Ric style scratchbuild (a work in progress thread)

[johnk_10]

i just started building a 325 style ric bass on monday. here's a pic of the sketched out body on a piece of foam board to give you an idea of the body shape:

with some of the parts laid out:

this is the goal:

it's going to be made out of a solid billet of white maple, hollowed out from the back, and capped with a 5mm two piece maple back with a set neck (typical ric semi-hollow construction).

i started by building the neck for it. the weather has been really nice so i did all of the on it work outside. The first thing that I had to do was rip a few fingerboards from a new Bubinga plank that I got a few days ago:

then i planed one of the fingerboard blanks:

next i started working on making the quartersawn maple neck blank. once i cut it to size, I used a 1/2" Freud forstner bit to start the holes for the truss rod adjuster:

Then I routed the truss rod channel with a 1/4" roundnose bit:

i'm using two carbon/graphite stiffeners in the neck, so i route the channels for them and then glued them in with slow setting epoxy:

glued in place:

I cut the fret slots (33.25" scale) and glued the fingerboard onto the maple blank:

after routing a shelf for the binding, i glue the binding on and radiused the fingerboard to 10":

next, i drilled and installed the 1/4" pearloid dots:

 

[BadB]

Awesome! Can't wait for the rest of the in-progress shots.

 

[pilotjones]

Nice. Those Rics are such a nice design.

Interesting to see the large neck projection above the fretboard, with CF rods in, but no headstock on yet. K think that's the first time I've seen that. or, is it a non-scarfed headstock, but it's already there, but out of shot?

Also, I didn't know you could use a forstner in a hand drill.

 

[JMac- Wiskerface Designs]

Awesome as usuall, You are the man!
You can allways count on JohnK10 to build some kind of awesome bass. Excellent work Rock on!
Sub'd!

 

[Stealth]

Truly awesome. Subscribed.

 

[johnk_10]

a few more shots of the neck.

after 'pre-radiusing' the frets, i pressed them in:

added the walnut 'wings' to the headstock, shaped it, and started the neck's rear profile:

 

[BassCycle]

Subbed!

 

[I<34080]

I can't wait to see this.

Ooh...maybe make a light show bass.

 

[daveman50]

Looks a lot like "teb" 's bass over on the rickresource forum (a modified Rick 2030 bass). I like!!!

 

[johnk_10]

Looks a lot like "teb" 's bass over on the rickresource forum (a modified Rick 2030 bass). I like!!!

i think that on'es a beauty!

and that's kinda what 'inspired' me. the differences are that mine will have an unbound, semi hollow body with a set neck.

 

[iiipopes]

What are you going to call it? I have an idea: let's see, the body inspiration is the 325, but with two pickups and no whammy, and it is a bass, so four digits. I know: call it a 3100!

 

[RenorCordic]

Awesome!

 

[Basshappi]

Glad to see this project coming along John. I'll have mine very soon, can't wait!

 

[Meatrus]

Interesting to see the large neck projection above the fretboard, with CF rods in, but no headstock on yet. K think that's the first time I've seen that. or, is it a non-scarfed headstock, but it's already there, but out of shot?

This has got me confused too, whats the deal with that?. Nice choice in car , love em!

 

[johnk_10]

What are you going to call it? I have an idea: let's see, the body inspiration is the 325, but with two pickups and no whammy, and it is a bass, so four digits. I know: call it a 3100!

that would work, or maybe a 3250, a 3025 or a 3005? but actually all of the 3000 series basses feature bolt on necks, so it probably could be called a 4350. (since a model 350 guitar is the long scale version of a 325)

 

[johnk_10]

as far as the CF rods going past the nut, i wanted to strengthen that area since the trussrod adjuster requires routing that can weaken the headstock. the CF rods also go a little past the end of the trussrod at the other end (under the fingerboard.

 

[Ric5]

4300 Rickenbacker fantasy bass

 

[daveman50]

i think that on'es a beauty!

and that's kinda what 'inspired' me. the differences are that mine will have an unbound, semi hollow body with a set neck.

Yeah, closer to a 4005. Really looking forward to seeing how this comes out. A great concept, and so far the execution is superb. The thick fingerboard (looks like it is) is a nice (and accurate) touch.

How about building one with a 30" scale??!!!!

PS: don't you really want to use a Ric bridge, rather than the Hipshot? I know the Ric bridge is kinda wonky, but it does work well once it's set up right (better than the Hipshot in some ways), and it would complete the look.

 

[poorbassist15]

I was actually thinking of building a 4001 style bass a while back, but I convinced myself it would be cheaper to get a copy and mod it.

 

[johnk_10]

Yeah, closer to a 4005. Really looking forward to seeing how this comes out. A great concept, and so far the execution is superb. The thick fingerboard (looks like it is) is a nice (and accurate) touch.

How about building one with a 30" scale??!!!!

i could do a 30" but i'm so used to a ric's 33.25" that i decided to go that way on this one.

PS: don't you really want to use a Ric bridge, rather than the Hipshot? I know the Ric bridge is kinda wonky, but it does work well once it's set up right (better than the Hipshot in some ways), and it would complete the look.

i went with the hipshot since it's a little bit more adjustable (has adjustable string spacing), it's very simple, yet retains a similar look to the standard ric bridge.
anyways, i had a busy morning and afternoon doing other tasks, but i did manage to get a little more work done on it when i got back home.

i added some thickness (.375") to the heel/tenon area and reshaped it.

maple glued:

re-shaped:

then i started preparing the slabs of a maple:

after running them thru this machine (a jointer), i glued them together:

it's 1 3/4" thick right now, but i'll plane it to 1 1/4" tomorrow, then cut, joint, glue and plane two other 3/4" pieces for the back (to a 1/4") so the body's total thickness will be 1 1/2" just like a ric 325 or a 330. i hope to have some pics of the body cut out (but not hollowed out yet) by tomorrow afternoon.


BTW, the way that i pre-radiused the frets was with one of these great little gadgets (it's called a 'bendonater'):