Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've done research but haven't been able to see whats under the TRC of an early 80's 4003 - does this look correct or not?

http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh10 ... nt=dn8.jpg

That's what my '81 4003s looks like.

Carter & John, I don't have that era bass, but I wanted to welcome you to the forum.

thanks - if you check out the rest of that album you can see some writing in th control cavity which leads me to believe its a 1980 although the date is written backwards - the TRC is definitely a fake and the jackplate has nothing on it - i suppose it could have worn off - i have seen some posts suggesting that can occur, but it is not mottled so i suspect it is non-original -- but as far as the body/neck everything about it seems original

Totally legit.

Its a Rick. The "Exploding Grovers" (used again in the early 80's) must have exploded and been replaced by those big-post tuners. Jack plate must have been replaced. It should have had a serial number stamped into the metal which couldn't have worn off. Could have once been stolen. I didn't see the fake TRC in the photos. Some clever genius may have swapped the TRC and jack plate with a faker.

That is an early 4003. The first ones had the old style truss rods that were adjusted from the body end of the neck. Moving the adjusters to the other end of the neck was presuably a way to reduce the number of fingerboard pop-offs due to improper truss adjustment technique. Because the old style rods do not require an anchor point as the new style does, no routing at the headstock was necessary, leaving just the ends of the truss channels under the TRC.

Thanks guys - yeah I guess maybe someone wanted to put the real TRC and jackplate on a faker to fool someone or maybe took them off this one 'cause it was hot - who knows - it also has had the pickups replaced with some SD's - maybe the Ric PU's went with the other stuff - and apparently the tuners have been changed too, albeit to some quality schallers. All in all a nice bass but far from stock - good one to try and resurrect to its former glory - anyone interested?!

I didn't see a TRC in any of the shots. The bad photo of the jackplate could be the reason it looks like nothing is printed or stamped on it.

hey that's MY bad photo! (iphone camera) - no there really is nothing printed on the jack cover

I thought it looked legit also, just wondered about the output jackplate.

Welcome to Carter and John. Nice early 4003 - birdseye in the body. You won't see that on a typical faker. I would concentrate on getting Rick pickups for it, and a TRC if you can afford that on eBay. The jackplate without a SN is not as important. Those can be had off ebay with enough money also. Besides the nice body maple, this also has the early 4003 two-piece neck.