Chinese rickenbacker legacy project

[MrGreen666]

Man, sorry about your friend. Twice in the last few years it happened that a few of us old friends were planning to get together and catch up after years of not seeing each other, and both times one of us passed before we had a chance. We should have tried harder.

I don't know anything about Ricks, just wanted to say I know it sucks and offer condolences.

Very sorry about your friend.
I would leave the bass as it is, just the way your friend played it. Keep it in this condition in memory to your friend.
All the best.

Thank You and I wish You Guys Merry X-Mass and all the best Dudes.


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TalkBass is still an oldschool "boomer" community in a good way.

We are all humble, we are all full of respect, we are humankind in 2026.

Thank You ALL!

My only minor problem now is finding a good luthier - I bet that with all the mods and upgrades it will be at least 5/10 bass

NAH - with all Your help it will look like Rick, it will have amazing upgrades, pickups, hardware and it will sound incredible.

BIG THANK YOU TO YOU!

 

[MrGreen666]

Man, sorry about your friend. Twice in the last few years it happened that a few of us old friends were planning to get together and catch up after years of not seeing each other, and both times one of us passed before we had a chance. We should have tried harder.

I don't know anything about Ricks, just wanted to say I know it sucks and offer condolences.

This is exactly what happened to my Friends. We were supposed to meet this X-Mass

 

[crazycloud]

Sorry about your mate.

My thoughts on the bass are either, mod it to make it as playable as possible and rock it, or build a glass case and put it on the wall in his memory. For the first option, if it requires a lot of money and work, would he want you to do that?

 

[TeeSee]

The Hipshot is a nice option, but $$$. One big advantage is that it has a flat bottom, so no routing required. The Chickenbackers are 34" scale vs. 33.25" standard for genuine Ric, so any of these bridge options may or may not cover the existing screw holes. Most of the available options have downloadable PDF "footprint" drawings you can check against your bass to see which one will work best, adjusted so that the G string saddle, set a couple screw turns back from it's maximum extension towards the nut, falls at the 34" scale point (17" from center of 12th fret). Come to think of it, check that measurement. AFAIK, all Chickenbackers are 34" scale, but it's still the Wild West of manufacturing over there, so...... Trust But Verify.

The Chickenbackers are 34" scale vs. 33.25"

I'm not that certain that is the case these days. I guess OP's is a 34" as it's a few years old. also not sure about pre-lawsuits? When my Chinabacker arrived I decided to check the fretboard for straightness and could not for the life of me understand that when I put my notched 34" fret rule on it nothing was lining up, my immediate thought was that they'd supplied a piece of rubbish that just looked like a neck and frets. It wasn't until I measured to 12th fret I was surprised that the distance was 16.5" plus a little change so it looks as though they're now building some at least to be more like the original.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That’s strange, but…. Chickenbacker, go figure. At the end of the day what matters is just measuring nut to 12th fret, doubling that number, and locating the G string saddle at that point. Then it should be clear if a given bridge works, looks weird, or doesn’t cover a bunch of screw holes. Both the Hipshot and Allparts bridges have a big footprint, so the screw holes may not be an issue, but unless the OP is willing to take a router to his bass to hog out a space for the Allparts mute….The Hipshot is probably the best option. Or….. just leave the original bridge in place. It’s a weird design with no direct provision for matching the fingerboard radius, you have to shim it, but.. it works. Sorta. Replacing it is an expensive way to get incremental improvements, maybe better to concentrate on upgrading electronics. I’ve never owned a set, but the Classic Amplification Ric pickups are consistently well reviewed, just plain better built than stock Ric Hi-Gains, and quieter. Again, I wouldn't bother replacing frets if a tech says they can be successfully leveled and dressed. Photos?

 

[TeeSee]

That’s strange, but…. Chickenbacker, go figure. At the end of the day what matters is just measuring nut to 12th fret, doubling that number, and locating the G string saddle at that point. Then it should be clear if a given bridge works, looks weird, or doesn’t cover a bunch of screw holes. Both the Hipshot and Allparts bridges have a big footprint, so the screw holes may not be an issue, but unless the OP is willing to take a router to his bass to hog out a space for the Allparts mute….The Hipshot is probably the best option. Or….. just leave the original bridge in place. It’s a weird design with no direct provision for matching the fingerboard radius, you have to shim it, but.. it works. Sorta. Replacing it is an expensive way to get incremental improvements, maybe better to concentrate on upgrading electronics. I’ve never owned a set, but the Classic Amplification Ric pickups are consistently well reviewed, just plain better built than stock Ric Hi-Gains, and quieter. Again, I wouldn't bother replacing frets if a tech says they can be successfully leveled and dressed. Photos?

Thought you might ask,
been doing my xmas wrapping while the wife's at work so excuse the mess..

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That sure looks like 33.25”! Hipshot looks good on there too. They used to be around $150, but they got popular so Hipshot cranked the price to around $200, and Ric wants $190.00 for the V2 bridge, which requires additional screw holes. It’s kind of a weird 2 piece design too, don’t know why they didn’t just do a simple solid casting like Hipshot. Is that one brass or aluminum? Any effect on balance?

 

[TeeSee]

That sure looks like 33.25”! Hipshot looks good on there too. They used to be around $150, but they got popular so Hipshot cranked the price to around $200, and Ric wants $190.00 for the V2 bridge, which requires additional screw holes. It’s kind of a weird 2 piece design too, don’t know why they didn’t just do a simple solid casting like Hipshot. Is that one brass or aluminum? Any effect on balance?

Mate, I had a RB-414 a few years ago and was eying one of those bridges up, I Managed to get one from Ebay for $150 off a Rick owner lived in LA who'd bought one but decided he was gonna stick with his old bridge. Dunno if it was the exchange rate but $150 with shipping only came to about £130. Having used one previously and knowing the quality, I bought another for this project. The cheapest I could get one in UK was £190, $257. I agree Hipshot looks like they price gouged as when the 2002/2023 came up Rick was supplying the improved V2 bridge. I reckon all the tooling Hipshot invested in they had to claw some back as the replacement wasn't going to be the money maker they originally envisaged. I also don't think owners liked the shape of the Hipshot but seeing YT vids of those that'd upgraded and weren't so precious of aesthetics all agreed it was so much better.
The bridge I bought was aluminium base as the brass wasn't available in the UK at the time and importing it from the States was even more prohibitive.
In terms of balance, if you mean neck dive there isn't any, but remember I have the original tuners on as they were pretty good for a Chinese copy. I honestly cant rate this copy enough but I don't have a link for it anymore and the seller seemed to do more guitars than basses, all I can say is that everything I wanted from a copy other than it not being a neck thru' and the ubiquitous RB-414 bridge and awful electrics, was more than I dared to expect.

 

[MrGreen666]

Small update!

Again MERRY X-MASS! And thanks for all the comments.

1. I got a quote from luthier who will pick up this project.

2. I will drop the updates when the upgrade process will start. Probably FEB 2026 is the starting month.

3. 350EUR is the cost for the work in the bundle - not bad at all. My point was the time is not the factor - it can take time to make it right.

4. I am starting to order and buy the hardware for the project - Dudes - is there any legit Rickenbacker MONO electronics wiring somewhere to buy?

 

[Gilmourisgod]

PM @Aceonbass, he builds Ric wiring harnesses in both mono and stereo, he can probably hook you up. I haven’t seen a Mono wiring harness for sale anywhere.