- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
- 1
- 31,705
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
It’s WBO day!
I’m in again this year, with yet another build inspired by the graceful Rickenbacker 400X basses.
This one will essentially be a 4000 style, single-pickup instrument, with a modernized version of the “Light Show” design that RIC dabbled with in the late 60s. Many people find this design gimmicky and tacky, and are put off by that; however, here in the Deep South I sometimes need a gaudy instrument to play for Mardi Gras and other festive events.
While RIC made a decent number of Light Show guitars, they only ever made five Light Show basses, all of them based on their 4005 hollow-body design. I actually don’t like the 4005 shape very much, which is why I’ve chosen to instead use the 4000/1/2/3/4 Rossmeisl shape. Again. My entry in the 2018 WBO was a walnut/maple 4004 variant, and it has since become my favorite bass, due to its combination of looks, ergonomics, and tonal flexibility. Building a single-pickup version of this will obviously be more limited in the available tones, but I’m planning on adding a preamp to help with that.
Anyway, the woods will be:
The original Light Show instruments used a patterned polycarbonate called Rowlux. The original pattern is apparently no longer available, but I purchased a sheet of the Moire pattern, which looks close enough to my eye. The Rowlux is pretty thin and flexible/floppy, so I also purchased a 3/32” thick sheet of plain clear polycarbonate for additional strength.
Lighting technology from the 1960s was obviously more primitive than what we have today. The originals used small incandescent bulbs mounted on a discrete-component circuit board, powered through a separate multi-pin jack by an external power source. Bulky, hot, and not very reliable! Nowadays, of course, we have LEDs, which cure all of those shortcomings. However, I’m not any good with electronic circuits, so I had to do some research on how they work. Along the way I discovered Akimitsu Sadoi, a “technology artist” based in Brooklyn. He designs entertaining LED circuits, and also sells kits for them on his website, www.theledart.com. His Color Organ Triple Deluxe II kit looks like exactly what I need - Perfect! I can solder, and I can follow instructions, so, with a few extension wires for spacing the LEDs out, this should work!
Disclaimer: I have no idea if this will actually work…..
I should also mention that I am apparently not the first one to have this idea - I discovered that TB member @radapaw did a gorgeous 4001 conversion - pics here: The Rickenbacker Club Part Twelve
Let me leave you with this (the Light Show guitar, as there seem to be no videos of the extremely rare bass version!):
I’m in again this year, with yet another build inspired by the graceful Rickenbacker 400X basses.
This one will essentially be a 4000 style, single-pickup instrument, with a modernized version of the “Light Show” design that RIC dabbled with in the late 60s. Many people find this design gimmicky and tacky, and are put off by that; however, here in the Deep South I sometimes need a gaudy instrument to play for Mardi Gras and other festive events.
While RIC made a decent number of Light Show guitars, they only ever made five Light Show basses, all of them based on their 4005 hollow-body design. I actually don’t like the 4005 shape very much, which is why I’ve chosen to instead use the 4000/1/2/3/4 Rossmeisl shape. Again. My entry in the 2018 WBO was a walnut/maple 4004 variant, and it has since become my favorite bass, due to its combination of looks, ergonomics, and tonal flexibility. Building a single-pickup version of this will obviously be more limited in the available tones, but I’m planning on adding a preamp to help with that.
Anyway, the woods will be:
- Some leftover walnut for the back of the body (with some striking heartwood/sapwood contrast),
- Some leftover silver maple for the top of the body (with lots of pinholes and knots, all of which should be removed by the chambering)
- A maple/walnut/maple/walnut/maple neck blank that I laminated earlier this year
- A 33” scale Pau Ferro fingerboard sourced from www.lmii.com
The original Light Show instruments used a patterned polycarbonate called Rowlux. The original pattern is apparently no longer available, but I purchased a sheet of the Moire pattern, which looks close enough to my eye. The Rowlux is pretty thin and flexible/floppy, so I also purchased a 3/32” thick sheet of plain clear polycarbonate for additional strength.
Lighting technology from the 1960s was obviously more primitive than what we have today. The originals used small incandescent bulbs mounted on a discrete-component circuit board, powered through a separate multi-pin jack by an external power source. Bulky, hot, and not very reliable! Nowadays, of course, we have LEDs, which cure all of those shortcomings. However, I’m not any good with electronic circuits, so I had to do some research on how they work. Along the way I discovered Akimitsu Sadoi, a “technology artist” based in Brooklyn. He designs entertaining LED circuits, and also sells kits for them on his website, www.theledart.com. His Color Organ Triple Deluxe II kit looks like exactly what I need - Perfect! I can solder, and I can follow instructions, so, with a few extension wires for spacing the LEDs out, this should work!
Disclaimer: I have no idea if this will actually work…..
I should also mention that I am apparently not the first one to have this idea - I discovered that TB member @radapaw did a gorgeous 4001 conversion - pics here: The Rickenbacker Club Part Twelve
Let me leave you with this (the Light Show guitar, as there seem to be no videos of the extremely rare bass version!):
