Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was just looking at a FG4003 made in 1981 with checkerboard binding. I thought checkerboard was only pre-1973 ? The bass is at Elderly Instruments website.

It "shouldn't," but we have discovered that at times, RIC has put on CB for special orders. What's a "special order"? Well, unknown. In the early 00's, RIC made a batch with CB for a dealer in Japan. Others like the one you cite are out there. There was a white one in Europe for sale on eBay not too long ago. There may also be some refin/rebound examples out there, too.

When did the CB option in the catalog end?

$3500 is a lot of money for a bass like that. You could get a early 73 for that price easy.

You could have had my '73 4001 for half of that! With CB and original toaster, too. A friend of mine has it now.

jps wrote:When did the CB option in the catalog end?

I don't see CB listed as an option on any of the price lists I have. Perhaps a catalog indicated its availability, but I don't know.

The one at Elderly is gorgeous! We've seen a few from that era (guitars and basses alike) that inexplicably had checkered binding. The impression that I got is that on early 80's orders, if you asked for it, they'd do it.

Its a 4001 as well.......

Eden.

bassduke49 wrote:

jps wrote:When did the CB option in the catalog end?

I don't see CB listed as an option on any of the price lists I have. Perhaps a catalog indicated its availability, but I don't know.

The Rickenbacker catalog I got in '83 shows CB as an option at the bottom of the color chart page.

bassduke49 wrote:

jps wrote:When did the CB option in the catalog end?

I don't see CB listed as an option on any of the price lists I have. Perhaps a catalog indicated its availability, but I don't know.

The first Rick catalogue I looked at in the early 80s had CB listed as an option when a friend and went to order our respective WB models back in `84, but that catalogue has disappeared. I know it was in the catalogue, because that's the first place I ever heard about checkered binding. I remember thinking it was a bit over the top back inthe day, but if I'd actually seen a photo of it I probably would have ordered it. I'd never even heard of CB before then. One of our fellow forum members has CB on his `84 FG WB guitar. I don't think many people spent the extra $ on it though. binding was $100 per side as an extra cost option, IIRC. Not sure how much more CB was.

Not to stir things up, but the yellowing in the finish looks a little too yellow. Refin maybe?

Tuners replaced? You think for that price and the fact it is a VG-EC (whatever that means) they would have known it was a 4001. Way too expensive....

VG-EC = very good to excellent condition.

sloop_john_b wrote:We've seen a few from that era (guitars and basses alike) that inexplicably had checkered binding. The impression that I got is that on early 80's orders, if you asked for it, they'd do it.

Yep.

There was that lovely creme 82 in Spain a couple of years back as well.

Ah, the custom shop...The good old days...