1969 Rickenbacker 4000 | Mapleglo

 1969 Rickenbacker 4000 Mapleglo | Overview

I have owned this one since 2009, having purchased from a fellow forumite of the Rickresource. It's a lovely example for the year with a slim and fast neck profile.

It remains in excellent cosmetic shape for the year, details of note:

• Fretboard and frets are excellent, showing almost no sign of wear.
• Light worming on the back of the body, a few minor blemishes in the finishing and some missing paint on the plexi TRC cover from removal at some point. See images, happy to provide more.
• There are some doubled-up/plugged pickguard holes from when it was run with two pick-ups.
• Bridge was re-plated when repair work conducted by Larry Davis, more on that below.*
• Case is a non-original silver tolex case.

*I sent the bass to Luthier Larry Davis who has extensive experience with vintage Rickenbackers to have it fit-out as a 4001s given the factory neck routing. 

While setting it up, Larry noted the tailpiece had been relocated by a previous owner, who drilled into the tailpiece to remount it and slightly expanded the tailpiece routing to accomodate this shift. Upon further inspection, Larry discovered it had been moved as the original mounting points were off centre preventing proper intonation - not uncommon from the factory in this era, but the worst he had seen. 

Larry plugged the excess holes in the route and properly centered the tailpiece after having it re-chromed (in a period correct method) to address the pitting and fill the holes. While now properly oriented, this left a slight exposure of the over route on either side of the tailpiece as pictured. It is quite minor, but should be noted. I will include Larry's summation of his work for provenance.

The bass played lovely in the year or so I gave it attention - I hate to admit it, but it has live in its case the last decade.

Happy to ship internationally at my discounted UPS rates.

Asking Price: $4,500USD SOLD Nov. 8, 2020

Details of work and internals: