Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Local vintage shop had what looks to be a '72 4001MG with checkerboard binding, neckthrough, with a horseshoe pickup and a toaster. Owner says it's a "parts bass."

The horseshoe's magnet looked like it is laminated, with the inner and outer layers being steel plated with chrome or nickel, and the interior layer being black. A photo is attached.

The magnet looks older and more beat-up than the rest of the bass.

I'm far from being a horseshoe expert. What years had laminated magnets?

Anyone know what this is?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Lollar?

The bass also has a Ric-O-Sound dual jack, but the plate looks like it doesn't belong to this bass.

The pickup is most likely an early Lollar number, or at least, the shoes are - there is a very remote possibility that the pickup bobbin and coil were original Rickenbacker items from an assembly where the old shoes could no longer take a charge. Lollar has produced horseshoe pickups since at least the early '00s and possibly much earlier in very small numbers. I know that they have also marketed replacement shoes from time to time. The laminated shoes were a feature of Lollar horsies until the late '00s, when production switched to a solid shoe.

LenMinNJ wrote:Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Lollar?

As Evan said, these are Lollar shoes. I have only seen one, at MARF the 1st, in Winchester, Va. in 2005. The pickup was on a bass owned by Ken Swearingen; The shoes were fairly flexible, leading me to think the black material between the two shin sheets of metal are rubberized magnets.

A '72 should have a strip of binding on the butt end of the fingerboard. Looks like it is missing on this. But like you said, this could be a parts bass (with some parts missing?).

On a side note, when I clicked on your photo, it flipped it upside down. iPhone photo? Did you know there is an "up" to iPhone photos? The iPhone will always show the image on the screen right side up as it automatically flips it around no matter which way you are holding it. And if you download it to a Mac, it will show up properly, too. It shows up right side up in the thumbnail, but when you click on it, it enlarges it but it's upside down. Apparently, "up" (in the horizontal mode) on the iPhone is when the trigger "button" is on the RIGHT side of the screen. Weird, eh?

I don't see shedua.....

I have some Lollar horse shoes like that.
The bobbin looks like a Lollar as well....

Need more pix. Does it have walnut wings? What does the TP and tuners look like?

chefothefuture wrote:I don't see shedua.....

I have some Lollar horse shoes like that.
The bobbin looks like a Lollar as well....

Good catch. Didn't even think to look for the shedua strip.

It would have to made before March '71 to have no skunk stripe and no binding at the end of the fretboard.

bassduke49 wrote:On a side note, when I clicked on your photo, it flipped it upside down. iPhone photo?

No, android photo that I flipped under Windows 7. I don't know why this system flipped it back.

Life can be weird!

teeder wrote:Need more pix. Does it have walnut wings? What does the TP and tuners look like?

Replacement tuners. Tailpiece has the slot.

I'll post more photos next time I visit the shop.

Binding? I dont see it. We need more pictures.

jps wrote:

LenMinNJ wrote:Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Lollar?

As Evan said, these are Lollar shoes. I have only seen one, at MARF the 1st, in Winchester, Va. in 2005. The pickup was on a bass owned by Ken Swearingen; The shoes were fairly flexible, leading me to think the black material between the two shin sheets of metal are rubberized magnets.

Good memory..!

leftybass wrote:

jps wrote:

LenMinNJ wrote:Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Lollar?

As Evan said, these are Lollar shoes. I have only seen one, at MARF the 1st, in Winchester, Va. in 2005. The pickup was on a bass owned by Ken Swearingen; The shoes were fairly flexible, leading me to think the black material between the two shin sheets of metal are rubberized magnets.

Good memory..!

Ken's bass (with Lollar horseshoe pickup)!

Photographed on November 5th, 2005.

I confused two basses. One was a 72 4001MG parts bass. The other was an early 2000s 400Xv63. The v63 had the Lollar laminated pickup.

The parts bass has a dual jackplate with a serial number from 1972, a slotted bridge, neck through, checkerboard binding, and darker wood stripe up the centerline of the front and back.

The edge of jackplate overhangs the rear of the body, so it looks like the rear body edge has been sanded down. And if so, then it's definitely refinished too.

The tuners have been replaced.

Anyone notice anything else amiss?

Here are some photos: