Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

She's a real beaut! Love that maple! Looks like it has had really good care over the years. Yur killin' me Jeff!!

Man, I just love grain! Sweet, Jeff.... give us the specs.

Beautiful, Jeff, but you're making us all jealous.

Nice, Jeff!
I Love me some 73 mapleglo!

Ya gotta love the birdseye! FANTASTIC!!

Did you add the vintage knobs Jeffrey?

That is the "diaper" bass that was discussed in the for sale section. I bought it over the weekend. Upon taking it apart for some cleaning I found that what I thought was a refin was actually the original finish, there is no evidence of any wrongdoing in that department. I was under the impression it had been refinished as the finish is sunk in to the grain more than I am used to seeing, but then again my basis for comparison is my '67 4005WB JG and '73 4001 FG. My guess is that the color finishes tend to prevent this more so vs. a natural finish with no color coat, perhaps Dale or Paul can give more info as to whether this may be the case or not.

The bass came with old Rotosound RWs, I replaced them with my usual custom guage Chromes and now the bass has incredibly low action and sounds just great. I need to replace some stripped out and missing screws and put proper knobs and switch handle on it, all of which should be arriving in a couple of days.

I don't plan on refinishing this so what is it that I should use to clean the bass up with, is it naptha? I like the patina on it so I probably will not do the Scratch-X/Zymol treatment to it.

BTW, I don't have a problem with the pad on the back, as this is pretty good evidence that this bass is the very first Rickenbacker I had ever seen or played in person! I knew a guy in high school who had a Rick just like this with the exact same kind of pad on the back. The fact that this bass is very close to home and that neither I, nor Kenny Howes or Mike Parks has ever seen another like it gives me even more reason to believe this is that same bass. The date of the bass also fits in with this hypothesis. I first played it sometime between late Spring to early Fall of '73, which then put me on the hunt for my own first Rickenbacker, which I got in late Fall of '73, my '67 4005WB.

Steve, those a lousy looking knockoffs that were on the bass along with a Gibson handle on the selector switch, all of which will be shortly replaced with proper RIC parts (although I am putting vintage knobs back on it).

Nice one, Jeff! Hope it is the same bass...... that would be totally cool!

Beautiful, Jeffrey! If I didn't have a nice '73 I'd be even more envious than I am already!!

Great story. Jeff.
Enjoy it much.

That is so cool that it is most likely that bass! What are the odds?!?! Great snag, Jeff!

Great buy, Jeff! Good for you!

Beautiful !!!!!