LeftyBassist.com

Hi Guys,

Sadly, up for sale is my lefty Ric' 4001.



It's a 1981 4001 in Mapleglo in astounding condition. The previous (original) owner wasn't much of a player, and pretty much kept it stored under his bed in the hard case for most of its existance. He had it regularly maintained by a local luthier. There are no dings or dents at all that I can find - no buckle rash, no pitting on the chrome, no perishing of the string mutes, no wear to the poly (/nitro?) finish on the fretboard and no damage that I can notice. The neck is straight and true with an even action all the way down and no twisting/warping thanks to the double truss construction. There is next to no fretwear, as the previous owner favoured those nylon-feeling Rotosound type jobbies when he did play. There are two small squares of gum residue on the front, which are visible in the extra pictures. (link below) I'm sure they're easily cleaned off but I haven't tried as I'm petriefied of ruining the finish.

I believe the original pickguard may have been changed out by the previous owner; According to the info I've managed to find, 1981 Rics should have a 2-piece pickguard, but this bass has the much nicer looking one-piece. (Although it may have been different on LH models, I'm not sure.)

I intended on having a new nut & setup because the string slots haven't been spaced perfectly on the current one. I also intended to have the jack solder looked at (it has a bit of a crackle when disturbed) and finally, about 2 inches of the body binding has come a little loose on the inside of the lower horn, (you'd never know by looking at it) so that'd benefit from a dab of glue before any damage is done. I'm possibly being overly critical, just want to cover all the bases.

This Ric really could be a collectors piece with minimal effort, but deserves to be played. It's a nice vintage, and with future lefty production at Ric being questioned it really has the potential to shoot up in value.

The price (excluding P&P) is £1,500. (which is about €1,680.- euros and $2,260 currently.)
Shipping in Europe preferred, although anywhere considered.

More pictures are here; they blow up quite large for a good close look. Any questions or further picture requests don't hesitate to ping me, I'll be happy to help.

All the best,
Biggsy
biggs.adrian@googlemail.com

Could that be a 4001? Comparing it to my '80 4003, yours has a skunk stripe, doesn't have the extra tailpiece screws, and has a 1-piece 'guard(perhaps you could remove the guard to see if there's extra holes for a 2-piece guard?). Here's my '80 4003.

Hey Austin,

I'm fairly certain it's a 4003, it has two truss rods, and the skunk stripe was present on all 4003's apart from the Fireglo models until the late 80's from the info I've found. It also has the Ric-o-sound output.

I'll take the PG off tonight and see if there are extra holes

4001s also have two truss rods and ric-o-sound. Not sure about the skunk stripe, but my 4001 has one. Aren't all Rick necks a three piece?

Hopefully removing the PG will make everything clear!

It was sold to me as a 4003, and the only thing I looked for was two truss rods with adjustment at the body end, as well as the serial number of course, which is my basis for advertising it as a 4003.

I thought the 4001s' didn't have body binding?

Unfortunately there is conflicting information all over the internet regarding the stripe, the extra bridge screws et all. I'll get my camera out over the weekend and post my findings

When Retag writes 4001s it's as the plural of 4001, not the model 4001S, which, as you mentioned, don't have binding, ROS, etc.

Yep, extra holes under the guard will tell the tale but it won't explain the lack of extra bridge screws. My money's on it being a 4001.



Huh, never heard that before, but what do I know.

I'm clearly no Rick expert, and not adverse in any way to this bass being a misidentified 4001.

I appreciate the pointers! If 4001's have dual truss' then that would explain everything. I'll change the title of the ad appropriately now as I trust y'all's judgement more than my own!

Have you tried burnishing the input jack to remove oxydation (sp?) and general crud buildup? 99% of the time I find that resolves any crackling issues i get at the input jack.

I haven't done anything to it at all, it's been sat in its case under my bed since I bought it. The reason I'm selling is for funding towards a studio I've been 'building', which, alongside my full time job has taken up all my time.

To be honest, I had planned to take it to a reputable guitar tech to get the nut, binding and the crackle sorted by an expert prior to using it, but I probably see to the crackle myself as you suggest. I'll give it some attention over the weekend while I've got the PG off, thanks for the suggestion

It's my understanding the 4001 and 4003 coexisted for a period in the early 80's, perhaps simply because Rick was still filling orders on the 4001 or using up existing stock. But the earliest 4003s had the truss rod adjustment at the body end, so that should be a clear difference, assuming your 1980 dating is accurate.

I agree with PJ. I'm pretty sure that Ric was doing 4001s and 4003s at this time period (the 4003 had been introduced but 4001s were still making their way off the line at the same time. The way to tell them apart (from what I've been told) is a 4001 has the truss rod adjustment at the headstock and a 4003 has the truss rod adjustment at the body. Of course, I could be wrong. Here's a pretty good article from the Rickresource page:
http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/axtbassarticle2.html
RW

Hi guys,

I found some time to have a look at the insides of the bass over the weekend and can confirm it's definately a 4001, as the truss adjustment is at the headstock, not the body as I'd thought - apologies for the confusion.

I took some pictures as I thought some of you may be able to tell a little more about it by the pencilings in the cavities?





Thanks for all the help so far

Told ya!

Many thanks and well done! It's still a school day every day for me

anybody know at what point Ric went to using the rounded style of drilling-out for the wiring channel between the neck pickup and the control cavity? And maybe why they made that change?

Some pictures to add, so show the loose binding;

Now withdrawn from sale, thanks for the helpful pointers guys.

A basic way to check whether a bass is a 4001 or 4003.

Firstly ALL Rickenbacker 4000 series basses have two truss rods, if it only has one it isn't a Rickenbacker.

4001 basses were built until the early eighties and 4003 from around 1980 to date (with a cross over period when both basses were made).

All 4001 basses from 1972 onwards have the 'skunk' stripe regardless of colour.

No 4003 models or pre 1972 4001 models have a 'skunk' stripe.

Only early 4003 models have a two piece pickguard.

Extra tailpiece fixing holes are not an accurate way to check as many owners drilled them to combat tail lift.

No left handed models (guitars or basses) have the model number on the TRC (despite what has been said by someone else on another Rickenbacker forum).

I hope this clarifies things.

http://www.leftyguitars.co.uk

Thanks leftyguitars, and it's great to have you here!