Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This should be fun. Everyone can join in. Basically it's about checking how well you know Rick basses and their appointments at any given point in time. For instance, a 4001 made in June 1974 would come with 'wavy' Grover tuners, no 'skunk stripe', parallel-running knobs, a new version bridge/tailpiece unit and high-gain pickups. True or false?

doesn't that model have a bolt on neck and p-bass pickups?

False I believe. Wasn't the skunk stripe locked in by then?

cheers

No Jeff, i swear it has a wooden pickguard and an active preamp controlled with 45 knobs

Andy: That's right.
Jeff and Owen: Now I know whom I'll try to push my 4001 copies on as genuine Ricks, haha.

What about an early 1981 4003 with a 7 screw bridge, a two-piece pickguard, no 'skunk stripe' and a tall handrest? True or false?
Cheers.

so what's this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3700340448&indexURL=1&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting

If the serial # is valid, it's a '68 (not a '58) 4001 with what looks like a horseshoe and a Gibson-style humbucker that looks to have been "hacked in" to the original pickguard (note the holes for the finger-rest), an old-style bridge, the side-to-side inlays, checkered binding...

Actually a "must-have" bass if it's proven to be genuine!

That is a monster pickup on that one. It looks like it came off an Ovation Magnum. Anyone remember those basses? They use to have those cool adds in the magazines. They were heavy duty bass guitars.

Yeah, I do seem to remember the cool adds for the Ovation Magnum bass. The 'monster pickup' on the above Rick is not Ovation-made, though - looks more like a Gibson.
The 4001 appears to be legit, I mean, I'm almost sure it is from 1968. I, too, believe it could be salvaged pretty easily. Someone snap it up.

Here it is.

I wonder why 1966 and 1967 4001 basses are way much harder to come by... Maybe production totals for those years were sizeably lower? You see the odd 1963 or 1964 or 1965 4001 crop up, and 1968 and 1969 4001s are still common to a point, but 1966 and 1967 4001s are next to null. Am I wrong?

There also seems to be a lot of 72's, with not a lot of 70's and 71's.

How about Will Lee's 4001? What year would you say it is from?

I'd guess 86-90 judging from the large upper horn.

Don't judge a Rick by the horns...

Seriously, though, that upper horn isn't as large as on the early eighties 4003 basses. Both this and a couple of further particulars place Will Lee's 4001 squarely in the seventies. One of my 4001s is exactly like his. Try again.