Restoring My Vintage 1972 Rickenbacker 4001 Bass
Part I - The "Before" Pictures
Posted 6/10/2005
We recently had new carpet installed in the entire back part of our house (three bedrooms and a hall). This forced me
to clean out all three rooms and to rearrange all the accumulated clutter. Part of this "clutter" is my
collection of musical instruments (guitars, basses, etc.). One of these instruments is my 1972 Rickenbacker 4001
bass. This is the main instrument that I used throughout my time as a gigging musician. It had sat in its case for
the last 15 years and I hadn't so much as opened the case to look at it in all that time. I knew the bass was not in
very good shape and I have acquired other basses over the years that I play instead of that one. So I really had no
reason to take it out of the case. Having to move it made me want to pull it out and take a look.
Looking it over, I see that it has deteriorated somewhat over the years. I noticed a small crack in the wood that
wasn't there before and the wood has darkened all around the edges of the bass. There are many other problems with
the instrument, some of which were present when I put it away 15 years ago. The chrome has worn off the hardware
(some of the hardware has even begun to rust), the mirror backing is coming off the pickguard, and bits and pieces
of the original hardware are missing.
Long story short, I have decided to restore this instrument - to clean it up, replace all the hardware, get it re-fretted
tune up the neck, etc. I thought it would be fun to chronicle the restoration on my web site. First order of business
is to take some "before"
pictures. The following pictures show the bass exactly as I found it in its case. I haven't polished it up or done
anything else to it at this point.
(Click the images below for a larger view.)
Below is my beloved 1972 Rickenbacker model 4001 bass. It is solid maple (with a 1/2 inch stripe of mahogany
down the middle) in a clear finish Rickenbacker calls Mapleglo. It is a very special instrument, not just because I had such
an intimate relationship
with it for so many years, but also just for what it is. There aren't many of these around any more and this one has some special
flourishes that make it a fairly unique instrument. For one thing, it has the old-style Rickenbacker checkerboard binding
around the body. I believe 1972 was the last year Rickenbacker put this style of binding on their instruments, so this
immediately identifies my bass as a vintage instrument.
I bought the bass used in about 1976 or 1977. I saw it advertised in the paper and called to check it out. It was just
what I was looking for. Strangely enough, it turned out the bass was owned by a guy whose sister was a good friend of mine.
I never met the guy but I have a distinct memory of visiting his parents' house and forking the money over to his mother.
The previous owner had made some customizations to the bass. I never discussed some of these mods with him, so I can only
speculate about a couple of them. For one thing, he had added a mirrored pickguard. I can't guess where it got it, since
such things were a rarity back in those days. Rickenbacker never made anything but white pickguards for this model in Mapleglo,
so I assume he had this pickguard custom made. I always loved that pickguard. And it was functional too. If there was a woman
in the audience I liked, I'd flash her with my pickguard to get her attention. It usually worked
pretty well.
The picture below shows my bass as it was when I first took it out of the case.
Below is an image of the back of the bass.
Below is a closeup of the body showing the mirrored pickguard. You can see where the mirror backing has come off
the pickguard, leaving blue areas.
Below is a different shot of the body showing the damage to the pickguard. You can see the checkerboard binding pretty well
in this picture.
Below is a picture that shows another modifications that make the bass special. That's
Chris Squire's autograph in green
ink on the back of the headstock. Chris Squire is probably the pro most associated with the Rickenbacker 4001. He has played
the same 1964 4001 since he acquired it in 1965 (supposedly the fourth Rickenbacker 4001 imported into England). Chris has
been my bass-playing hero since 1972, when I discovered the music of Yes. So it's always been special to me to have his autograph
on my bass. The previous owner had the bass autographed sometime in the early 70s when Yes was doing a promotional appearance
at an Atlanta record store. When I bought the bass, it came with a photograph of Chris Squire signing it. I have long since lost the
photo.
This picture also shows the Grover tuners Rickenbacker was installing on their basses back in 1972. They don't make these
tuners anymore and these are in terrible shape. You can see that the chrome has worn off. I'll have see if I can get these
re-chromed, if possible.
You may be wondering about that green string tied around the headstock in the picture above. It's not there for decoration.
At some point before I put the bass away it developed a problem with the nut. The top of the nut cracked away and wouldn't hold
the low e-string in position. As the picture below illustrates, I fixed the problem by putting some kind of wadding under the
string and tying the green string around the headstock. A pretty crude repair, but it worked and saw me through several
gigs.
Below is a closeup of the lower horn of the body. This shot clearly shows the checkerboard binding. It also shows damage to the
pickguard and how the wood has darkened near the binding. The pickguard can be replaced, but the "age-spots" in the wood are
permanent.
Below is a closeup of the bridge and bridge pickup. You can clearly see damage to the chrome on both. You can see two holes
in the upper left and right of the bridge. These holes are supposed to house adjustment screws for a dampening system
Rickenbacker includes with their bridges. I never used the dampening system and the screws were in my way, so I removed them. The
screws have long since been lost.
The bridge pickup is supposed to have a chrome cover that acually covers the strings. This cover
is right in the sweet spot where I like to play, so I removed it immediately. It is also long gone.
Below is a closeup of the upper horn of the body. You can see the darkening of the wood near the binding and a crack in the
pickguard above the neck bridge. I believe this crack was present when I bought the bass, but I may have cracked it myself
at some point while adjusting the pickup. I know it's been there a long time.
Below is another shot of the cracked pickguard.
Below is a closeup of the back of the bass. This picture highlights a slight case of "beltrash" - scratches caused by a belt
buckle. I never wore a belt while playing this bass and was always very careful to avoid beltrash. Then one night I let a guy named
Marvin Mahaney play my bass and he scratched it up as you can see in the picture. Marvin, if you're reading this, I'm still pissed.
The picture below shows a new crack in the wood that has apparently developed while the bass sat in its case. You can see the crack
below the neck extending under the pickguard and clean through the binding. I have no idea how such a crack could occur with
the bass sitting in its case. Exposure to extreme cold might be an explanation, but I have alway stored my instruments
in places that avoid extremes of heat or cold. I'll have to remove the pickguard to see how far the crack extends.
Below is a picture of the bass's jack plate. One of the coolest features about Rickenbacker basses is that you can play them
in either mono or stereo. One of the jacks in the picture below is for mono and the other is for stereo. The stereo output
routes one pickup to one amp and the other to a different one. This produces an amazing sound with one amp tuned to bring out
the highs and the other the lows. I used to play stereo any time I could get away with it - when there was enough room on the stage
and when bandmates didn't bitch too much about me bringing two amps.
The jack plate shows the serial number of my bass - LG664. You can decode these serial numbers to determine when your guitar
was made. My serial number indicates that my bass was made in July of 1972.
Because Rickenbacker jack plates are inscribed with the serial number of the insrument, you cannot simply replace the jack
plate with a new one. Rickenbacker doesn't sell them. This is to prevent
people slapping authentic Rickenbacker jack plates (and serial numbers) on cheap copies of Rickenbacker guitars. This, like the
Grover tuners, is a piece of irreplacable original equipment I'll have try to get re-chromed.
That's all for now. I'll post new pictures and reports on my progress in restoring this baby as thing develop.
|
|
Home 
