Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey there my name is Jonathan and I have question.
Yesterday I've got a new bass (my third) through a friend who works in a youth club. It was to be sold at a jumble sale, but since I'm his good friend I've got it for about 20 dollars!
Ok here's the question, it looks like a Rickenbacker but the Rickenbacker Plastic-Logo on the headstock is missing (replaced by an ugly metal thing)but there is a hole from srew where I think the plastic-logo ended (the pointy edge). It has two outputs called standard & stereo.
Four controls, 3-position switch two pu's, rickenbacker bridge (I think),a thumbrest beneath the neck pickup. The neck runs through the body and it has white binding and triangle pearloid blocks.
It really looks like a Rickenbacker, but I can't find a serial number. So is it a Rickenbacker or is it just a fake? Please help me.

Jon: To begin, look for the serial number on the jackplate and then post it here. A photo would also be nice.

Peter: There doesn't seem to be any kind of serial number, on the jack plate?

Jon: Please post a photo or email several from different angles to the Rickenbacker Registration Page.

Peter: I can't post/send pictures immediately.
But I can supply some extra information about the pu's there are some numbers beneath the neck & bridge pickups: 150 13, I don't know if they make any difference? Also the volume/tone pots have the following numbers on them:
M 500K Omega (Sign)A 715A
M 500K Omega (Sign)A 453B.
The tuning machines are enclosed in some sort of metal boxes with no names on them. They're also more square than typical Fender tuners.
The body has a natural finish with white binding and the fingerboard is made of some sort of orange/brownish wood. Overall it looks like one the basses in this sites photo gallery the Reg# 498 group 4. There is no idication of vol./tone etc. on the controls, the controls are black with silver tips. Beneath the metal bridge there is marks of a Rickenbacker like plasticlogo truss-rod cover: holes from screws etc.
Also the inscriptions on the (standard/stereo)is inscribed into the jackplate.
I hope this information will be useful, see you Jonathan Reinhardt (Denmark)

Under the plate that the bridge sits on ,for years a jig was used that require the use of a black grease pencil.You would find that on older Ricks (pre 1985)
This is on all guitars ,on basses you will sometimes find grease pencil ,but from a bout 1972 to 1982 under the bass bridges,under the finish you will find "Maria II" this is the woman that put paste wood filler in the fretboard on EVERY instrument .After the second coating she would sign the instrument .This was the in house check system ,and it allowed us to know at a glance if it was ready to get masked off for painting.
In the control cavity ,you will find some pencilings and some times red or black felt pen markings.Non of it making too much sense.

The truss rods (yes they all have two) are 1/4" hex nuts and until the new rod system replaced the old style rods all of those older instruments had an aluminum bar that the rods passed through.Non of the truss rods used Allen/Hex key adjustment tools.

The nuts on the old instruments are black phenolic...if you file it you will smell the odor of it ,no matter how little you file or sand ,you will smell this .It Is kind of foul.

Finally ....if it is a Rick ,there are NO metric parts on it .ALL Asian instruments have metric parts.

Let me qualify one thing ....tuners can be metric ....but that is it .

I might be able to help since I have a fake 4001.

Compare the color of the fretboard to photos of real Rics: a fake will most likely be darker in color. This is probably the best indicator.

Check for postion dots for the knobs on the pickguard

The cavity for the truss rod adjustment is small (approximately 2" or so long).

The screws to adjust the mute (on the bridge) are held on by small nuts and are held by a 'Loc-Tite' type glue.

Hope this helps. I have some photos of my fake I can send you for comparisons. Just email me if you're interested.

A couple of moths ago I purchased a beautiful mapleglo Japanese copy of the 4001 (I think) stereo bass. Also neck-through and everything exactly Rickenbacker, even two trussrods. Branded Custom, a subdivision of Ibanez in the 70's.
Only major difference is probably the angle that the neck makes to the body. I cannot adjust this bass to get a very low action and I think a real Rick would not give any problems on that part. Otherwise it's a beautiful copy with a great sound.

You probably have rods that need some assistance.

Are they hex wrench style or do they use a socket ?

This is what I would do ,go to a hardware store and get four steel washers,#8 will maybe work ,but you may have to do some work on these to make them fit.

Do you own a hand drill? is it variable speed-forward/reverse?

If so I can coach you through on how to modify these washers.

The We can adjust the bass.

And as you are outside of Amsterdam,you won't be coming over to my shop soon.

I think I can help you .

I, too, have what appears to be an odd 4001. It's a jetglo, white binding. The thing that is odd about it is that all of the hardware is gold plated. I once asked someone at Rickenbacker about the bass (I believe it was at a NAMM show in Chicago) and I was told that Rickenbacker never made a gold plated 4001. So I was thinking that either the 4001 is a fake or that the gold plating was done later. But here's the rub: if the gold plating came later, it would have obliterated the "RIC-O-SOUND" lettering on the stereo output jack. If it's a fake, it's a really good fake because the serial number on the jack plate is UC887 (1981), and that seems about right. I picked it up used in 1985. I haven't taken the bridge off of the bass to check underneath, but there is some odd stuff in the control cavity ... a piece of masking tape under the clear varnish that has some odd numbers: 811-28-P and some other stuff on the tape. When I removed the Rickenbacker logo plate between the tuners (also gold plated), I noticed that there were two truss rods and the nuts are coated in white stuff to keep them from shifting. Here is a link to a picture of the bass: http://vbp.iwarp.com/4001body.jpg

What do you think? What's the story with the gold plating?

I'd love to see the body.But I am denied access.

As to the authenticity of ther gold plating .

I know for a fact that there was gold plating being done ....I know the woman who is/was the receptionist -Toni Loftus.She spoke to me about the fact that they were doing small number of gold plating for Electro string /Rickenbacker .

She wanted to know how well I knew Brian Carman.

Well as to the time frame that this may have been made ,it is a possibility ,but with out the photos ..I don't know .

This time frame was also when John Hall was not there ,and Ward Deaton the plant Manager and Bill Myers the Factory foreman have both passed on .We can not ask them .
Dick Burke would not know ....he was in the world of saw dust .
I was not there either .So without photos....??????????????????

Mark:

I don't know why you can't view the photo from the link I posted. Try this link: http://www.geocities.com/frobenius.geo/images/4003body.jpg (I originally thought it was a 4003 that I had purchased; I was wrong). If that does not work, send an e-mail with your address to [email protected] and I will send you the image directly.