Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

If anyone's interested, Capsule Music in Toronto has a '72 4001 on consignment. Asking price is $1995 Cdn. I checked it out today - the overall condition is very good, but there were a couple of things that made me raise my eyebrow in a Spockian fashion. First of all, there was some other sort of bridge on there at some point. A two screw Rick bridge is back on there now, but there are a few small holes in the vicinity of the bridge. You can also see that some wood has been routed out under the bridge that the current bridge doesn't totally hide. Definitely worth a look before purchasing. I also noticed that there was a noticable "ridge" between the fingerboard and the neck from the nut to the first fret or so. Hard to say if it was from fingerboard separation or some other factor, but it certainly wasn't smooth like it should be. Here's a link:
http://168.144.171.147/capsulemusic/retail/detail.asp?ID=1212

From the way the neck is constructed, I'm gonna say it's earlier than a 72, maybe a 71?


Is it a 72 by the jackplate?

I would agree John, and I'd like to see some more pics. Looks nice though...

I'm going to stop by Capsule tomorrow to check it out. Not that I need another 4001, but i'll have some fun with it.

The picture lacks sufficient detail. Is that bridge unit original to the bass? Steve refers to it as a 'two screw Rick bridge', which to me can only describe a post mid-1973 bridge. And I can't make the tuner buttons out too well, either. Are those 2nd or 1st version Grover tuners? Let us know what you find out about this '1972' 4001, Jon.

Somehow the pickguard doesn't look right either, but maybe I'm only imagining things. As for the treble p.u. surround with sharp corners, it is period-correct, though.

It could be a 71....Did the 72,s come with the walnut wings... Anyone??...The pickguard should have a thumbrest if that,s the case. That pickguard looks like my 73. Hopefully Jon can give us a full report.

Stay tuned guys, I'll give you the details of the bass later today.
Think i'll bring my digital camara with me and take some photos of it.

Yeah!

Ditto here. Thanks, Jon.
And Andrew, you are right about the thumbrest. As for the walnut wings, I'm not sure (shame on me!) when in the early 70s they were discontinued.
The 'Rickenbacker police' are at it again, haha!

'71 was suppose to be last year for walnut wings. I don't see any screw holes for the thumbrest...humm

The serial number started with an "L" so that should make it a '72. I was wondering about the lack of thumbrest as I've seen '72's with the clear plexi thumbrest. A look under the pickguard should resolve that question. Still, it's a very clean bass and once the monkey business under the bridge is fixed it should be a great bass (as long as the fingerboard isn't a problem). If I hadn't bought Tim Sarter's sea green V63 a couple of months ago I'd probably be looking at it seriously.

My January '72 has the wings and a thumbrest...

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the thumbrest, some have em some don't...

Ok here's my report on this bass. It was made in January 1972 (LA-xxx).

I took a few pictures of it and i'll post them later on today (i'm in my office right now using my laptop and I don't have the appropriate s/w loaded on it for my digital camara).

The bass is in need of a neck adjustment. I didn't take the truss rod cover off to see what the condition of the rod ends are. But there is a large bow in the neck.

As for the tailpiece, I believe it's non-original. It should have the slot in the centre of it, for this vintage of 4001 but it doesn't. The tailpiece looks new compared to the rest of the hardware. For that matter so do the box style Grover tuners.

Interesting note about the Grover's, they're the flat type. Not the wave type that you usually see on early 70's 4001 basses.
There are some screw and routing holes clearly visible under and around the tailpiece that need to be repaired.

The pickguard appears to be original and never had a thumbrest installed on it.

Scott mentioned a concern about the space between the bottom of the truss rod cover and the nut. It appears that when the truss rod cover was attached to the bass, a small gap of approx 1/16" or less was left in between it and the nut.

The truss rod cover itself, has a couple of "clear marks" on the back side of it that show through as clear marks. I've never seen these type of "clear marks" on the back side of a RIC truss rod cover before.

One other note, is that the plastic p/c cover over the bridge pickup I believe is not original to the bass. I appears to be from a late 70's 4001.

The overall condition of the bass is quite good.
But one really needs to remove the pickguard and truss rod cover to see what holes or surprises is under there.

Photos to follow (providing they turned out ok).