Rickenbacker 4001 Fretless

You don't see too many Rickenbacker 4001 Fretless basses around so thought it would be nice to upload some pics of it. This Bass was just in for some minor work, clean electronics and usual maintenance. The customer has owned this instrument for many years but did not play it much due to the 'fret markers' on the side of the fingerboard. Rickenbacker had installed a side dot indicating every position of where a fret would have been. This is all well intentioned, some people probably really enjoy the thought, but it makes the side of the fingerboard very cluttered and hard to judge where you are playing on the fingerboard. (see below)

The quickest solution, one that still entailed the original concept of design, was to drill out select black side dots and replace them with white dots. This would not modify the Bass too much but still allow for a less cluttered look on the side of the fingerboard.

It was a fun job, the customer was happy and we got to jam on a fretless Ricky at the shop.