Anyone even slightly familiar with Chris Squire’s bass playing style knows he uses a heavy-handed pick, which is part of how he got his signature sound.
But it’s also obvious that the Rickenbacker bass he used also played a huge part in that trebly, clacky tone he was able to get.
It’s a common belief that the bass Chris used was a 1964 Rickenbacker 4001. True? Almost. The legendary bass he used was a Rickenbacker and was a ’64, but was a variant of the 4001 called the 4001S model.
On the 4001S there is no body binding, and the fretboard inlays are dots instead of triangles. Those are the visual differences.
There is some debate as to what Chris’s Rick actually weighed. Some claim it only weighs 2/3 of a regular 4001. What is known is that the instrument had been sent back to Rickenbacker at one point for headstock repairs, and in addition to that, Chris himself stated the instrument had been refurbished “many times.” All the repairs over the years affected the overall weight of the instrument to varying degrees.
What helps to get that trebly/clacky Squire sound out of a Rick?
For some, the 4001’s stock pickups may not be responsive enough to get the sound you’re chasing after. True, you can use compression and overdrive to help things out. But if by doing that you get nothing but a nasty mess of a sound where screeching happens everywhere no matter what you do, then it may be time to consider different pickups. We do carry pickup options for the 4001 from Bartolini with the 6RC (bridge), 6RT (neck) and 6JH (“mute compartment”) models.
[Correction 2018-Mar-8: The majority opinion agrees that the model of bass used is the RM1999 and not the 4001S, see comments below for details.]
Many years ago I read an interview where Chris Squire described sanding down his bass to refinish it and said that it reduced the thickness & weight considerably and changed the tone to his distinctive sound.
Jon, i was going to point out that exact fact. Chris himself even explained that that bass sounded different after that refinish job and no other bass was able to recreate that same tone. Good catch.
Listen to Geddy Lee playing with Yes at the Hall of Fame induction. He got pretty close with his Fender Jazz.
Load of old rubbish , I’ve seen Chris using a Jazz bass & he still sounded like Chris , & what about Geddy Lee ? He comes pretty close as well .
I have a 4001 (’80), and for sake of argument, let’s say it’s 9 lbs… CS’s would have been in the 6-7 lb range, right? Man, that’s a lot of sanding…
He mentions at least two separate occasions early on when he had contact paper/wallpaper removed, with heavy sanding involved.
I also remember reading an interview where Chris said he’d had one (or perhaps both, I don’t recall) of his pickups reverse wound to modify the tone.
I’ve played that Rick and…sounded like me.
I saw Geddy with Yes…and he sounded nowhere near Chris’ trademark sound. For one, Geddy finger picks…his sound is muddier. I seriously doubt Chris’ Ric weighed 2/3 of a regular 64. If he removed that much of the wood from the backside, it would lessen the cavity depth of the pickup and control dept….as well as weaken the strength of the neck thru, especially where the neck heel is. Consider the cavity for that neck pup. Reducing thickness from front or back would greatly weaken the tension. Rotosound Swing Bass strings are also a large factor in the Squire sound. Much of Chris’s trademark crunch is attributed to fret buzz. If you will refer to the Master Class videos, you will notice that when he plays his famous Ric thru a small Marshall bass rig. Anither thing Chris did, was to have it wired in stereo and run each pup thru different preamps, so he could isolate certain effects. For years, I tried to emulate his sound, until I realized that that fret buzz is much of the effect….If you notice, he alters his playing force to control the buzz….and also uses his right hand tomwork as a mute on the bridge. In an age wher many club bassists are downsizing, I am using a 1967 Fender Bassman with the small 2-12 cab, loaded with Eminence USA bass drivers. I also use several key effects to create that sound. It isn’t exact, but close enough (I cant afford some of the effects he used, so I have to compromise). I also dont have a Ric anymore….I use a custom Fender Precision strung with Rotosound Swing Stainless. Am not trying to ripoff Chris’ sound….as I still want to be me. Chris’ many sounds painted bass created massive and subtle bass landscapes, to greatly compliment Yes’ music.
My inspiration always was and still is CHRIS SQUIRE, Naturally, I bought a RICK, MAPLEGLO, of course, being a guitar player before switching, I Always played with a pick, Mostly out of habit, but more for accuracy. I ALSO am very heavy -handed in my own style, and especially playing through my 76 Ampeg SVT, with an 8/10 cab, to me ,my sound is the closest that I’ve ever heard to my hero, CHRIS SQUIRE. All my other true influences also play with picks, Jaco, GEDDY, who ALSO uses a RIC, along with the FENDER JAZZ BASS. I also play a lot of bass chords. So, naturally, I wanted a JAZZ BASS, couldn’t find one that really appealed to me, ( when I was young, the “typical “ bass player locally was always a large bellied boy, so I associated Fenders as a FATBOY’s bass. HA,! I know I was narrow- minded. Since I wanted something that appealed to me, I built my own CUSTOM 62 style, in BRIGHT GOLD metallic, with stacked ( concentric) controls, CTS, FENDER pickups, and all the Vintage style bridge and pickup covers, hiding a high mass bridge. Plays and sounds GREAT, and I LOVE the slim neck!, but my RIC, is by far the prize I own, with 13 basses, It’s ALWAYS the one I will grab FIRST! Mine is a MAPLEGLO stereo ‘74 4001, with the bindings, covers, and triangle inlays. Unmolested original with great factory original case and all. KEEP your Alembics, and all the rest, at one point, I left it in the case, untouched for over a year, and it still was in perfect tune. Chris made me want to be a bass player, and his influence on me is totally apparent. Unmodified, when I picked it up, the crowds instantly noticed a vast improvement in the band’s overall sound, with many saying the bass now “kicked them in the chest”, even at lower volumes. And, incidentally, the female fans seemingly could not resist being moved to hit the floor, I can’t say enough about the RIC, or CHRIS! Rest In Peace my BROTHER,! The people who criticize this axe, maybe either have other issues, or simply can’t handle this MAGNIFICENT instrument!
Jaco and Geddy were both finger players. In Geddy’s case his fingernail acts as a ‘pick’.
On Chris Squire’s instructional video tape, he shows off both his original Rose Morris model 1999 (which he claims to have been one of the first to arrive in England) as well as his CS Limited Ed. bass (which he compares favorably). He has stated that at one point, he had affixed psychedelic wallpaper to his bass which he later had sanded off (thus reducing the overall thickness of the bass). He then had his bass painted a solid cream color. When Rickenbacker decided to create their CS limited ed. basses, they took exact measurements of his RM1999 and also replicated that same cream color paint. The other notable feature of his bass is the horseshoe bridge pickup. Squire would usually pick behind the horseshoe, making his sound even more trebly.
A change of direction here… Wonder what became of Chris’ Ric since his passing?
I recall these astonishing-looking basses appearing 8n the window of Rose Morris’s store in St Giles Square 8n the late 60s, and shortly after that, Chris was playing one. So his would certainly have been 9ne of the first in the RM batch. As for how he got his sound, it’s simple – by being Chris Squire, that’s all it took. For me, the rig was beautiful, but always the smaller part of the equation.
Actually the model number of Chris Squire’s bass was RM1999, which was the import version of the 4001S.
saw a Yes gear review on you tube as Chris was explaining all was done to its rickenbacker (sanding and all.) but also showing his amp stack (old marshall head’s and ampeg’s) and other stuffs. Pretty cool and I think these are a big part of his sound also. He has an amazing sound.
I worked on Chris’s instrument in the ’70’s as lead finish & repair tec @ Electro String (Rickenbacker) from roughly ’75-’80 and at the time I received the bass it was in fairly stock condition. As was usual at the time I went through the electronics and made sure all the solder connections were good as well as a general setup. One thing that blew me away was that the neck was so reverse bowed ( we called this dipped) I could hardly fret the instrument at the 5th fret. The hand strength needed to play it with any acuity must have been enormous. I put new truss rods in and pulled out as much of the dip as possible. Way better but still not what I would call optimal. Amazing players will be amazing sometimes no matter what the instruments they play. Aloha Chris and safe travels…
Joel Helin
Not much changed over the years. I was lucky enough to handle his bass in ’96 and saw that same bow in the neck. It wasn’t as bad as what you saw, but it was obvious.
I met Chris Squire a few times and his hand shake is quite memorable. He was a giant.
Well, what can I say the -’63-’64 was least attractive of the early 4000 series basses, but I’m sure it was the older pick-ups and Roto-sound strings that gave it that sound. I played a ’68 which was arguably the prettiest of the early 4000s, double binding with checkers. It also had the horseshoe bridge pick-up and the throatier sounding bridge pick-up that looked and was built like the guitar version same as the ’64s. All note they were both Pre “Ricko-Sound” mono only. I have played several basses in my life and yes you can get close to his sound on just about anything you chose to play, amp, attack, pick gauge, strings and ability will do it. But none of them have that natural crawl and harmonics like an old pre 70’s Ricky. I have a 90’s 4003, which is the downfall of a wonderfull bass, just doesn’t have any of the richness, punch, neck, pick-ups of the 60’s Rickies. Just the opinion of some that has owned and played several Ricky’s and loved to play Progressive licks with em.
Close only counts with Horseshoses and hangernaids.
Jaco played with his fingers.
In the mid 70’s I had a 75 4001. It came with the Rickenbacker brand strings which were flat wounds. The sound was more McCartney than anything else. Different amps including the Fender Showman with 15’s still didn’t get the Squire sound. Neither did switching to the new on the market round wound strings. Once in a while I could get close to that wonderful growl but not often. A couple of years ago I found some Yes studio tracks with the bass isolated. Turns out it’s a nice low action with lots of string fret rattle noise.
one thing chris said is he used false harmonics from his finger as well as a pick at the same time, also roto- sound strings. and he could play any bass and it would probably sound like him. its all in the hands of a great player.
Chris’ Rickenbacker RM1999 is in the possession of his lovely daughter Xilan.
I’ve been a long term fan of Rickenbacker since buying my 73 4001 in 1973.
These are exquisite instruments but the vast majority of a musician’s sound comes from their technique and it should be no great surprise that the wonderful Chris sounded like himself no matter what he played.
I love playing various basses since the interaction of a bass and your own technique leads you to do different things on different instruments – there’s a wonderful and slightly mysterious synergy there that is always refreshing to my way if thinking.
Chris was a phenomenal player and it’s always interesting to know what contributed to his “sound” but if I or anyone else assembled an identical rig we wouldn’t sound like him and nor should we …. much better to sound like yourself.
I saw Yes in 2014 i believe it was. The thing I noticed is that Chris would regularly go over to his pedal board and adjust a Wah. I could hear him roll it into “the sweet spot” you could say. It sounded correct for the most part but as he rolled his toe down you could hear him pinpoint the tone that is Roundabout. I’ve asked everyone i know with more knowledge then myself and the consensus is “a parked wah” roll off a little of the bass freq and get the fret clank to stand out. I don’t know for sure but it made sense to me. Has anyone else seen this before. Or even have a parallel theory?
Wow great info about this amazing bassist and his tone legacy…May he always RIP.
I have the exact same rig (for the most part) that Chris’ uses during recording and live performances. Using a very close sounding 4001CS and that’s what it sounds like, close but not the same especially to a trained ear. Keep in mind that Chris interfaces with two setups, a 1965 Marshall Super Bass to a Marshall 4×12 and Ampeg SVT II PRO to two SVT810E or on smaller gigs one SVT810E.
Chris’ bass was an RM1999. It was the export model sold by Rose Morris. A 4001 has the deluxe features, and there was no such thing as a 4001S. A 4001S is a more recent copy of a RM1999. The only bass that was similar was a 4000. This is also true of McCartney’s bass, even though it was hand delivered… it had the export features, i.e., no binding, and dot inlays.
I always loved Chris’ playing. But I also learned the hard way one time, when I bought gear to soundlike somebody else, that I still sounded like me. It’s the player as much (or perhaps more) than anything else. Not to say that we don’t evolve over time… Best wishes to all…
Mark Robinson is spot-on with his comment about Chris’s technique, it is almost always the technique of a player that makes his individuality instantly Ricky recognizable recognizable. That being said I’ve owned many rickenback is over the years and the light ones always sound better if you’re looking for that classic sound I’ve had ones that weighed 8 lb all the way up to 11 pounds and I wish I had hung onto the light ones, natural density of wood is not static it varies from piece to piece and that is what sets the tone of the instrument and a light wood is always great for the sound of a bass. That’s why the classic fender with the Alder or swamp Ash body is always the best sounding one. I don’t believe that he sanded 2 pounds of wood off of his bass . He probably had a nice light one to begin with and it progressed from there the same with Paul McCartney’s.
I’m no expert…in fact I know only bits and pieces regarding Chris. I have really enjoyed the comments but nobody that I can see…and I think this is true has mentioned that as a very young man he worked at Rose Morris. I do believe this ensured he did indeed get one of the very first Rics in the U.K. The other big name who got one of the first shipment was Pete Quaife of The Kinks. This story I feel is true but I read it or saw it on tv many years ago. I also seem to think that CS had his bass refinished a number of times and the guy who he took it to in Soho was more than a little heavy handed when it come to sanding. This sanding over the various paint / decoration jobs on the bass took its toll and reduced the overall depth of the body. I know I’m vague but I seem to think this old guy’s name was Emile or something like that. Apparently he refinished a few well known players guitars around that period.
Re “On the 4001S there is no body binding, and the fretboard inlays are dots”. Interesting – the well-worn ’65 Rick I played through the 70s was the same. I loved the neck, and the sound, but it had a bunch of design issues that I was constantly working with:
– The horseshoe magnets in the bridge pickup had lost their magnetism, and had rusted so badly I was cutting my hand on them, so local pickup guru Chris Kinman remade it with the original coil on a better magnet – a huge improvement.
– the neck pickup had very low output on the E-string. When I removed the cover, I found Rick had used a 6-pole guitar pickup and mounted it in the wrong place. I made a new scratchplate with the pickup rout in the right place to line up the poles with the strings.
– the ends of the truss rods had bent over, making them unadjustable. Chris Kinman applied a mod he’d developed (extended nuts) for this common Rick problem.
– the soft aluminium bridge saddles kept wearing out, so I made my own brass ones.
– the strings kept popping out of the nut because the headstock had tilted up, so I had to make a string-keeper.
After I’d fixed all the hardware issues, it was a great bass!
all toaster top pickups have six poles, even the bass pickups
When I was bass shopping in London last year – I picked up a New Rick, one of the walnutty ones. Quite a few people asked me what I was playing as it sounded really nice. And it did.
I’m a Warwick type of guy and I was pretty surprised. It’s a bit narrow for me – but wow – what a sound. I ALMOST bought it.
I’ve own a 1973, 4001, RIC bought new and played ever since. I recall reading many years ago that Chis put flower power stickers all over his Bass and sent to a guy in China who shaved them all off and refinished the bass. They said it made it 3/4 scale and contributed to his unique sound. If you watch his videos and play a RIC you can see it doesn’t appear to be full size. The comments above make an important point…. Chris’ finger and thought process probably had as much or more to “that sound” than Modifications or Amplifiers. Chris is my biggest influence and hero.
The scale of a guitar can’t really be changed by sanding its body down. A 3/4 scale guitar would literally have all its parts be 25% smaller than its full sized counterpart. You can’t sand it down to a smaller scale in the way you’re describing. You can’t even sand off 1/4 of its weight (ignoring scale), as there would be a number of functional/structural issues with the neck and body that would result from that, probably rendering the instrument unplayable or easily breakable.
The truth of what you see in videos is that Chris Squire was a very large/tall man (a bit larger with age if we’re being honest) with large hands playing a perfectly standard-sized RM1999/4001. (Source: am a very large/tall man with large hands who plays standard-sized basses)
It wasn’t a guy in China. It was a Chinese luthier in London named Sam Lee. Chris twice covered the body of his RM1999 with glued-on ‘wallpaper’ — first in flower power motif , later in mirror paper (which you can see on at least one old B&W video of Yes on Youtube) — and both times took it to Lee to have shaved off. The second time, after applying the cream finish that became its classic look, Lee told him “don’t do this again!”. But even shaved down twice wouldn’t reduce a Ric bass to the ridiculous claims being made here (like ‘3/4 weight’) . If you want to know its exact dimensions and weight, they were copied for the CS edition Rics.
A little off topic but all the right people seem to be here to get an informed answer.
I own a “first run” CS Rickenbacker; apart from the issues with the crappy white paint on the back of pickguard deteriorating more when it is removed, do you think I will devalue this bass for resale if I have it converted to a single jack stereo wiring ?????
In an interview with Chris, he said that the first two Rickenbackers that came through Boosey & Hawkes were bought by John Entwistle (The Who) and Pete Quaife (The Kinks). Chris bought the third one after hearing Entwistle play his.
It’s true that the “4001S” wasn’t a model number back in the ’60s. The Rose Morris order to Rickenbacker was for the trimmed-down option of the 4001, with none of that fancy binding and sparkly position markers. Around the factory, this was called a “4000+1” meaning the down-trimmed 4000 model but with an additional pickup (and controls). The first listing of “4001S” that I could find was in the early 1980s. It seems that the down-trimmed, twin-pickup model was always an option but never shown on price sheets. By the time the 4003 appeared in the early ’80s, the price sheets showed both the 4001 and 4003, and the 4001S and the new 4003S. Much, much more in the book.
Paul D. Boyer
Author
“The Rickenbacker Electric Bass – 50 Years as Rock’s Bottom”
Paul’s book is a great asset for all of us Ricky fans. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsGjl6kP0SI
In his own words. (Premier Guitar Rig Rundown)
I bought a natural finish ’76 4001 and refinished it in Reranch Orange with checkerboard binding. (It had already been modified… I wouldn’t refinish an original state guitar.) It’s stunningly beautiful and out of my 15 basses is everybody’s favorite. When refinishing (which took two tries to get it perfect), after hearing that CS’s was sanded down heavily, I didn’t worry about how much wood came off. It’s only a little lighter, and has the perfect neck for me. Listening to CS and Yes was like being in a dream state back in the 70’s. Close To The Edge is one of the greatest lp’s of all time.
Donovan was attributed by Squire as being the purchaser of the 4th 1999 model of the 4 that were imported by Rose Morris.
I had a late 64 model about 20 years ago which had a bowed neck. It had been fireglo originally but had been sanded down to a nice natural finish by a previous owner. The bridge pickup was weedy and shrill but the neck was awesome!
His bass was modified to run each pick up individually through the tip and ring of a stereo cable. I always figured this is the primary factor in his tone.
Chris squires bass is an RM 1999 an export model, if bought in the US it would be a 4001without the binding. He indeed had it re finished twice by a london guitar repairer and had it painted cream, of which it is still today. In the process of having it re finished it lost a small amount of weight, which in part has added to the distinct sound. Coupled with a really low and tinny output from the treble pickup further adds to his sound. Aside from running his Rickenbacker bass in stereo, the sound is his picking style and fret buzz, he hardly sticks his pick out, hence his thumb strikes the string too, adding to a kind of dual sound. Lets not forget that he is an amazing bass player and the way he shapes each note to fit his purpose is something bassists rarely do.
Squire once said that he plays his Rick bass to the instruments response, so if you ever see him play, you may wonder why is he doing it that way? Each instrument has its own unique sound, some more than others. In Squires case, he has a very unique sounding Rickenbacker, but it more by chance than design. What a sad shame that one of out rock greats has left us, but his legacy will live on well into the future and hopefully inspire many to come.
I think some of you gentlemen might to watch the video of Chris talking to an interviewer in 2007 whilst driving him around his old haunts (the pubs he used to play at in the mid ’60’s) in his Jaguar one night. If you go to 12.30 on the timer Chris explains that whilst he was working part time for Boosey and Hawkes, the company had a small shop called “Rudel Cards” (hard to hear the exact name). This shop apparently received the first three RM 1999’s ever exported and Chris – impressed with the shape and sound – bought the third one with a ‘good deal’ employee discount. A friend of mine bought the first biography of the band to be released – in the early ’80’s – sorry – too slack to get it out of my old case. I believe the London based guitar repairer’s name was Sam Lee. Chris said he firstly put some ‘flower power’ wallpaper on the bass (pity about that exquisite sunburst..) then got sick of it so he took it to Lee. Lee if I recall, planed the wallpaper off and later Chris thought it would look good if he glued some silver foil onto it. Eventually he got a bit sick of this and took it back to Lee. Lee planed the silver paper off again, sprayed the bass that (Fender?) cream colour, and told Squire ‘not to put any more stuff on it!!’. As most of the RM 1999’s (apparently this number was based on the actual price – 199 guineas) were sold in the UK connected markets, they also ended up in Australia (where I live), South Africa, and New Zealand. I’ve had the pleasure of picking a few up to ‘try out’ and found these early models to be significant lighter than the current models. This could be due to the factory using an older growth timber, but I’m not sure, I saw one dated about 1965 in Clement’s shop in Melbourne (Clements were the original importers) in really good condition, but as one of your posters has said, the headstock was (temporarily) warped due to the fitment of roundwound steel core strings (original fitment was low tension nylon core flatwounds) so I didn’t buy it…oh well… Here’s another bit of magic; this bass – like a first edition Thunderbird I tried and an early short scale EB3 I heard – had an amazing acoustic breakup on about the first and second frets. I finally realised that this was probably caused by the neck being one piece (if only you could get that sound on all frets). Richard Smith’s Rick history book has quite a bit of interesting info in it, but most of the photos are of the ‘wrong’ models – those made at the time (early 90’s?), I’d like to congratulate Paul Boyer as he’s got some really good double page photos of the best looking models they made in his book – pity it took so long for someone to come out with a work like this. And yes – quite a few of those mid sixties horseshoe pickups were notorious for de gaussing, but you can re gauss them to some extent at least. Good on Jason Lollar for reproducing them. Hope this has been of some interest (I forgot the incredibly thin necks, too).
As much as Chris’s playing style and the Ric contributed to the sound, a lot also has to do with his amplification. During the early years especially when he would run his bass stereo through Marshall and Sunn amps, with one handling the low end and the other with full treble up (similar to Entwistle).
According to all the ‘Chris Squire’ & ‘Fragile’ naming i have on the flight case for a Sunn cabinet this was Chris Squires. If so then presumably it was used for the distortion end and could have been one of the cabs he’d got from John Entwistle. Although if it was it had been altered, i.e 4×12 baffle removed and replaced with 2×2 perhaps surprisingly, but then again the exact sound sought probably dictated that. When i first got it i was curious what the two white coned drivers it has were . They turned out to be japanese speakers made by Altai. The CS / Fragile naming is very clear on the case and it is the same type that can be seen in WHO pictures with rows of studs although it is very tatty and its frog green type colour had faded in places. But i suppose if it did belong to Chris, then it might have been Yes Album / Fragile period – maybe even CTTE.
One more piece of importance on the puzzle I think was missing: Starting very early in his carrier as a bass player, Chris used to string his bass every night before the gig. This means NEW set of strings every night. I don’t know what the deal he had with Rotosound was. And this wasn’t after he became rich and famous. It was customary he did that almost from day one to always. John Hall mentioned it to comment that these strings loose brightness after a few days. Talk about Squire sound?
I knew a bassist in the late 70s who SAID he had a short scale 4001. He said he was a Chris Squire fanatic and wanted a Ric like Squires. However, I didn’t notice anything about Squire’s 4001 being short scale, nor have I come across a short scale 4001. Does anybody have any information to enlighten me.
BTW, I am also a huge Ric fan and have a 1967 4005 Ric (my favorite), a 2004 4003, and a fretless 2004 4003. I love them all.
I saw the RM1999 from the front row at gigs several times and there wasn’t anything short scale about it if it helps.
The Maestro Brassmaster was the key to the growl he got.
“For some, the 4001’s stock pickups may not be responsive enough to get the sound you’re chasing after.” And yet, Chris got his magnificent ‘trebly/clacky’ sound using…stock pickups. Nice try!
Btw, Chris had already modified his mono 1964 Fireglo RM1999/4001S to have ‘stereo’ output by the time he played with the Syn. See:
https://imgur.com/UT7W69m
Hi friends.
I own a great 4003 Ric.
It’s easy as pi to get Chris’s sound.
I use a heavy pick and run my bass through a Marshall 100 watt Lead amp.
I crank up the gain to overdrive and also run directly into the mixing desk.
Easy.
Just run your master vol low, about 3 and your gain on 10.