The Elusive Object Of Desire
As bass guitars go, I was aware of the Rickenbacker 4001 bass pretty early on. It's the one Paul McCartney's sporting on the inside cover of Magical Mystery Tour. It also happens to be the one he was sporting during the heyday of Wings and on the poster for his rockumentary of the '76 tour, 'Rock Show'. I could have and perhaps should have glommed onto his Hofner violin bass, but I didn't. The Ric looked more exciting. It's a bit ironic because Paul McCartney himself has gone back to playing his Hofner. He recently said of his Ric that he still carts it around but he never seems to pick it up to play. The real kicker about that Ric of his is that he got it for nothing from Rickenbacker. The Rickenbacker people essentially gave the Beatles their samples which turned out to be the greatest promotion they did for themselves.
The second occasion I got exposed to the Rickenbacker 4001 bass was when I saw a photo of John Entwistle playing his. He didn't play it for long - it seems to slot in somewhere around the time just before they recorded their first album. There's a story about the Ric Entwistle had whereby the neck failed in short order. By the time he was doing the early catalogue of The Who, he had moved on to other bass guitars, but it was a bit of a pointer knowing both McCartney and Entwistle had played these things. Entwistle's 4001 was also notable because it was the second Rickenbacker 4001 imported into the UK after McCartney's.
I don't know who got the third one, but the fourth one went another famous player known for the 4001 bass, Chris Squire. If there was a guy who sealed the deal for me and the 4001 bass, it was Chris Squire. He played his pretty much for the duration his career - until the the day he died. You couldn't mistake his Ric 4001 for any other kind of bass. He's one of the most recognisable players - and so that was the sound I kept zero-ing in on.
When I finally got my hands on one, it was this 'horrible bit of relic from 1978. It was covered in solver grey enamel car paint and reflective material on the front. I think it was meant to be a Kiss tribute kind of bass that they guy had modified. The bridge had been swapped out for some other thing, and the pick guard was cracked. I won it on an eBay auction where nobody else bid on it. I pulled it apart and peeled off the enamel paint and refurbished the thing. It worked out very nicely once I managed to set the action and intonate the bridge.
It's actually a funny kind of bass. First, there is the dirty big cavity surrounding the bridge pickup which gives the thing a sense of air in its sound. It sounds like a semi-acoustic instrument at times. The other funny thing is the neck-through construction, which is great for sustain. The maple in the body gives it a much brighter sound than a Fender with Swamp Ash or Alder, or a Gibson EB-3 with Mahogany. Then there is the glossy fretboard which is made of this weird wood called Bubinga. The moment you pick up a 4001, you're 90% there to playing prog rock. It's actually hard to dial them back to playing things like Motown or Beachboys or R&B. I love them, but I know they're not everybody's idea of a bass tone.
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