Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This is a neat video from McCartney's "Back to the Egg" which I'm not sure I've ever seen. Good shots of the 4001S. Oh for the older pre/post Hofner days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIhVlVnwJHo

Great video. Getting Closer is one of the coolest, hard-driven songs of Wings' career, and it is one that is never played. Back to the Egg had stellar production and is a highly underrated album, IMO.

Is Denny McLaine (sp?) playing a Travis Bean guitar? Looks like.

bassduke49 wrote:Is Denny McLaine (sp?) playing a Travis Bean guitar? Looks like.

He sure is.

sloop_john_b wrote:

bassduke49 wrote:Is Denny McLaine (sp?) playing a Travis Bean guitar? Looks like.

He sure is.

That is a pretty sweet guitar.

Back to the Egg isn't my favorite McCartney album, but it has some pretty good moments. Some of the other songs just drag along IMO. It isn't an album that i will listen to over & over again, but once a year I'll pull it out and give it a listen from beginning to end.

There is one thing I find interesting about his 4001S. By 1975 it was more or less unplayable. Along with other damage and neglect, the bridge had collapsed and the treble pickup was no longer working. To get it ready for Wings Over America, he sent it back to the factory for some emergency care. Bear in mind that the bass was only 11 years old at the time! Now, it can be seen on stage in some later Beatle concert photos but it was there merely as a backup. The bulk of its playing time would have presumably been in the studio. How was it reduced to rubble in just a few years? His fragile Hofner, on the other hand, contiuned to chug along apparently no worse for wear.

I think he has always loved his Hofner more than his Rick.

It probably had more playing time on it exactly because it was a studio instrument as opposed to a live-only instrument would get and would be handled at least as much if not more. Add to that the fact that some of these venerated RIC parts are not made of the best materials, you know...

I'll take a 60's Ric bass bridge over the later hardware any day...

Now, the saddles/intonation is another story!

I think he had two, three, or more Hofners, but only the one Rickenbacker.

jlessick wrote:I think he had two, three, or more Hofners, but only the one Rickenbacker.

He had 2 Hofner's. He had the 61 Cavern and the 62.

Cool vid. I haven't heard that song in a long time. My of my favorite Wings songs, because it's more hard driven than most others,

Actually he had more than one Ric back then and now ...

Those old 60s 4001 basses have weak pickups and weak necks ... my old 73 4001 was a better bass than my 68 4001 ... what brought his Ric back to life was a replacement bridge pickup ... Those old horseshoes that everybody goes nuts over are prone to degaussing ... when you put a good pickup in those old basses they actually sound good.

bassduke49 wrote:Is Denny McLaine (sp?) playing a Travis Bean guitar? Looks like.

That is Denny Laine and yes, it is a Travis Bean. Denny McLain pitched for the Detroit Tigers in the late 60's.

rickfan60 wrote:

bassduke49 wrote:Is Denny McLaine (sp?) playing a Travis Bean guitar? Looks like.

That is Denny Laine and yes, it is a Travis Bean. Denny McLain pitched for the Detroit Tigers in the late 60's.

...and he served a little time in the big house.

McCartney has several Rick's now. I was referring to when he was a Beatle.