Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Lemmy’s earlier Rickenbacker


Spewy

Recommended Posts

12 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

Advice? Don't let John Hall find out about you "copying" his product.

Judging by the number of copies on eBay these days, I'm guess JH has lost that battle, or given up. 

I love the mods guys did to basses in the 70's, look forward to seeing this thread develop :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Born to Lose Out to lunch

 

Another bass making a debut in 1981. Is the arrival of a third Rickenbacker, with a maple body and dotted maple neck. It’s commonly known as the “Born to Lose Out to lunch” bass.

 

It also raises some controversy.  At that time Rickenbacker didn’t make basses with a maple fingerboard. No doubt there were some custom options but it wasn’t stock at this moment in time. Lemmy bought this bass off a friend and a mystery what its original state was.

 

According to Lemmy, when he got the bass it already had the maple fingerboard but the frets were pulled out and in need of repair. He also pointed out that the headstock had a bunch of holes in them from previous tuner keys being installed.

 

It did have a Ric-O-sound however  and looked like an original Ric that was modified. Footage of the bass shows a skunk stripe down the back of the neck. Meaning it could have started life as a 4001.

 

This bass was was heavily customised and refurbished on at least 3 occasions.  

 

Born to Lose Out to Lunch modifications timeline

 

Not only was the bass cleaned up, different knobs were added like kitchen cooker and chicken head knobs. Even the jack socket moved from the bottom to the front of the bass.

 

You’ll recognize stickers on this bass such as the Iron Cross on the body and the black stars on the inlays.

This was Lemmy’s main tour bass between 1981 and 1995.

 

Making appearances on BBC’s the Young Ones and music video releases “One Track Mind”, “Shine” and “I Got Mine”It was last seen on stage in 2003 at the Motorhead Walk of Fame Induction.

 

 

Born to Lose Out to Lunch modifications (Click to open)

 

 

  • 1981 First appearance with “Born to Lose Out to Lunch” decal 
  • 1983 Seen on music videos One Track Mind, Shine, I Got Mine 
  • 1984 Seen on BBC’s The Young ones with World War 1 Iron Cross inlays 
  • 1985 White binding and black stars added 
  • 1987 Chrome guard added 
  • 1988 Iron Cross on the body added 
  • 1989/90 Input jack moved to the front, Chrome pick guard added 
  • 1992 Seen with stars on the fretboard 1st time 
  • 1993 Seen with more stars and looks how we know it today. 
  • 2003 Last seen on stage as a backup.

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Clear as mud. I don't think you'll ever get the definitive spec.

Nice one, thanks for all the info, I’m hoping to get as close as I can but it also needs to be gigable etc. Really appreciate you taking the time👍

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Spewy said:

Nice one, thanks for all the info, I’m hoping to get as close as I can but it also needs to be gigable etc. Really appreciate you taking the time👍

You’re very welcome. I tried my best to get along with earlier versions of Lemmy’s basses. Closest I got was a nice 4001 Mapleglo which I considered adding some bits to. Then one of these came up and I couldn’t resist. 1 of 60 and the first couple were Lemmy’s own basses. The hand carved wing sections are unique to each bass. There are also some with different pick-up placements.

 

E102B0EF-47AA-4CB3-AF48-39F24B3FF1D6.jpeg

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 27/09/2020 at 18:36, Spewy said:

I’m just planning out a replica build of Lemmys early 4001 Rickenbacker. Has anyone done this before or know the spec , decent pictures etc,any advice would be gratefully received.

9BA7856F-8C93-41D3-96A0-27475150B068.jpeg

That’s actually a Bartolini in the neck. It originally had a copy of a T Bird pickup in it (I suspect built by Peter Cook). His original Ric - which isn’t that bass - had a proper T Bird pickup in it. He said the copies weren’t as good.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don’t think it’s ever ever been confirmed 100%, although I have read that it was supposedly a 4000. In that era they were both neck-throughs; I had a ‘72 4000 (Through-neck, pre skunk-stripe) that I was going to turn into a Lemmy bass but I let it go before I got round to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I can see that looks like the original aluminium tailpiece with the aluminium saddles; it’s difficult to tell from the picture but it looks like (as on one of mine) a lot of the chrome has flaked off, which may be why some parts look dark and others lighter. I’d need a better picture, which I may have somewhere.  I’m pretty sure he replaced it at some point with one of the later (structurally worse) tailpieces, probably due to intonation issues; the bridge unit on the original tailpieces is narrower and tends to run out of intonation. Both of my vintage basses have had the tailpiece routed for a later bridge unit, and even then there’s not a lot of adjustment available. 
Edit: looks like virtually all the chrome is gone here!

27851B42-C2B4-472C-908F-58C1F3CCF3CF.jpeg

Edited by 4000
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From early interviews he definitely did use it. He described the T Bird pickup as sounding like, amongst other things, “a road drill”. I think he only started changing things round when he got the signature bass. By that point his hearing must have been completely shot; when I met him in 1980 and 81/82 he said he was deaf in 1 ear (I forget which one, it may have been the left). 
He also completely changed his amp settings later on too. Originally he had everything full on except the bass, which was full off, and the volume, IIRC. Later - again IIRC - he only had the middle on full. I’ll try and dig out some old interviews I have at some point. 

I once spoke to Paul Gray,  who at the time was working at Peter Cook’s, who said that when Lemmy’s original bass had come in it was wired wrong and had a really low output. 

Edited by 4000
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...