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5 string Ricken-Musicman Bass.
- Thread starter Videojunkie
- Start date
As long as it doesn't wind up as a Rick-Roll I think I'll be okay.
Ok, I've never done inlays before. I was thinking about keeping it simple, and doing blocks like a fender. Would something like this be worth ordering? I think the 2 color is what I preferred.
Tong Gu 1X Natural Green/Blue Abalone Shell Blanks Inlay Material DIY Craft 5.5 x 1.6 inch (2) https://a.co/d/e0MPcyU
Tong Gu 1X Natural Green/Blue Abalone Shell Blanks Inlay Material DIY Craft 5.5 x 1.6 inch (2) https://a.co/d/e0MPcyU
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This seems to be the alternative, but I'm concerned about potentially sanding through it by accident.
Paua Abalone Inlay Sheet, 2-3/4'' x 9-1/4'', Natural (Varied)
Paua Abalone Inlay Sheet, 2-3/4'' x 9-1/4'', Natural (Varied)
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One thing I have thought about is surrounding the inlay with purfling (which is 1.5mm tall) and then seating the abalone shell in clear epoxy using the purfling as a dam to contain the abalone, and it would be seated deep enough that I would be able to install this while the fretboard is flat, and then sand to my radius before installing the frets.
This would have the surface of the fretboard be epoxy over the inlays.
This would have the surface of the fretboard be epoxy over the inlays.
This is the fretboard blank. It's leftover from the EUB build.
So... birds-eye maple top, with a flame maple fretboard.
So... birds-eye maple top, with a flame maple fretboard.
Somewhere between all those yellow lines is the beginnings of the drawings. Special shout out to @Gilmourisgod for the excellent CAD drawing to get me started, he definitely did a lot of the heavy lifting!
!
Glad you got some use out of the drawing, its not doing anybody any good just sitting on my hard drive. I tried messing with the Ric style horns myself....badly. Its tough to improve on that shape, or integrate cleanly with other body shapes. My favorite part of that design is the implied continuous ellipse formed by the negative space of the horns, interrupted by the neck. You either have to honor that fully or break away from it. Some of the Rimini Italia basses do a really good job of making some Ric references that are so retro-cool looking. Looks like you are honing on something cool, sub'd on tbe build!
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,011
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- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Hey, I’m into this.
I have gotten much good benefit from @Gilmourisgod ’s fantastic templates, so once again, thanks my friend!
My understanding is that the earliest Ricks had the slender horns, but they were all made by hand then, and as the templates wore out, the shape subtly morphed, to the point where the mid-80s Ricks had much thicker horns. Then at some point they went back to the slender horns, perhaps when they implemented CNC?
Also, some of your difficulty mashing up those shapes may be due to the lack of any real symmetry in the Rick body shape. The MM is pretty much symmetrical around its centerline, but the Rick is most definitely not. The lower horn is much closer to its centerline than the upper horn, while the upper rear bout is closer to centerline than the lower rear bout, if only by a little bit. It’s a gorgeous, organic shape, but its lack of symmetry sets it apart from most other instruments.
Re: pickguards - I like to think that I’m becoming famous for my disdain of them. But the Rick pickguard is far and away the most hideous of all. What were they thinking?? MM beats Rick handily there.
From an aesthetic perspective, I have always thought most Leo creations look like marshmallows, with the bulbous shapes and the huge roundovers. Of the Leo designs, I like the beveling that some MM bodies exhibit. That crispness nicely offsets the very round shape. The Rick design also has nice sharp lines.
How thick are you planning on making the body? I was surprised to discover how comfortable the 1.25” Rick body is.
I have gotten much good benefit from @Gilmourisgod ’s fantastic templates, so once again, thanks my friend!
My understanding is that the earliest Ricks had the slender horns, but they were all made by hand then, and as the templates wore out, the shape subtly morphed, to the point where the mid-80s Ricks had much thicker horns. Then at some point they went back to the slender horns, perhaps when they implemented CNC?
Also, some of your difficulty mashing up those shapes may be due to the lack of any real symmetry in the Rick body shape. The MM is pretty much symmetrical around its centerline, but the Rick is most definitely not. The lower horn is much closer to its centerline than the upper horn, while the upper rear bout is closer to centerline than the lower rear bout, if only by a little bit. It’s a gorgeous, organic shape, but its lack of symmetry sets it apart from most other instruments.
Re: pickguards - I like to think that I’m becoming famous for my disdain of them. But the Rick pickguard is far and away the most hideous of all. What were they thinking?? MM beats Rick handily there.
From an aesthetic perspective, I have always thought most Leo creations look like marshmallows, with the bulbous shapes and the huge roundovers. Of the Leo designs, I like the beveling that some MM bodies exhibit. That crispness nicely offsets the very round shape. The Rick design also has nice sharp lines.
How thick are you planning on making the body? I was surprised to discover how comfortable the 1.25” Rick body is.
RE: Pickguards, the jury is still deliberating, but in general I loathe them. Except possibly on an acoustic guitar. I like to choose pretty woods, and then show them off instead of hiding them behind plastic (and just no on the clear pickguards..) I might do a minimalist plate for the 4 knobs and 2 switches, as I am leaning toward the MusicMan control layout.
RE: Pickups, I am going to wait until the last possible moment to order these. If I had to do it today, I'd have to settle for a pair of BQLZR ceramic PU. I'm hoping to be able to pull some money together and grab the Seymour Duncan set with a preamp, and a second pickup for the neck. I'm thinking if I can get the SD PU, that I'd get 1 Alnico, and 1 Ceramic and figure out which one goes where (bridge vs neck) on the instrument. I'd like to wire them so that I have a 3 way switch on each pickup (Each coil separately, and then Humbucker in parallel) and a blend pot before the master volume, with a 3-way EQ. So there'd be 4 knobs (Blend, Vol (push/pull for the slap control of the SD), Bass/Treble, Mid) and 2 small switches (3 way On/Off/On?).
RE: Body, I think the shape is coming together nicely. The photo mashups that @RichterScale and I did are very close to what this is going to look like. In fact, the lower bout on both the Rickenbacker and the MusicMan are so close, that I'm just mirroring the Rickenbacker lines from the CAD drawings. The current plan is to glue up the back out of 2 layers of 3/4" mahogany, and then top that with about 1/4" of the birds-eye maple.
I'm going to steal a trick I saw on a SBO thread to arch the back, where the sides of the neck blank was beveled to allow for the sides to flare back (as I want to do for contouring - a la Spector). So the 2 layers of mahogany and the core of the neck will have a nice bevel to them (about 3 degrees). Then I will have to machine the top back to flat for the top to go on. So my 2" thick body will likely wind up in the 1 1/4 - 1 3/8 range. I'll have to see how it goes, and make sure that the bevels don't make the center too thin! The top will be flat, so machining a recess for the controls makes sense to me, otherwise I'll need to route that before I glue the sides onto the body! I will also have to machine the arm bevel in once the mahogany is flattened, as I want that to be a clean break, and be fully topped with the birds-eye.
RE: Bindings. I am thinking that this will be my first bound guitar. (not that I'm not using a ton of other new techniques - what's one more!) and I'm leaning towards white/abalone (plastic)/white, although white/abalone/black has it's appeal too. Also looking at abalone for the fretboard inlays.
RE: Pickups, I am going to wait until the last possible moment to order these. If I had to do it today, I'd have to settle for a pair of BQLZR ceramic PU. I'm hoping to be able to pull some money together and grab the Seymour Duncan set with a preamp, and a second pickup for the neck. I'm thinking if I can get the SD PU, that I'd get 1 Alnico, and 1 Ceramic and figure out which one goes where (bridge vs neck) on the instrument. I'd like to wire them so that I have a 3 way switch on each pickup (Each coil separately, and then Humbucker in parallel) and a blend pot before the master volume, with a 3-way EQ. So there'd be 4 knobs (Blend, Vol (push/pull for the slap control of the SD), Bass/Treble, Mid) and 2 small switches (3 way On/Off/On?).
RE: Body, I think the shape is coming together nicely. The photo mashups that @RichterScale and I did are very close to what this is going to look like. In fact, the lower bout on both the Rickenbacker and the MusicMan are so close, that I'm just mirroring the Rickenbacker lines from the CAD drawings. The current plan is to glue up the back out of 2 layers of 3/4" mahogany, and then top that with about 1/4" of the birds-eye maple.
I'm going to steal a trick I saw on a SBO thread to arch the back, where the sides of the neck blank was beveled to allow for the sides to flare back (as I want to do for contouring - a la Spector). So the 2 layers of mahogany and the core of the neck will have a nice bevel to them (about 3 degrees). Then I will have to machine the top back to flat for the top to go on. So my 2" thick body will likely wind up in the 1 1/4 - 1 3/8 range. I'll have to see how it goes, and make sure that the bevels don't make the center too thin! The top will be flat, so machining a recess for the controls makes sense to me, otherwise I'll need to route that before I glue the sides onto the body! I will also have to machine the arm bevel in once the mahogany is flattened, as I want that to be a clean break, and be fully topped with the birds-eye.
RE: Bindings. I am thinking that this will be my first bound guitar. (not that I'm not using a ton of other new techniques - what's one more!) and I'm leaning towards white/abalone (plastic)/white, although white/abalone/black has it's appeal too. Also looking at abalone for the fretboard inlays.
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The Harley Benton RB414 illustrates the design challenge of melding Ric style horns to a more traditional body shape. Still a little.....off... Somehow.
Harley Benton RB414 Bass Guitar (San Antonio, TX) | Reverb
I love this one buy Rimini Italia, definitely some recognizable Ric 4005 DNA in there, but not a direct copy. They could have incorporated a little more "hook" to the upper horn without spoiling the lines. I dug the F hole design so much i...er..."borrowed" it for my current Hossenfeffer III build. Its not an easy design to meld into other body shapes, i definitely failed hard at it, but when you get it right, it will just jump off the page at you.
Italia Rimini 4 string BASS sunburst | Reverb
Harley Benton RB414 Bass Guitar (San Antonio, TX) | Reverb
I love this one buy Rimini Italia, definitely some recognizable Ric 4005 DNA in there, but not a direct copy. They could have incorporated a little more "hook" to the upper horn without spoiling the lines. I dug the F hole design so much i...er..."borrowed" it for my current Hossenfeffer III build. Its not an easy design to meld into other body shapes, i definitely failed hard at it, but when you get it right, it will just jump off the page at you.
Italia Rimini 4 string BASS sunburst | Reverb
Very cool! I think I'd call it a "RickenRay".
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deer-eating-popcorn.gif
I am kind of inspired by the colors this guy did. But more yellow / red. To blend with the mahogany better.
This color combination.
This color combination.
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Materials update, I ordered the binding and inlay material. They should arrive between Wednesday and the end of September (hooray for overseas supply chains).
My plan is to start with the fingerboard and neck once I have all the materials in hand. This has the most unknowns for me. Doing the inlays and the neck bindings will be the first big challenge.
I should have everything except the main abalone pieces next week. I went ahead and ordered cream, black, and abalone bindings. I'll make a determination what looks best after they arrive. Looking at some online pictures, I may use the abalone on the outside, with black on the inside. If I go 3 layers, white/black/abalone makes sense to me, but I have to see the materials.
My plan is to start with the fingerboard and neck once I have all the materials in hand. This has the most unknowns for me. Doing the inlays and the neck bindings will be the first big challenge.
I should have everything except the main abalone pieces next week. I went ahead and ordered cream, black, and abalone bindings. I'll make a determination what looks best after they arrive. Looking at some online pictures, I may use the abalone on the outside, with black on the inside. If I go 3 layers, white/black/abalone makes sense to me, but I have to see the materials.
If you dont already own something similar, I highly recommend the Stewmac binding cutters, expensive, as all things Stewmac, but they do an absolutely clean, perfect binding rabbet. You dont need the whole set, just the cutter and whatever diameter bearings needed for your particular binding thickness. I think LMI sells them too, but around the same price. Ive dome some really delicate work with them like headstock binding with no chipping or tearout.
Amana has these binding bits also. They come with fewer bearings but the one I have has worked well so far.
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I was looking at these as they are much more in my budget. I was going to get the set with the 4.5mm bearing to match the 3 layer binding plan. Unfortunately, if I decide to do a thinner binding, then I'd have to buy the other set too.
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