The Last Bass Outpost

Another wonderful job!

Now here is a funny thing about that '73 4000. I remembered seeing it somewhere in the past. And then I found it. It was sold by Swami at the now-gone Bass Palace, in Jan 2012, when it had a black overspray. I remembered the exact same crack in the pickguard. I compared the pictures for the one definite birth mark - fretboard grain. Well, as far as I can tell it's the same bass. I guess someone managed to get the black paint off the Fireglo. Also there's a mark under the MADE in the TRC - same on both pics. And the off-center cut on the E bridge saddle... it's that bass.

I entered a bid... wish me luck.

I almost bought that 4000 from Swami at the Dallas Guitar Show in 2011. I wanted a jetglo Ric and almost handed over the money but found a jetglo '79 4001 at another booth and got that instead. I remember it because I could only find 2 Ric basses at the entire show that year. IIRC he was letting it go for 13 or 1400 then. Now that I see it in fireglo I sort of wish I'd pulled the trigger now but I love the one I wound up with.

Yep, there was no hacksawing. I've spoken with Mark at length about this and it's a fascinating tale about an iconic bass.

So sorry to hear of Bill's passing. RIP.

I had 2 of the late 90 reissues and sold them both. Though they were both solidly built I didn't care for the pickups in either one, no usable tones for my gigs. Very weak output on the E string. I suppose someone makes a better pickup that would solve that problem but I didn't want to invest the time or money.

Had a '72, had to sell it to pay my sister back for bailing me out of jail. Think I paid around $235-250 for it.

I didn't put any spacers under mine. I wouldn't say it has "more" sustain, the JC with rounds already has quite a bit.

Uwe, mine looks just like the gold one in the TB thread. Sure is a hell of a lot easier to tweak.

OK, installed and working fine. To be able to adjust is wonderful.