Parting is such sweet sorrow...well, sometimes. Sometimes it's just plain sorrow.
In this case the object departing is a 1975 Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar. I acquired it in February 1981 with my parents footing half the bill - I did pay my half off. I had started playing bass the previous fall, borrowing a friend's short scale "Ventura", which was basically a Gibson EB clone. Ray (RIP - he passed in April) had a 4001 as his main bass, figured out soon I was no novice at music and gave me the best musical advice ever - get back into playing piano, pay attention to the music theory, and you will be a very good bass player real soon. He was right...
About my 4001 - I was doing poorly in school. I was serious into music, even after quitting piano I was playing trumpet, and contemplating going to college for it. At a trumpet lesson, the music store had a new blue Rick 4001. I was playing it when my mom came to get me, and she made the mistake of saying "we'll help you get one if you make honor roll at school". It was a good bet on her part, really. I had just come home with 3 failing notices, time was short in the quarter. I would have to ace every test for the next 4 weeks and then hope for some help from my peers slacking off.
And that's what happened. I made it on the honor roll by the scantest of margins. And when we heard of a local store blowing out used 4001's cheap I got the 2nd to last one they had. I paid my folks off the 50% (about $250) over the course of the summer. And the effort at school was not a onetime fluke. I found my academic groove again. Early in my junior year the rankings came out and I was something like 110 out of 450 or so. By the time I graduated I was up to 26.
In some ways it's crazy to part with such a classic instrument, but the fact is I am not as enamored with it as I was in the past. I have a newer Rick 4004 Laredo which is absolutely the best bass I've played, and a custom fretless that was designed around a Rick inspired neck (getting the custom made resulted in me selling the fretless Fender Jazz bass I had for 20+ years, the first time I’ve ever sold a guitar). The 4001 is old and has some old features I just don't like. It's going to one of the premier Rick luthiers in the world, so it'll bet this bass gets fixed up as close to new as possible. If PW sells it after, it'll go for a premium to someone who really wants it - but PW might just want it. ‘75 was a transition year, there's some old and new features to the bass.
Fare thee well old friend. The trade will do us both good!