Rickenbaker Advice Required

[King Tut]

I've come across a black (jetglo?) 4001 in a music shop - allegedly 1977. Buckle rash on the back ,and hints of blue underneath the black in a couple of places.

It's priced at £1359. Is this a good price - is it likely to have been refinished with the blue coming through?

Also - any obvious stuff to help me verify the year - what should I look out for - I know very little about Riks!

BTW - it sounds and plays fantastic.

Cheers

Col

[The Burpster]

Its worth whatever someone is prepared to pay for it.

They are more expnsive now than they were due to a price hoyk by Ric, but as to 2ndhand values...... How long is a piece of string.


It seems a bit on the dear side to me, but Rics are not around 2ndhand frequently so there are a lot of variables to add into the mix of valuing.

There is a serial number decoder on the Ric site that should help you age and model it....!

Good luck.

[0175westwood29]

doesnt the jetglo have blue coming thru?

i think theres a stamp on the neck but dnt quote me?

glad it plays well im buying an autumn glo 77 from the states at the mo for £850

andy

[Bassassin]

Firstly, I think that's an awful lot for a refin'd late 70s 4001. If you look around you can pick up a new or recent 4003 for less, and I don't think there's anything particularly collectable about that vintage. I don't think a factory finish Jetglo would have blue underneath, so I think you can be 99% sure it's a refin. Ironic, I think blue (Azureglo?) would be a much more unusual & potentially collectable colour.

Rick serial numbers are on the jack plate - they are not obvious to decode - make a note of it & type it into RIC's serial decoder on their website:

[url="http://www.rickenbacker.com/service_serials.asp"]http://www.rickenbacker.com/service_serials.asp[/url]

If you are interested in this bass - or any other Rick, I'd strongly advise signing up to www.rickresource.com - incredibly knowledgeable bunch of people, I've found them to be very friendly & welcoming, and I collect JapCrap Rick copies! RR is also probably the best place for tracking down s/h Ricks in the US, if you decided to import one.

Jon.

[King Tut]

Thanks guys - I think I'll give this one a miss!

[thebeat]

I might be wrong here, but i'm almost sure that i've read on the Rickresource forums that Jetglos have a blue basecoat?

[cd_david]

The serial number should be on the jack plate and for a 77 should start with the letter Q. and then have another letter A-L for the month of the year and then 4 digits.
Dave

[Bassassin]

[quote name='thebeat' post='264988' date='Aug 18 2008, 10:06 PM']I might be wrong here, but i'm almost sure that i've read on the Rickresource forums that Jetglos have a blue basecoat?[/quote]
I stand corrected if so! Still think it's pricey, though.

J.

[Doctor J]

Regardless of refin or not, £1359 is way too much for a 4001. Shop around and you should be able to pick on up for under 1k

[Happy Jack]

Incidentally - and this MAY be on-topic after all - the first time I took my Jetglo 4003 (1984) to a nightclub, when I took it out of the gigbag it turned out I'd brought the wrong bass ... it was bright baby blue!

It took me several seconds to realise that the UV lighting in the club had turned my Jetglo bass into a pale blue.

[King Tut]

WellI'm def not buying it now as I've just bought a spanking new mapleglo 4003!