The Electra Forums

My brother bought I what I think is a Electra copy of a Rickenbacker 4001 (judging by pictures of others from this forum) sometime prior to 1980. It had been modified already with 3 pickups and a multitude of switches. About 5 years ago I let some teenagers from church use it. During this time the neck separated and in the process of "fixing" it the wiring harness was destroyed. With images submitted, can anyone identify whether this is an Electra copy of a Rick 4001 or if there are some original Rickenbacker pieces and parts installed with it. I went to the Rickenbacker website and used the identification tool. The jack indicates that it is a Rickenbacker jack (Mfg 06/79), but the headstock does not have the Rickenbacker logo or the Electra logo.
Once I can determine the make and model, that will steer me to deciding whether I should invest in a restoration. I am thinking about replacing the pickups, wiring harness, knobs, pick-guard, etc. , but I don't know if the bass is already too trashed to put any money in to it. I recently put the old strings back on and the actions seems good and it stayed in tune. (I realize that the D and G strings are reversed in the photos. The D broke short and I switched them to make sure it still plays OK.)
The bass has been "in the family" for more than 30 years and it has great sentimental value. I would like to try to put it to it's former glory so that I can play it again after taking a 10 year break.
Thanks in advance.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Rickybobby

http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t165/rickybobby_001/

I'm thinking from the lack of insignia, binding and sharkfin fretboard inlays that this is not an Electra. Also, and this is probably just me being crazy, it doesn't "feel" like an Electra to me, just from looking at it.

But I could be wrong! McBrat seems to know the basses best around here. Hopefully he'll pop in and give his two cents.

As for being too trashed to fix up, I don't think so. It looks to be in pretty good shape. If it still plays relatively well, you're more than halfway there. If you're willing to forego most of those little switches, it should be relatively easy to rewire yourself, or you could have your local professional wire everything up for a reasonable amount.

When it comes to instruments, both playability and sentimental value are good reasons to keep one around.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

Matthew

Matt,

Appreciate the response. I was thinking that the bridge pick up and the middle (Toaster ?) pick up looked exactly like other electra photos from postings in this forum. I am still confused how you folks can identify year, make, and model information. I recall seeing a discussion thread that identified 2 truss rods in the neck ( which is what I have ) as Rickenbacker, but I haven't a clue where the bolt on neck comes to play-hybrid perhaps?
What I am the most curious about is the routered out neck pick up and bridge pick up. I can't tell if the bass originally came with a neck pick up and someone just enlarged the well for a different pickup, or if someone added this pickup from scratch? Is it normal to have a pick up in the bridge? (Once again someone routered out the body to make it deeper for a pickup so I can't tell if came from the factory with this option or whether this is a total add-on. This leads me to the next question. If factory set up is 4 control knobs (Tone and Volume) and one 3-position toggle for (front/back/both) pickups, which pickup would I eliminate to put it back to original?

You folks are awesome for coaching us newbies.

Rickybobby

Like he said, Mcbrat is our resident Rick copy bass fanatic, he should be around presently to answer your questions.

My opinion is that since it's been in your family and has sentimental value, then absolutely it's worth restoring. The market value of these instruments is often far superceded by their emotional and musical value.

Your bass would be an actual Rickenbacker. a Model 4001s

Here's a similar one on that was on the bay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0098916744

definitely worth restoring, and shouldn't be too bad to do so...

the guys/gals at the rickresource forum are quite helpful with information.
http://www.forum.rickresource.com/

some good places for parts are:
http://www.pickguardian.com/pickguardian/
http://pickofthericks.com/
and the boutique at http://www.rickenbacker.com/

the small pup under your tailpiece was an aftermarket option that replaced the mute pad.

_________________
My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Thanks mcbrat for taking the time to view the photos and provide links to the resources. You obviously know your stuff! I was beginning to accept the fact that the "Ol' girl" was just a pieced together mongrel from several aftermarket manufacturers. I look forward to staying abreast of the discussion threads and increasing my knowledge base of basses!

Thanks again to all of you who provided feedback and did some digging. I have looked at so many links and photos that my head has been spinning wildly and yet I have been feeling like I was going in circles. Keep up the good work –it is truly apprecaited.