Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

These knobs appear to be original on my 73 4001, because of the ageing seems to be in line with other pieces on the bass.

I understand they are probably not original, with no lettering, but what's your best idea of what they might be?

They could be original, with the lettering simply all worn off, or perhaps the lettering was starting to wear, and the owner took the rest of the print off[acetone on a cotton wad, or rag will do it easily, BTW..] The old Kustom amp co. used to use these knobs as well, with No lettering on them.

Those were standard on a lot of ham gear back in the day! IIRC

The VOX Tonelabs use 'em.

Thanks. I think I'll go with they "could be" original.

Didn't earlier basses have non-labled knobs, too?

Every 73 I have ever seen has had lettering on the knobs, the acetone theory seems plausible. I accidently got paint thinner on a metal ruler one time by accident and smeared the numbers, I went ahead and wiped it clean and decided to use it as a straight edge.

The 74 4000 I just got has knobs exactly like those and I think the pickguard, knobs and pots are the ONLY original hardwear left on my bass. They look just like yours.

I've never seen original knobs without lettering on a Rick, although lots of Ricks get the wrong knobs fitted in later life.

Kernkamp...
you too?
I cannot speculate why these knobs would have been changed. Everything else is original, down to pickguard screws, including the treble pickup capacitor, still wired in place. There's no indication of damage or excessive wear, in the area where they are mounted...

Not saying they for sure ARE original, but I think it'd be hard to say they're not. Seems like rare but still plausible.

I have seen these on 60s era basses, if I remember.

Mike, my recently arrived '73 has the same knobs. Of course, I have no idea if they're original. Like yours, the wear on mine is consistent with the rest of the bass.

I have a '77 with plain knobs like this, but they have always seemed wrong to me. I have black vintage knobs now.

They certainly look like the right style knob, but it wouldn't take much to remove the lettering, a little wipe of acetone would do it.

I believe most if not all '73s would have had lettering on the knobs. I beieve JH has said that the knobs had some slight variations over the years, and as far as the lettering/dots/dashes you can see over time how they varied, of course having them be original to the instrument is important when you're making a point of reference.

Paul stated,

"I've never seen original knobs without lettering on a Rick, although lots of Ricks get the wrong knobs fitted in later life"...

The Nov '64 bass on eBay at present has the correct blank top knobs with the slash marker. These are used sparingly around this time periodically. Lefty has a set on his '64 12 string I believe...

I realize these may not be original to this bass, so maybe somebody here has a set of period-correct knobs they'd like to sell to me?
Thanks a lot for all your help.

Mike,

I'm looking at my 74 4000 right now and I too have those EXACT knobs and they also look very "period" to me. I just assumed that the lettering had rubbed off or something. It's just weird that as old as these knobs look they may be replacements. (although in my bass's case considering all the other replacement parts I'm not surprised)

They just look old. And correct for the period that's all.