Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well, I peeked this morning before I came to work.
It's really cool! What a nice tiny neck!
I did a quick once over and so far there are no surprises!
Biggest issues are the truss rod cavity, a shim under the nut and some buckle worming. All of that was either seen in the pictures or disclosed when I talked to CME on the phone.
The neck is dead straight, and the action is very nice! The tone is great, though a little thin. The wood is better in person than in the pictures. Every turn shows different grain / character. The center neck block is flamed all the way up, and the body wings are either flamed or large birdseye's depending on how you hold it.
It's got its share of bumps and bruises, but it's such a cool vintage piece!
I'll know more after this weekend. I may even play it for a set tomorrow night!

In the case of older 4000's, do they have the .0047uf cap in place? That would make it a very thin sounding instrument indeed.

I'm not a wiring guy, but here's a picture of the insides.

are 4000's usually routed for two pickups?

Nice catch, Kevin!
But that beauty needs a new pickup assembly, otherwise it will always sound thin.
To answer Ricosound's question, no, the single-pickup 4000 model never came with a treble-pass capacitor. And to answer Mikes123's, no, not all 4000 basses were usually routed for two pickups - and certainly not all 4000's were neck-through like Kevin's, but there were a few 4001 basses with set necks in 4000-fashion. Cheers.

The only other pre- 1970 4000 bass that I have played also had the neck pick up route.

This one is definilty a leave-alone collector piece.

That one is an instant 4001S if you add the pickup and controls!
Nice bass!

headbanger wrote:That one is an instant 4001S if you add the pickup and controls!
Nice bass!

That's what I'm thinking, Gerry! It's the closest I'll ever get to a real RM1999 / '60's 4001S.
Having the route there and using a new guard will keep it all reversible.

ricosound wrote:This one is definilty a leave-alone collector piece.

Like I said, leave this one as truely unique. It's a set neck so it really wouldn't be like an RM1999 anyway.

...oops. I relooked at the pick and it's not set-neck. I guess if everything was left intact to reverse the mod, why not?

Really nice, Kevin. Nicely figured MG is always great to look at and own. I just had my 4003S out to play and had forgotten just how nice the maple was.

Great looker, and a '69! As to making it a 4001S, since it IS a reverse-able mod, I would consider it, just to see how it sounds. You'd have to add the bridge pup cap to be totally accurate! Or put in the tone switch, as I did on my '76 4001 as it WAS a bit thin with it in. I prefer it out.

Yours does not have that cap, so any thinness is due to only having the bridge pickup and possibly the lower windings of the 60s pickups. What does it measure and what are the poles made of - screws?

Congrats.

Yep, screws. As for the "thin" sound, well, those 1st-version 4000/4001 high-gain pickups were not that hot in the first place: a small, weak magnet and a coil wound not as tightly around the polepieces as required for optimum sensitivity would result in insufficient output from the pickup. I suggest you remove the original pickup from that 4000 and replace it with a modern high-gain - "she" will thank you!

Nice 4000, Kevin! Looking forward to seeing it at RIO!!!

As to the thin tone, just replace the hi-gain with a P Bass pickup, problem solved!

Man that's nice ! I would route it for 4 P bass pickups ! That would make it Phat !