Working on Paul's 4001S

Electro Dale · January 08, 2011, 11:30:13 PM

Sorry taking so long, been very very busy...so many Ricks, so little time.

It was the summer of 76 Wings Tour. Paul's HS pickup was dead before he got to L.A. and arrangements were made to bring the Bass to the Rickenbacker office on South Stevens street in Santa Ana for repairs. The Bass was brought from L.A. to Santa Ana in a Limo, the Limo driver brought the Bass to the main office and presented it to F.C. Hall who then had Charles Malyszka A.K.A. Chas Maly who was in charge of customer service and artist relations check the Bass to diagnose the problems. F.C. brought the Bass over to the factory on South Kilson drive about 2 miles from the main office to have the pickup repaired. When it arrived it was taken apart and found that the magnets were dead and could not be charged back to strength to make them work. A new pickup was installed and the broken pickguard was replaced. The instrument was also cleaned up and 1 coat of sealer was applied to the bare wood. While it was in the shop someone stole the zero fret top nut, drilled a hole in it and placed it on their key chain as a momento

not a nice thing to do IMO but it happened. Dick Burke (woodshop mgr.) had me cut a new top nut for the Bass. At this time none of us in the woodshop knew it was Paul's Bass until lunch time when Burke mentioned it belonged to one of the Beatles

When the Bass was completed it went back to the main office where F.C. had Chas and Harold Hayes check it to make sure everything was proper and working. Here's the fun part: Chas and Harold left the Bass on the bench in the sound room and put a bunch of metal parts in the case so when they gave F.C. the case Chas almost dropped it causing some serious rattling sounds and F.C. thought it was broken, he didn't appreciate the joke either, not a humorous man to say the least.
The Bass was given to the Limo driver who drove straight to the L.A. Forum in time for the sound check and Paul played the Bass that night.

ilan · January 09, 2011, 01:44:15 AM

Thanks, Dale!

Now the bass has a horseshoe if I'm not mistaken. Do you know why he replaced the hi-gain? Also, what strings did he have on the bass, the action... And the wiring harness, was it tone knobs on top, volumes at bottom like all 4001/3s, or was it a righty harness flipped over? I'm asking because his Hofner has an upside-down righty control plate, so all the switches work the "wrong" way.

Dave W · January 09, 2011, 08:01:09 AM

Thanks for the story, Dale.

Electro Dale · January 09, 2011, 10:52:02 AM

The instructions that came with the Bass said to leave the action as is, it was on the high side. Not sure about the string type or guage, but they were flat wounds.
I worked in a seperate building, the woodshop, this is where the instruments were made. The final assembly building housed the final sanding area, the paint dept. and the assembly area. Brian Carman of Pipeline fame, was the Lead man in the assembly area, he put the Bass back together. I could make a call and find out the specs on the switch and wiring, may take a day or a week but I'll call Chas and Brian and get some info. Harold Hayes passed away 3 years ago from respitory infections, we were very close friends that went to school together from 1960 thru 1965 and played in bands from 1963 thru the mid 70s' I'm thinking that the switch and controls were wired as a lefty, but I could be mistaken. The Bass was filthy sweat soaked when it came in for repairs, that is one reason for the cleaning and a thin coat of sealer, Paul must have put several million miles on it without ever cleaning it, perhaps it was just a tool to him that he played relentlessly.

Hornisse · January 09, 2011, 11:24:31 AM

Great story Dale! Probably were Pyramid Flats maybe?

Electro Dale · January 09, 2011, 01:24:36 PM

Quote from: Hörnisse on January 09, 2011, 11:24:31 AM
Great story Dale! Probably were Pyramid Flats maybe?

Or as Paul said: "long shinney one" I only got to see the Bass when it was on my bench for a new zero fret top nut. After it was put back together it was sent back to F.C. hall immediately.

godofthunder · January 10, 2011, 05:34:26 AM

Cool story! I think this was told at the pit a few years back.

Electro Dale · January 10, 2011, 10:57:14 AM

The Pit?

?? enlighten me please.
also, how does one post pictures using the icon from above that says: Inset Image

warriorbass05 · January 10, 2011, 11:01:33 AM

Quote from: Electro Dale on January 10, 2011, 10:57:14 AM

The Pit??? enlighten me please.
also, how does one post pictures using the icon from above that says: Inset Image

that was a website called the "Dudepit"...used to be a well visited bass forum. I believe it is gone now...

Dave W · January 10, 2011, 12:30:11 PM

Quote from: Electro Dale on January 10, 2011, 10:57:14 AM

The Pit??? enlighten me please.
also, how does one post pictures using the icon from above that says: Inset Image

The Insert Image icon just gives you the IMG brackets so you can put the image URL between. No need to use it when you're posting one of your own pics from Photobucket because your share URL will already have those brackets.

Many of us here met at the now-defunct Pit. I don't remember your story ever being mentioned there unless you posted it elsewhere and someone linked to it.

ilan · January 10, 2011, 02:09:26 PM

It was posted in the RickResource website IIRC. Anyway Dale gave us some interesting details that were not in the old post.

warriorbass05 · January 12, 2011, 06:58:59 AM

Quote from: ilan on January 10, 2011, 02:09:26 PM
It was posted in the RickResource website IIRC. Anyway Dale gave us some interesting details that were not in the old post.

too bad he can't post over there too! A lot of info would prob help Paul with his book

Electro Dale · January 12, 2011, 09:07:17 AM

I used to be welcome over at both the RRF and the RIC forums. Paul reminds me of that cartoon character in Yellow Submarine...Nowhere Man

warriorbass05 · January 12, 2011, 09:15:56 AM

LOL...nowhere....LOL

sorry to hear about the other two....your knowledge would benefit them all tremendously...

Electro Dale · January 12, 2011, 09:41:36 AM

That maybe true, but they don't want what I have to offer. Most anyone can write a book if they do a lot of research. When I was 23 yrs. old I was fortunate to start work learning to build guitars in the Rickenbacker Factory woodshop in Santa Ana from 1972 through 1976. I saw and learned a lot about the way things were done and built in the 50s and 60s just by working with and knowing people like Lyn Tigner, Dick Burke, Bill Myers, "Doc" Kauffman and Paul Barth. After leaving the company in late 1976 I opened my own small guitar shop in Tustin about 5 miles or so from where the Rick factory was. I had 4 other guys working for me and we carried on a tradition of guitar construction, repair and restoration. John Hall even drove up in front of my shop one day in his big black Mercedes, got out, opened the back door of his car and took out a P.O.S. import classical guitar, and as he walked in through the open garage door and started looking around, he wanted to see if I were building Rick copies, he asked me about doing some work on the guitar he had in his hands. We all got a chuckle out of that after he drove off.

Working on Paul's 4001S

Hornisse