Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-Model- ... 19bad1bd75


greetings...this is being touted as a '73 4001. i think it is a later bass assembled of various parts. the rear pickup is on a plastic plate, not aluminum as it should, the black pickguard should be installed on a black bound body which would have been a white colored bass, the body wing horns are too large more like a late '70's/'80's bass, '73 parts jack plate, or could this be a late '74 or early '75 ? the rear headstock looks filled and possibly had klusons originally. thoughts ?

I'm gonna say the guard is a replacement but the inlays look like the interim mid-73 ones. Oh, and they missed on the color.....

The wings are getting a bit fat to be '73, I say later in the decade.

Yeah, the horn looks a bit wide, but those inlays are not like the ones in the rest of the 70s or till the new ones RIC is using now.

a donor project burgundyglo '75 i bought off ebay has those inlays.

Hmmm. The code he posted has a mistake in it, he put a 1 (which indicates 1998) instead of an I... but that is still saying September 73.

It is conceivable that this is a real 73. The bridge pickup doesn't seem wrong, wavy Grovers sound right, 1/2" spacing sounds right, plexi TRC sounds right and it looks right, and the foam in the mute looks right for that age. The poured inlay does look a little funky but the resolution is too low and it could just be an exposure thing, the binding on the body looks like it may have been replaced (it didn't age like the neck binding but that could also be a flash lighting thing).

I think it could be real. By the way, here is a color corrected (in my eyes) version:

jamespaul71 wrote:Hmmm. The code he posted has a mistake in it, he put a 1 (which indicates 1998) instead of an I... but that is still saying September 73.

It is conceivable that this is a real 73. The bridge pickup doesn't seem wrong, wavy Grovers sound right, 1/2" spacing sounds right, plexi TRC sounds right and it looks right, and the foam in the mute looks right for that age. The poured inlay does look a little funky but the resolution is too low and it could just be an exposure thing, the binding on the body looks like it may have been replaced (it didn't age like the neck binding but that could also be a flash lighting thing).

I think it could be real. By the way, here is a color corrected (in my eyes) version:

that's called Jetglo with a refin'd top....

jaymi wrote:

jamespaul71 wrote:Hmmm. The code he posted has a mistake in it, he put a 1 (which indicates 1998) instead of an I... but that is still saying September 73.

It is conceivable that this is a real 73. The bridge pickup doesn't seem wrong, wavy Grovers sound right, 1/2" spacing sounds right, plexi TRC sounds right and it looks right, and the foam in the mute looks right for that age. The poured inlay does look a little funky but the resolution is too low and it could just be an exposure thing, the binding on the body looks like it may have been replaced (it didn't age like the neck binding but that could also be a flash lighting thing).

I think it could be real. By the way, here is a color corrected (in my eyes) version:

that's called Jetglo with a refin'd top....

of course but the original picture had messed up levels, I balanced them to try to get back to the real color.

I will say that that sans JG refin body looks worlds better than any 4001 MG I've seen pictures of (at least from the photos). Looks much more like select wood used for a 4002.

But the price reflects a mint or near mint post-goodies '73, so that seems way out of whack to me given the work, no matter what it actually looks like.

The horns do seem a little wide, not as wide as the ones on my '75. The headstock looks right for a '73.

All things considered,, he's asking too much money.

anyone have a '73 with an originally installed rear high gain on a plastic plate ? my MJ had aluminum and my buddy's '74 has aluminum (will get his ser #). i agree on the headstock being correct but not the thickness of the body wings and shaping. and pickguard is not correct.

My MH has an aluminum treble pickup mounting plate also.

Doesn't have a gap tooth tailpiece....what year did those change over?

Agreed, the upper bout/horn looks too wide as well....

Hmmm, strange.

april/may of '73 or so. my MD had the tooth.