LeftyBassist.com

A couple of years ago, I played a new 4003. I liked the bass, except for two things. It had a strange, repaired finish glitch- something a $2500.00 bass really should have not passed quality control with. I also noticed the 33.25 scale, and I could feel it... I'm just old, and used to Fender 34" scale length.
After some thought, I decided I'd build my own, the way Rickenbacker should make one. I much prefer the simpler, less' flashy' 4001 S models, with the unbound, contoured bodies. I also like the dot position markers instead of the triangles. I actually prefer no dots or markers on the fingerboard. So, this instrument doesn't have any.
I measured a client's Rick basses, one 1974 4001, and two recent 4003 S models. I measured every possible thing, body depths, neck shapes and thicknesses, headstock dimensions, center neck billet lamination dimensions, and made some MDF templates. Rather than go into the pretty amazing differences in the shapes and features of 4000 series basses.. I'll just say, I refined all of them to get a final, pleasing to me shape to aim for. I laid out the templates, and saw that it was easily possible to build a 34" 4001-S clone/ copy.
This bass is all flamed maple, with a walnut center strip and walnut fingerboard. I made a gold anodized aluminum pickguard for it- it looks much better on this bass than a white plexi Rick factory one does. It has Hipshot ultralite clover head tuners, and a Hipshot bridge. Flat pickup surround with plexi finger ramp. It has a very thick fingerboard with a single dual acting truss rod. The neck is much stronger than a stock Rickenbacker bass.
I'm still waiting on the electronics, an Audere 4 band, four knob, which is the only active preamp that has pots small enough to fit inside this instrument. It should be done next week.

Holy smokes!!!

That bass is awesome!!!

Job well done, that's sexy as hell!

Killer. And probably miles ahead of any piece of garbage that comes out of the Rickenbacker factory

Just WOW!!

Just Wow!

Wow! Congrats you outdid the traditional Rics!

My Ric 4001 is my primary bass, and I would proudly play what you have made. Incredible. What a fantastic instrument you’ve created.

Here's the 'completed' bass. I still need to do a few things- but I could easily play a gig on this right now.

Looks great! Really stunning. I too prefer the understated looks of the 4003S/4001S over the versions with bindings and triangle inlays (not to mention I much prefer the ergonomics of the rounded edges) and you captured that perfectly. It appears you moved the bridge pickup slightly closer to the bridge than where it traditionally sits, which I also like! My ideal Rick would be a 3-pickup 4003S, kinda like a best-of-both-worlds between a 4002 and a 4003

I love that bridge pickup surround too. Much more low-profile than a genuine Rickenbacker surround, and that thumb hole in the plexiglass bezel looks very useful! Clever solution. Did you make that yourself, or are these readily available? When I owned my 4003 (2009-2010) the Treble Bezels were just coming out and I think I owned one of the earliest ones but they were crafted for fitting in a traditional Rickenbacker treble pickup surround and didn't solve the issue of the huge piece of steel getting in your way.

Thanks, Jeroen! The pickup is indeed further back, intentionally done. It's in the exact position of a 60's spaced Fender Jazz bass. I never use the bridge pickup alone. I do use the neck pickup on my J-basses. The 'bloopy' sound of the typical Rick neck pickup, combined with the treble pickup, produces a great tone. but not always. The reason is this- I think the stock Rickenbacker treble pickup- is more like a midrange pickup. To me, it has always sounded kinda harsh, and weak.. great for rock grind, but just not my thing. I used to remove them, and put a Fender jazz pickup there- and it would improve the basses noticeably. A totally reversible mod, by the way. I use both pickups on. I find that the distance from each other makes a big difference in the tone with both on full up. I had the choice, so I moved it- and tried to make it not look ridiculous. It sounds great. And the treble pickup, for the record- is killer by itself, for that 'Jaco burp' tone- and it has plenty of output.

Here's the surround- plus cover.. I bought mine without the cover. I do remember that it was this company- Retrovibe.

https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/2-piece ... -or-caddy/