Madein1962

I'm pretty sure this model should have a dual Truss Rod and this has obviously never had one. The bridge saddles look like the Allparts replacements rather than genuine Ric. Also, I believe the pickups should be a horseshoe and a toaster on this model. The wiring doesn't look like factory. The pickup routing does look off, even by Ric standards. Overall, this looks like a really nice bass but, I would lean towards it not being a Rickenbacker.

Just a few things to consider The fingerboard has a lacquered finish which, I believe, is applied at the factory after the frets are fitted. You can see the finish on the sides of the frets in your pictures. This obviously adds to the difficulty of removing the old frets without making a mess of the fingerboard. Rickenbacker doesn't sell fret wire so you'll need to decide what's going to be used. Stewmac sells what is supposed to be the nearest equivalent. Whoever does the work will need to be familiar with vintage Rickenbacker's, specifically the Truss Rod adjustment. This will have dual Truss Rods which shouldn't be used to adjust the neck relief. The neck needs to be manually bent into position and the Truss Rods then nipped up to hold it in position. £400 doesn't sound totally ridiculous if the work is done by someone who has experience of working on these. Having said all of this; most of the frets that I can see, appear to have some life left in them and could probably be revived. The one with the big dent under the D string might still be salvageable. The key is to find a knowledgeable luthier to advise on what is possible.

Re the Bridge, the Ric tailpiece won't necessarily develop serious tail lift. Even if it does start to lift a little, it probably won't affect the playability. There are plenty of 4001s out there with the original tailpiece. Having said that; the Hipshot is a much easier bridge to work with. Intonation and string heights are easier to adjust and it's a drop in replacement for the original. Avoid the ones made of brass as they are ridiculously heavy Hipshot make or made replacement tuners (HB5) in chrome or black. Be aware that there are two different size ferrules. You will need to check the size of the holes in the headstock and specify which size you need. Pickguards / scratch plates can be a problem as the exact shape and size varies quite a bit, as does the position of the holes on the 4001. Robbie at Rickysounds is very helpful and knowledgeable so, it's worth a call. I think your options are either a custom pickguard with the holes in the right place or an off the shelf pickguard that might require holes to be drilled in the right place Rickysounds offers pickguards for various production years so you might get lucky with one of them

Fortunately there's nothing too radical here. It could easily be put back to stock. Most of the changes are pretty standard replacements/ upgrades. As the bass was quite beat up and in need of TLC when I bought it; I opted to put all of the bits I wanted to try, into a single project. It still looks and feels like a RIC. Even the colour is an approximation of a special edition that RIC did, a few years ago. Rickenbacker have changed pretty much everything on the 4000 series basses over time so, is a RIC even a RIC? 🤷‍♂️

Yep, you're right about the jack plate, as it has the serial number stamped on it. The knobs are vintage type replacements from Rickysounds if I remember rightly, so probably RIC. Thinking about it; the jack plate is the only part that is original to the bass. Even the pickup surround is a replacement which had been rechromed. 😀

My vanity project 4001S with everything renewed / replaced. The only RIC bit left on it, is the bridge pickup surround.

@dmc79 the Tourtech Pro weighs slightly less than the gator abs TSA case, according to my luggage scales but, still over 5kg.

Thanks for the info and pics GeeCee. The serial numbers and names appear to be difficult to pin down precisely. I think I'd read on an old Thread, that 3 were made with the alembic headstock (in addition to Number 1) The rear of the Mark King headstock reads 'Supernatural Bass (Classic)' and the serial appears to be 0003 SA Mine reads 'Supernatural Classic Bass' and has a serial S 0051 CA Working strictly from serial numbers, you'd assume that this bass with the alembic headstock was made after Mark's with the standard headstock. I'm not sure we'll ever know but, I'm happy with my bass regardless.

Hi, Thanks I'm not convinced it's the same Bass that J.D. thinks it is but, it's still a very early one. Apparently the wood is Zebrano which John was using quite a bit in the early years. I suspect that they have seen an increase. When I took mine in to be serviced, I was told that they had 200 jobs on the books. I don't know whether they are all new builds. I suspect it includes refurbs, refinishes, repairs etc. I believe they're planning to turn the existing workshop into a woodwork shop and that Toby is joining Jaydee full time rather than operating independently as T Dog to cope with the workload. They're certainly not short of work.

Yeah, it's a bit of an oddity. It has the narrower Series Ii body but with the Series I pickup placement. It also has a slightly longer neck, with the neck heel further from the body, compared to a typical Series ii. Whether that's, in some way, to accommodate the zero fret ?.

Apologies for the other one but, this is the only photo I have on my phone. The one on the right is my matte / satin black Jaydee Series ii

I've only ever bought 2 new basses; both of which were being sold off cheap as NOS. The first was a US Fender Jazz in translucent sunset orange (I guess it wasn't a popular finish). I paid around £400 for it, which seemed like a bargain. The second was a 5 string Vigier Passion in natural satin finish. I was really after a 4 string so I turned it down but, the shop just kept emailing me with a lower price until I couldn't say no. I paid £1100. These were both bought when I was going through a phase of buying anything that appeared uncommon or undervalued (over ten years ago.) Of course, the plan was to sell them at some point but, I never quite got around to it.

I bought my last one a while ago from mains-cables-r-us on ebay. It's a bit more expensive but they still appear to be selling it on ebay. The listing says they have stock available and they're UK based. I'm not sure why they would list It if they won't ship it but, I haven't tried it.