Would this Ricky clone project be too much work tom complete?

My vote, sell it to me!

Decent Ric clones tend to sell for decent cash as long as the Rickenbacker company doesn't find and shut down the sale. With that in mind I wold say that it would be a worthwhile investment to build it up with the right parts.

Waste of money. Better just send that bass project to me to avoid future temptation.

Naw, I'm kidding. A pair of Seymour Duncan Ric P'ups, Hipshot bridge, good shielding in the control cavity for starters.

Go for it, at least that's what I would do.

if it were mine i would spend the time and money to fix it....

you could sunstitute a badass or a hipshot for a bridge....the rest could probably be sourced from e-bay...and there are several places on-line that will cut a custom pickguard and truss rod cover...probably for the cost of a decent cheap bass this one could be fixed up....

then again i enjoy doing things like this....up to you really

I'm sure there are a few people here that would buy the body from you if you choose not to persue the build...

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My Ibanez didn't have tuners or even a jack plate.

After trying to make cheap bridges work, I bought the cheapest Rickenbacker clone aftermarket bridge I could find, IIRC this one:

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Normal bridges don't work too well with the routing in the body. I suppose if you have the skill and tools you could make a piece of wood to fit in the routed space, or use filler to make a normal bridge work.

I bought a generic Rickenbacker bridge pickup cover assembly new on Ebay, I forget how much but $25 or so comes to mind.
I recall that when I had my 4001, a guitar humbucker sized pickup would fit in the bridge position, but in with the Ibanez and the copy surround this was impossible. You could probably get by with a Jazz pickup however if you wanted to save $.

My project used items I've had for quite a while, so I can't guess the current price. Schaller tuners, Bartolini Rickenbacker pickup, generic knobs, and Demeter preamp all were hanging out in my parts bin. You could get by with cheap parts and passive wiring to save money.

If your bass is like mine, truss rod cover and pickguard might be tricky. For the truss rod cover, I found a Rickenbacker one on Ebay. I saved the picture and through trial and error managed to get it to print out at the proper size. For the pickguard, I had traced the one from my 4001 before I sold it. I traced these templates onto plastic and made my own. Both took some modifying to make them fit correctly.

I used the jack cavity for the battery, enlarging it to make room for the 9 volt, and made a cover out of tin. Output jack is now on the pickguard, not my favorite place but it lets me change the battery easily.

All in all, be prepared for it to cost more than you expect it to, and take more time and work than it seems at first that it will.

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Rat Blitz said:

I'm considering trying to rebuild this Bradley Ricky clone but I'm unsure as it would be worth the effort since I've never done a project like this before.
What you see is basically what there is to work worth.
I would need to find pickups, electronics, truss rod cover, pickguard and who knows what else to finish the project.
The bass itself looks in pretty good shape (with double truss rod).
Do you folks think it would be difficult to get the right parts to finish the job (or not worth the effort and the cash outlay?).

Click to expand...

I'm probably going to be modding a P-bass into a semi-Ric thing, and I was wondering if you could measure the size and depth of the bridge and bridge pickup routs for me.

I'd be a real big help.

Edit: And also the distance between the between the bottom of the bridge rout and the tail of the bass, please.

Fealach said:

My Ibanez didn't have tuners or even a jack plate.

After trying to make cheap bridges work, I bought the cheapest Rickenbacker clone aftermarket bridge I could find, IIRC this one:

Link Removed

Normal bridges don't work too well with the routing in the body. I suppose if you have the skill and tools you could make a piece of wood to fit in the routed space, or use filler to make a normal bridge work.

I bought a generic Rickenbacker bridge pickup cover assembly new on Ebay, I forget how much but $25 or so comes to mind.
I recall that when I had my 4001, a guitar humbucker sized pickup would fit in the bridge position, but in with the Ibanez and the copy surround this was impossible. You could probably get by with a Jazz pickup however if you wanted to save $.

My project used items I've had for quite a while, so I can't guess the current price. Schaller tuners, Bartolini Rickenbacker pickup, generic knobs, and Demeter preamp all were hanging out in my parts bin. You could get by with cheap parts and passive wiring to save money.

If your bass is like mine, truss rod cover and pickguard might be tricky. For the truss rod cover, I found a Rickenbacker one on Ebay. I saved the picture and through trial and error managed to get it to print out at the proper size. For the pickguard, I had traced the one from my 4001 before I sold it. I traced these templates onto plastic and made my own. Both took some modifying to make them fit correctly.

I used the jack cavity for the battery, enlarging it to make room for the 9 volt, and made a cover out of tin. Output jack is now on the pickguard, not my favorite place but it lets me change the battery easily.

All in all, be prepared for it to cost more than you expect it to, and take more time and work than it seems at first that it will.

Click to expand...

Wow, one part down already!

Thanks.

I did have to trim down the foam mute pad. It hit the strings, even all the way down. Also, the bolts that adjust the height were stuck, and took some time with WD 40 to free them up. I still don't mind for the money I saved. I worked on the bass a little at a time when I was in the mood, I sort of enjoy this kind of thing. Only sort of because sometimes it can be infuriating.

The bridge pickup surround I bought did not include the actual part the pickup mounts to, so I had to make one of those as well. It really sounds like I'm saying "Don't do it," but I enjoyed it overall and ended up with a unique bass that I worked on myself.

It does sound better than my 4001 ever did though. I suspect the $180 preamp might have something to do with that.

Personally, I don't think that's such a good starter for a "first project". Gonna be pretty advanced and time-consuming. Might want to start with something a bit easier at first and work up to it. Maybe try upgrading an SX first to see if the "project thing" is your bag.

That being said, if I were looking for such a project, I'd take it on, Would be fun and you'd end up with a cool piece to be proud of.

Oh, and like someone else said, it WILL take longer and cost MORE than you expect it to.




dcr

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Dude that is 1 sweet bass

That project bass if it was in Oz & I knew where it was I would be all over it like a rash

If your looking to do it with real Ric parts get ready to take out your wallet. I'm currently in the process of restoring my '84 Ric and I'll tell you it's not cheap and very tough to find parts sometimes.

demon666 said:

If your looking to do it with real Ric parts get ready to take out your wallet. I'm currently in the process of restoring my '84 Ric and I'll tell you it's not cheap and very tough to find parts sometimes.

Click to expand...

Yeah... I learned that from acquiring the parts for my 70's 4001 (I bought the bass completely stripped)... and I'd venture that parts are even more expensive now. Bridge Pickup $125 for me, neck pickup $100 I think, bridge about $100, tuners less, and of course the wiring harness, pickguard, jackplate, etc.... it adds up. And of course refinishes are very costly.

Though the Hipshot bridges, if they're your thing, aren't that expensive.