Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Today I picked up a still sealed vinyl copy of New Heavenly Blue's 1972 album.
I'm speechless. This has got to be some of the best music I've ever listened to! Chris Brubeck's bass playing and tone are nothing short of phenomenal! He uses a fretless 4001 to impressive effect, and his powerful, bassy tone dominates the mix. Musicianship and inspiration maintain themselves at a peak throughout the whole album. Full marks!

Nice review Sergio. Chris does not use a stock RIC treble pickup if I recall correctly.

He has what looks like a J pickup in his '68/'69 4001 FL MG.



http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/mccorp/chrisbrubeck.html

Thanks for the review, Sérgio.
I gotta get me a copy of that album and learn something from him while enjoying his music!

Very Interesting! But I would have guessed that bass to be later than a '69 model, because of the skunk stripe.... Does anyone have a link to the aforementioned album?

Wasn't Chris the bassist in AB Sky (AB skye?) as well?
We used to cover the "You Upsets Me" track for encores.

I think I remember reading over at the a.g.r that the Dr saw the proto FL in early 72 when he worked there....

Good eyes, Gene!
Yeah I forgot Chris' bass is similar to my Dec. '72 4001 FL MG. His is probably an early '70s with the checkered binding..

Here are a couple of links:
http://www.madcatmusic.com/photos/pages/01.htm
http://www.thespinstartshere.com/recs/x7/x712.htm

No CD's available at Amazon.com or CDnow.com though.

I'll be damned! Now I notice the bound headstock and the much wider 'skunk' stripe on Chris Brubeck's fretless 4001! Guys, do you remember James Grove's mistery '21 fret' 4001, which according to JH was not a real Rick? Tell me that I'm wrong!

You may recall that James Grove's '21 fret' 4001 had indeed started life as a fretless bass, as hinted at by the fretboard dot markers and the conspicuously lame fret job. Also, according to James the 1972 neckplate on that 4001 was not original to it (not to mention the pickguard and the obvious non-Rickenbacker replacement parts), so maybe we are actually looking at a legit late 60's fretless 4001, however rare.

Wow! I didn't even notice the bound headstock of Chris' fretless until you mentioned it, Sérgio. The combination of headstock binding, checkered body binding and wider center stripe makes his baby a very special one! And you could be very right that she's a late '60s.

I really hope the true pedigree of James' 21 fretter can be proved to set the record straight. I believe it's legit. Remember that RIC accepted custom orders back in the '60s and '70s and produced special ones as a result? Gotta praise Mr. F.C. Hall for for being open-minded and his efforts for customer satisfaction.

Er... Strike the ugly 'neckplate' word in my last post - I meant to say 'jackplate'. Sorry.

And guys, Chris says he bought that very fretless 4001 in 1969, so stop wondering about the date of its manufacture. As for the wide 'skunk' stripe, it is clearly a 4005-style stripe, so maybe RIC were just trying out new ideas for the 4001 Model.

Good eyes Sergio...That is one cool fretless with that headstock, and that could certainly tie in with James,s bass...I,d imagine he had a transitional hi-gain originally and their output is very low...(at least my Dec 68 is) and swapped it out for what he has now....