| Reviewer | Taylor Washburn, 18 years old, 5 years of bass experience |
| Manufacturer | Rickenbacker |
| Model | 1980 4001 |
| Price | $750 |
| Neck Type | neck-through |
| Fingerboard | dark reddish wood, fretted - shark fin inlays |
| Body Type | light maple w/white binding |
| Finish | natural |
| Pickup(s) | two passive Rickenbacker pickups with a chrome-colored cover ove |
| r the treble (closer to the bridge) | |
| Controls | two volume, two tone, one three-way treble/bass switch |
The 4001 looks great, especially with the natural finish and white pic guard. The neck's inlays are pretty, and the chrome pickup cover is beautiful. It's a little scratched up in the usual places (belt buckle, thumb groove), but that's what happens.
The sound is really sweet as well - a great improvement from my Mexican Fender. There is no hum at all. Quality pickups. The treble punch is amazing, and the nice Rickenbacker grind is pretty easy to get too.
My only real complaint about this bass is the neck. The frets have a tendancy to buzz a bit on the D and G strings around the 10th fret, and I'm told that it's not any easy fix because the wear on the frets means that they have to be replaced. That's something that you might want to look out for in these instruments - it can be a little annoying. The good thing is that it basicly disappears when the instrument is plugged in. It's quite fixable, but it's kind of expensive to get them all redone.
| Construction | 85% | 
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| Playability | 85% |
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| Appearance | 95% |
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| Sound | 90% |
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| Value | 90% |
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| Overall | 90% |
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