Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey all, long time no see. I am looking at a potential trade deal and the bass is a 70's Burgundy. I do not have it in my possession and have not seen it so I have no clue of the serial number ect. I just know that it was supposedly made in the 70's and it is a Burgundy 4001. Any potential advice would be mucho appreciated.

Approx 1968-1984, maybe even later via special order, then it was brought back as a COY in the early 2000s.

Wow...that is a longer than I thought. Very cool. Cant wait to get some good detailed pics of it.

I must note that the shade varied quite a bit between those years, from a wine red burgundy color initially to a dark eggplant shade, depending on the year and the amount of yellowing in the topcoat.

Most mid-70s BG have been a good color, from what I've seen.

It's a somewhat rare color too since they were not the standard finish and were an optional color.

Looking closer at pictures I just realized that some of these are a translucent finish. I thought they were an opaque finish for some reason.

They are all translucent, some just a bit more than others.

armybass wrote:Looking closer at pictures I just realized that some of these are a translucent finish. I thought they were an opaque finish for some reason.

It was a very pretty translucent finish in my opinion. Here's my cherished '75 Burgundy 4001FL.

We need a "Like" button for some of those pictures!

Man that is gorgeous.

jps wrote:They are all translucent, some just a bit more than others.

I think in my mind I am confusing Burgundyglo with the Ruby's from last year.

armybass wrote:Man that is gorgeous.

Thanks!

armybass wrote:I think in my mind I am confusing Burgundyglo with the Ruby's from last year.

Ruby is a standard color.
That's my cherished Ruby 4004Cii below. Sounds as good as it looks. Plays as good as it looks also, since I'd removed the plate from under the bridge.
I looks way better in person than it does in these pics. I think Jeff Scott has really nice pics of his Ruby 4004L.

rickenbrother wrote:I think Jeff Scott has really nice pics of his Ruby 4004L.

There is one in Paul's book, which we all have, right?

collin wrote:...It's a somewhat rare color too since they were not the standard finish and were an optional color...

I would be interested to know more about this if you or anybody could elaborate. I always assumed that Burgundy was standard. Here's my 1978 and a lefty 1979 belonging to another forumite, a few entries down the page:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=385405&p=589874#p589874


Thanks,
bluewhale

Semantics. "Optional" is not a word used by RIC or in my book when it comes to colors. The range of "standard" colors varied through the years, and Burgundy was once a "standard" color. If I can rely on the info in my book (and I often do! ), Burgundy made its debut in the mid 1960s (couldn't nail down an exact date) and went to 1984. Burgundy (also occasionally listed as "Burgundyglo") was reissued as the 2002 Color of the Year, and was produced in '02 and into '03 to fulfill orders.

There were some colors available for a while which were listed as "custom" colors; White being the most familiar. What I call "evergreen colors" are the ones that have never gone away since their introduction: Mapleglo (once known as "Natural"), Fireglo, and Jetglo. Other standard colors that have come and gone include Turquoise, Walnut, Autumnglo, Red, Ruby (back again), Silver, and Azureglo. And Trans Red, Trans Blue, and Trans Green are available for 4004Cii basses.

bassduke49 wrote:Semantics. "Optional" is not a word used by RIC or in my book when it comes to colors.

...note that I wasn't quoting your book.


By optional, I mean that I see no evidence that large quantities of Burgundyglo instruments were ever produced at once, indicating that if a customer (or retailer) wanted BG, they had to specifically order it, unlike MG, FG etc .