research and looking at what I found it looks pretty clear this was an, uh, odd modification
Pickup appears to be a guitar toaster, routing looks to have been done later, etc.

That was done after the fact. There would be paint in the pickup route and the channel to the route if the factory had done it. The work appears to have been done very well though.