Rare 1974 Rickenbacker Azure Blue 4001 Stereo Bass

This rare Azure Blue stereo bass weighs just 9.40 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Rickenbacker bass scale length of 33 1/2 inches. This solid body bass features offset cutaways, with a hooked long left horn providing a "high cresting wave" profile across both. Maple body with single white binding, laminated maple neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and triangular inlaid pearl position markers. Headstock with hooked "cresting wave" top and white opaque plastic logo plate with lettering in black. Individual Grover closed-back tuners with cloverleaf metal buttons. Two pickups (the later style with individual polepieces) with outputs of 10.86k and 9.10k. Bridge pickup with original chrome cover. White plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) and three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. Four-saddle bridge/tailpiece. "Rick-O-Sound" stereo and "Standard" jack inputs on a metal plate (with the serial number "NE [May 1974] 2570") on the lower treble bout. There is some belt buckle scarring and a couple of small chips on the back of the guitar, four tiny chips on the back of the neck, a few marks on the sides, a couple of small marks on the top, and a small amount of edgewear on the headstock. This is a great example of an extremely rare color. Original Rickenbacker black hardshell case with purple plush lining (8.00).

"The 4001 Rickenbacker electric bass was a two pickup Deluxe version of the Model 4000. The extra pickup gave the instrument more tone flexibility with a greater bass response...The Model 4001 had Deluxe features -- triangle inlays, a bound neck, and a bound body. To accommodate the binding, the factory did not contour the front facing edge of the 4001 as they did with the Model 4000. Double pickup bass features included two volume controls, two tone controls, and a three position selector switch. Most all of these basses had rosewood finger boards. However, starting in the late 1960s, the factory used ebony finger boards on some especially fancy basses. Rick-O-Sound was a special order item on the basses at first. It was unusual to see the stereo wiring in the late 1960s and the price sheets first listed the R.O.S. feature for basses in 1971...Of interest to instrument photo collectors, the February 1977 issue of Playboy Magazine featured centerfold Playmate Star Stowe holding an Azureglo Model 4001. Eventually, Rickenbacker dropped the horseshoe pickup on the basses in favor of a redesigned under-string pickup...Rickenbacker discontinued the regular production Model 4001 in early 1986" (Richard R. Smith, The History of Rickenbacker Guitars, pp. 203-204).

"A two-pickup 'deluxe' model, the 4001, was added to the Rickenbacker line in 1961; it had checkered body binding and a bound rosewood fingerboard with triangular inlays. The two Ricks [the 4000 and 4001] were the only neck-through basses on the market until 1963, when Gibson introduced the Thunderbird. (The T-Bird's design was soon altered, however, and by 1965 it had a glued-on neck.)...The popularity of Rickenbacker instruments soared during the mid '60s because of their association with the Beatles. John Lennon had been playing a Rickenbacker 325 guitar since 1960, and in 1965 F.C. Hall presented a left-handed 4001S (the 'export version' of the 4001) to Paul McCartney. It was heard to good effect on many subsequent Beatles recordings, especially Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...The 4001 was Rickenbacker's mainstay during the 1960 and '70s" (Jim Roberts, American Basses, p. 158).