Restoration of a broken Rickenbacker

[Bass Kahuna]

I had a nice 4001 years ago that was stolen, and I've always wanted another one. I found this beat and broken Ricky about 3 years ago and have been working on it on and off since then. It was missing some parts, had a pickguard that had been cut out of some type of plastic with a utility knife, the neck was broken, the truss rods were bent at the headstock and stripped as well, and the original "Mapleglo" had been rattled canned over with black Krylon.

Once I realized I was going to have to remove the fingerboard and original truss rods, I decided to do a complete customization of it as well.

Here is a pic or two of it in the condition I received it in:





I cleaned up the glue in the crack from someone else trying to fix it (which obviously didn't take...), and glued and clamped it to get it stable so I could work on it.



I planed off the original fingerboard, removed the two original truss rods:



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[Bass Kahuna]

I then filled the original truss rod slots with two purpleheart strips:



Hand planed that all down level when dried, and glued on a 1/8" thick piece of wenge to add depth and stiffness back into the neck, routed it for a new dual action truss rod, and glued down a stabilized flamed maple fingerboard (courtesy of Larry at Gallery Hardwoods, of course!). I also removed 1/4" from the top of the body, and glued on a raspberry dyed maple burl topset and headstock overlay from Gallery Hardwoods as well:







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[bassteban]

That is going to be sweet.

[Bass Kahuna]

Next was all new binding and a new inlay design I had been playing with. The long pieces are cut from leftover pieces of the raspberry dyed maple burl topset, and then at the ends are 1/4" black mother of pearl dots, except at the 12th fret where they are white mother of pearl dots:



Yes, I know that Ricky's don't have binding on the headstock from the factory, but I think they should!



Also, Ricky's are something like a 33 1/2" scale, but the new fingerboard I slotted to a standard 34" scale. To compensate, I moved it up the headstock about 3/32 or so", which also gave me just a bit of a overhang (around 1/8" or so...) of the fingerboard at the body. No biggie.



I routed the inlays right through the sides of the new fingerboard binding about 1/8" deep. This way, the end of the inlay also acts as the side dot reference.



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[Bass Kahuna]

Here the inlays are all scrapped down flush, and the fingerboard is ready for frets:



Frets are in, all sanded down and the oil is going on. I decided to put a few coats of oil on it first, as I really like the way the oil brings out the character of the wood and gives it a nice, mellow "glow". After the oil dried up it was off to the finishing shop for a few thin coats of nitro.

[Darkstrike]

And a subscription is added!

[Bass Kahuna]

And it came back from the finishing shop yesterday with nice, fresh gloss nitro on it, so I built it up right away!

The bridge is a gold hipshot model A in solid brass, Q-parts gold knobs with red pearl tops, Gotoh gold machines with Hipshot D-Tuner on the E string, slipstone nut, old 70's DiMarzio humbucking bass pickups, wired in standard "Ric-O-Sound" mono/stereo outputs. The only original parts I kept were the "Rickenbacker" truss rod cover nameplate, and the Stereo "Ric-O-Sound" output jack plate. I made a stabilized splated curly rock maple control cavity cover for it as well.

It sounds great, plays great (if I can do one thing right, it is a GOOD setup!...), and I am extremely happy with it!










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[Jazz Ad]

It's cool but why even using the dead rick as a platform ?
It would have been much easier and less time consuming to start from scratch, no ?

[Bass Kahuna]

Okay, just a few more of the finished "FrankenBacker"!









There were a few "goofs" along the way. I decided to plug and redrill the tuners holes just a bit further in from the side of the headstock. This, along with moving the end of the fingerboard (and the 1/8" thick piece of wenge under the fingerboard) up the headstock a bit caused the E string tuner to be in the way of the truss rod cover... so I had to file a thin concave section in it to go around the tuner. Hey, at this point, that small modification to the truss rod cover seems miniscule, right?

I can't decide between calling it the "Frankenbacker" or, with all the figured wood and gold hardware, maybe "PimpenBacker"?....

[Bass Kahuna]

Hey Jazz Ad,

It might have been easier, but then it wouldn't have had the heart and soul of a 70's Ricky then, eh?

Also, I really love to bring instruments back from the scrap heap. I've done it many times in the past, my first one is an early 60's Gretsch Corvette guitar that I did back in the late 70's (I still have it, btw...). I have several more in progress right now as well.

My original intent when I bought it was to repair the neck and simply tune it up and play it... but when I got it and saw how bad off it was... time to strap it down on the table, attach the anodes to it, crank it up into the lightening storm, and with my best Gene Wilder accent, scream "Give my creation life....!

[Pilgrim]

Impressive in every respect!!!!!!!! A testament to skill and patience.

Wow, simply wow!

[pkr2]

Outstanding.

I suggest that you call it "Phoenix". It was truly resurrected and arose from the scrap bin.

Besides, both your labor and its pedigree deserve a dignified name.

[robert43]

Originally Posted by Bass Kahuna

Okay, just a few more of the finished "FrankenBacker"!









There were a few "goofs" along the way. I decided to plug and redrill the tuners holes just a bit further in from the side of the headstock. This, along with moving the end of the fingerboard (and the 1/8" thick piece of wenge under the fingerboard) up the headstock a bit caused the E string tuner to be in the way of the truss rod cover... so I had to file a thin concave section in it to go around the tuner. Hey, at this point, that small modification to the truss rod cover seems miniscule, right?

I can't decide between calling it the "Frankenbacker" or, with all the figured wood and gold hardware, maybe "PimpenBacker"?....

Hi 1 st of all I must say what a exllent job you have done .
The 2 nd thing I have to ask ( new to bass / guitars & know stuff all about Ricks ) why is the e tunner diffrent & whats the idea of it I presume all Ricks have them ( I am talking about the leaver the screw etc ) thanks

[Nino Valenti]

WOW!!! That looks freaking awesome!!!!!!!

[deelybopper]

thats the prettiest thing I've ever seen

keep up the good work

[tomersg]

this is one of the most beautiful basses i ever saw. congratulations!!

[Twnty1inRF]

An outstanding and extremely professional job. Congrats!!!

[Bass Kahuna]

Hi Robert43,

The 2 nd thing I have to ask ( new to bass / guitars & know stuff all about Ricks ) why is the e tunner diffrent & whats the idea of it I presume all Ricks have them

The E tuner is a Hipshot "D-tuner". What it does is allow you to drop the E down to a D (or lower if desired) by flipping the lever, and then back to an E by flipping it back. Very handy.

And no, Rickenbackers do not come with these, they are an aftermarket item that must be purchased and installed seperately. All of the hardware and electronics are new and non-factory original. I guess at this point all that is left that is original is the neck wood and body wood.

You can find out more about them on the Hipshot site at:

Hipshot Bass Extenders

Thanks all, greatly appreciated!

:^)~

[robert43]

Thanks for that link . I have learnt some thing today

[incubus2432]

Excellent work on a beautiful truly custom Ric! I like the "goofs" as well....they just adds to the uniqueness.

I vote for "Pimpinbacker" BTW.