Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have just purchased a vintage Rickenbaker 4001 manufactured October 1974 (NJ6087). The bass hasn’t been played for several years so it was covered in dust and looked a little sad for it’s self. The neck is straight and the frets have little or no wear although to me they seem quite flat. On the wiring side, the pots are crackly and dust laden and the bass pick-up doesn’t seem to work, so the switch or the pick-up might be faulty. The chrome work is a little pitted with age and the tailpiece has the usual lift (3mm = 1/8”). The key winds have been changed with the old fixing holes still visible, I thought of re-fitting with new old style winders (thoughts).

All the said things can be rectified so all in all I’m very pleased with my purchase, especially as it cost only £700 = $1050. The only thing I’m not sure of is the colour, the seller told me it was a fireglo but when I opened the case it looked like a very faded fireglo almost orange but the back looked a not so faded fireglo, the overall look on the front is orange which I like but I’m not sure what finish it started with.

I have posted some photos of the Ric as I bought it; all I have done is given it a wipe over to remove the dust.

Welcome Michael!

I would say that it is a faded Fireglo. I've not seen one quite that orange, but Fireglo varied a lot, so it could have been light to begin with. The tail lift is more than normal, and could be because of high-tension strings. It can be straightened and I would suggest less torquing of the screws under the bridge will help keep it from lifting more.

On the pickup problem, be sure you are plugging into the "Standard" output, not the Rick-O-Sound; If you plug a standard chord into the Rick-O-Sound output, you will hear only the bridge (treble) pickup.

The original tuners were likely the closed-back Grovers which are difficult to find. The current Rickenbacker-badged tuners should be OK, but you may have some fitting problems through the post holes in the headstock.

Looks like a good find, especially for the ££££ !

Somewhere around here is a thread with some detailed instructions on straightening the tailpiece by removing it from the bass and carefully clamping it and slowly tightening the clamps over a period of days. My bass is old enough that it's not a worry for me, so I didn't bookmark it... anyone remember where that is?

On the non-working pickup issue - if you plug into the "standard" output jack and still only get the bridge pickup, there's a good chance it's nothing more than a little corrosion on the switch in that jack. You should be able to remove the jack plate and carefully pull that jack out to where you can clean the contacts, see if that fixes it.

That's a really nice deal on a nice bass! It sounds like with a little relatively minor work you have a great player, and it's also a good candidate for a full restoration if you're inclined. Keep us posted on the progress!

Welcome to the RRF! Great find at that price!

songdog wrote:Somewhere around here is a thread with some detailed instructions on straightening the tailpiece by removing it from the bass and carefully clamping it and slowly tightening the clamps over a period of days. My bass is old enough that it's not a worry for me, so I didn't bookmark it... anyone remember where that is?

Here's one guy's method:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=386871&start=45#p537816

Here's Gary's pointers to his whole procedure:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=377906&p=385402t#p385402

Welcome ti the RRF, Michael! Very nice find. I kind of like the orange.

Welcome, Michael!

Thanks for posting those links, CJ!

rickenbrother wrote:Welcome ti the RRF, Michael! Very nice find. I kind of like the orange.

+1
welcome
I like the orangeness too.. I kind'a wish RIC made a real trans orange... that might... just might get me to buy a new one....

cjj wrote:

songdog wrote:Somewhere around here is a thread with some detailed instructions on straightening the tailpiece by removing it from the bass and carefully clamping it and slowly tightening the clamps over a period of days. My bass is old enough that it's not a worry for me, so I didn't bookmark it... anyone remember where that is?

Here's one guy's method:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=386871&start=45#p537816

That was my post, and I am happy to report that after 3+ years, that tp is still flat.
I definitely bent it flat using the method I described there, but it has remained flat because of the shimming underneath that keep the mounting screws from pulling it down in the middle (and thus lifting the rear end.)

Also I have a 1974 4001 and the same problem with the original tailpiece lift. After the washer procedure I wasn't satisfied with the result and simply exchanged it for a current 4003. I only had to keep the damper unit, as the carving below the tailpiece would not accomodate the current one without further woodwork. No problems with the tailpiece eversince!

I had the same issue with my 82 4001mg It was an easy fix. all I had to do was replace the 1/4 phone jacks as an assembly with wirining harness .. Good luck
by the way that color is awesome faded fireglo in the early 70's they vaired in shade quite a bit. I fell in love with a early 70's fireglo when they were new.
One day I'll get another Fireglo 4003 new. RAS

Thanks for the info and feedback guys; I will bend the tailpiece back to shape as I have a full engineering workshop at my disposal. I may even design a metal fixture for attaching and straightening tailpieces using a thumbscrew arrangement to slowly tweak the lift out. The pitting on the chrome doesn’t look nice, so I will look into getting the tailpiece, bridge and treble pickup mounting plate re-plated; has anyone else had those parts re-plated? As for the keywinds, I was thinking about a new 4003 set from Ric, they will cover all the fixing holes on the headstock. The electrics will be looked at by a friend whose part time job is at guitar workshop, if any components are worn or faulty, I can get those replaced using Ric parts. I shall also get a replacement treble pick-up cover to make the bass complete; any thoughts on the plan for my 1974 4001.

Welcome to the forum Michael! Great find you have there. I have a '74 in MG and went through the tail lift thing as well. It was an easy fix and haven't had trouble since. Best of luck!

...if you bend it back, make sure you also apply the washer method.

Cheers Peter, I've been reading all about tail-lift on this forum, so much valuable information on here. I'm looking forward to bringing the 4001 back up to it's best.