Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When were these introduced? I remember back in the late '70's or early '80's seeing Chris Squire with Yes play a white 8-string with black trim. He would always play it for the encore, (usually roundabout). I remember it had the 'rounded' style headpiece, not the cresting wave style like the newer ones. Was this just a prototype or did they produce a few of these?

Scott,
As far as I know, there's never a 4001-8 in existence while some 4008 were produced as the 8-string version of the 4001 during '75-'83.

Here's one.

Model 4008 back with the eight Schaller M4 tuners:







An eight string bass introduced in the mid 1970's. The 1982 price list describes a 4008 as "Full scale bass with 8 strings, like 4001S". The bass on this photos has a bound neck and stereo outputs.

Courtesy of Bob Goodman

© 2000 Björn Eriksson, www.rickbeat.com

Im sure 4001-8 is in fact incorrect, and your probably right on with the 4008 model,..I was just curious about Squires model with the rounded, old style headpiece like Entwistles 4005. Actually I've got a photo somewhere, and will try to post it.

You mean a headstock like this?



Yeah I saw in Yes concert DVD's that Chris Squire played it occasionally. Maybe it should be called 4001/8 since its headstock is different from that of a 4008 or a 4003S/8? Those are extremely rare birds!

there was a white 73 like that - part of that big John Entwistle auction

It's got a zero fret?!

Quite a beauty that was!



John Entwistle's Aug. 1973 4001 8-string.

Serial MH2553, cream finish with chequered binding, through-neck with rosewood fingerboard and dot markers, headstock with four-a-side machineheads, in Gibson flight case with spare strings.

John,
That B+W "Frogfoot headstock" shot was that of a 4005/8, not Chris Squire's 4001 8-string. Both shared the same headstock design.

Don't know if Squire's bass has the zero fret though.

Thats it, just like Entwistles. Still looking for the pic, give me some time and I will post it. I believe it was about 1979, or whenever the "Drama" tour was. I saw him play it several times, (big Squire fan I am). I do remember that even in '79 the bass was a very distinct cream color that would indicate it had some age to it even then. This is the bass that inspired me to get my first Rick bass,..A new Rickenbacker 4001 White, I really loved the white with black trim........Anywayyyyy, back to the question, were the basses that Squire and Entwistle had prototypes of the 4008, or did Rickenbacker actually produce a few of these ?

I believe the two specifically made for Squire and Entwistle were custom orders, which was much easier for anyone back in those days, they weren't prototypes or a study for a production model. Squire had one a couple of years before Entwistle had his '73 made.

Even before these were made, Rickenbacker had made six-string versions of the 4005 and 4001--the 4001-6 basses were made around 1965-66, and I have never seen one personally; supposedly no more than 5 or 6 were made....

Thanks for the info guys. Any of these would be a wonderful find.

By my estimate, I came in third on the auction for that Entwistle 8-string; was about 100 pounds short of the winning bid. Grrr. But at least now I get interesting mailings from Sothebys.

Rickengeezer, (great name, fits me too)
Do they let you now what the top bid is?

Sothebys did have them posted for a little while after the auction, but there were nice enough to send me a list via mail of the hammer price for all items in the auction that sold; I faxed in my bid since my wife thought a trip to London (from Texas) might have been a bit extreme, even for me. My highest bid was on the 4001/8, but I also put in token bids on the two 4005s. The 4005s both went for a lot higher than the 8-string, close to double the price.

I think the 4001/8 went for close to 4500 sterling..approx $7000. The 4005,s were closer to 6500/7000 sterling..$10-11,000. These basses were valued way under in the pre sale estimate, at approx $2-3000....Simon Mole on Bjorn,s site bought one of them..check out how many 4005,s he has!!