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Paul Boyer · January 28, 2020, 07:27:21 AM

That eight-string is not a 4003, but I think it is a modified 4008. The center shedua strip is an identifying feature of the 4001 and 4008 but was not used in the production 4003 or 4003S/5. The headstock, string arrangement, and the "toothless" 7-screw tailpiece suggest 4008 as well. It is possible that this one is a factory build 4008 with the deluxe fingerboard and bound body of the standard 4001.

ilan · January 28, 2020, 02:55:42 PM

Factory modified, you mean? Because the chassis has a bound body and neck and an 8-string headstock.

Paul Boyer · January 29, 2020, 09:24:45 AM

Quote from: ilan on January 28, 2020, 02:55:42 PM
Factory modified, you mean? Because the chassis has a bound body and neck and an 8-string headstock.

Yes, as I stated in my third sentence. If this is indeed from 1983, it would have been made at the tail end of the 4008 production and before the 4003S/8 came along (1985). It has all the features of the typical (but rare) 4008 with the addition of the deluxe fingerboard and the bound body. Interesting note: The typical 4008 had a bound neck, but not a bound body. There was no binding on the 4003S/8 body or neck.

At assembly, all of these parts are interchangeable. The core is the neck-through blank; obviously, the 8-string has a longer headstock, but otherwise the necks were the same. The body wings are cut, and if bound, the binding is added BEFORE the wings are glued to the neck-through assembly. The fingerboards are separately milled and assemblers pick them out of a container. I'm not sure, but I think the boards are sanded and contoured before being added to the neck. And I think if it is a bound neck, the binding is added after the board is on the neck and the frets added. So it's quite possible for this particular bass was made to a special order, on the assembler's whim, or by mistake. No harm, no foul - somebody bought it.