1969 RICKENBACKER 4001 BASS
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In 1969 the tuners changed to either wavy or flat Grover Imperial's and the the bridge pickup changed from a horseshoe pickup to the more common bridge pickup with chrome cover and chrome surround. In 1969 the surround had very sharply squared corners.
1969 Ric 4001 features: cresting wave shaped medium length headstock with walnut wings, logo on plexiglass truss rod cover, dual truss rods, full width maple neck through body design, full width triangle crushed pearloid fret markers, standard 20 frets, 21 fret option or fretless option, checkered binding, toaster shaped neck pickup, white pickguard, clear plexiglass thumb rest, heptagonal shaped knobs with silver top and lettering, CTS potentiometers, cloth wiring, molded blue capacitors, mono input jack plate or additional ric-o-sound stereo input jack, pots cavity marking, 3 way pickup toggle switch, chrome "gaptooth" bridge assembly including mutes, Tolex black case with blue interior.
The letters on the chrome input jack plate determine the year and month of production. The digits indicate the number of production. Some examples of 1969 Rickenbacker serial numbers are:
| IA xx | 1969 January |
| IB 16x | 1969 February |
| IC xx | 1969 March |
| ID xx | 1969 April |
| IE xx | 1969 May |
| IF 45x | 1969 June |
| IG xx | 1969 July |
| IH 50x | 1969 August |
| II xx | 1969 September |
| IJ xx | 1969 October |
| IK xx | 1969 November |
| IL xx | 1969 December |