 1965: 1964
Rickenbacker 4001S-LH bass
(Fire-glo): When
he
gave Harrison a new 360-12 model in February '64, F.C.
Hall, the
head of Rickenbacker, also brought along a new 4001 bass
to show
McCartney. McCartney liked it, but as Hall had
brought a
right-handed model, he had to wait more than a year for
a proper
left-handed one. During the band's
U.S. tour, Hall's son John had the honor of giving it to
McCartney. " I
presented the bass personally to Paul at the home they
had leased for
the
Hollywood Bowl show (30 August '65), not at the show,"
Hall
recalls.
"This home was up on Curzon Terrace, which I guess would
be in the
Hollywood
Hills. [In fact, it was Burt Lancaster's house.] Also
present besides
the
Beatles and their keepers were Roger McGuinn,
Peter Fonda and
Joan
Baez." Harrison recalls its first use on "Think
For Yourself" (8
November '65). It served as a backup for live
dates in late '65,
and for the '66 tours, but in terms of recording, by the
time the band
made "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in the spring of '66,
the
Rickenbacker
had become McCartney's bass of choice. 
He used it liberally on Revolver, and,
late that year,
for
"Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever," and for
the rest of the Sgt.
Pepper sessions. For the release of that
album, McCartney
gave
the bass a psychedelic paint job (as did Harrison and
Lennon to
their
guitars), and used it that way on record and in videos
until late
'68.
McCartney resurrected his Hofners for Let It Be
but
returned
to the Rick -- now sanded back to a natural finish --
for Abbey
Road,
and in his solo career has played it on numerous albums
and
tours.
In 1975 McCartney shipped it back to Rickenbacker to
replace a pickup,
but to read about what was done to it -- and what shape
it arrived in
--
check out the report
of former Rickenbacker finishing shop lead man Mark
Arnquist. |
