Lightly restoring an old Rick copy, need help

[JumboFriendly]

A friend of mine has been wanting to get back into playing bass for a while. I finally convinced him to dig his old bass out of the closet, it was a bass he'd described to me as a "Frankenstein bass" that bad been put together from a bunch of different parts. When he first showed it to me, I recognized it as an older Ric copy. The neck plate says Made in Japan, and there is a serial number but I don't have the bass with me right now. Someone has totally destroyed the pickguard - most of it is missing. The pickup covers are also missing. The bridge pickup surround is quite sharp, and the neck pickup is very loosely connected (something I plan on trying to fix, obviously). That makes it pretty uncomfortable to play, there's nowhere to really rest your thumb.

The next set of problems is the electronics have been completely destroyed. There is one knob that is supposed to do...something(?), but all the others, and all wiring has been ripped out. The three-way switch is still there, but I can't get sound of out it at all.

I will post pics when I get home, but could you guys help me try to figure out where to get some replacement parts for this thing? It's actually in decent shape structurally; the neck is quite nice. I've done a basic setup on it, and I can replace parts and do basic work (I had to glue the nut back on; when he gave the bass to me, it only had two strings on it, and when I was removing them, the nut came off with them), but I've never really done anything to a Ric-type instrument. Will "real" Ric parts fit on the old clones? I'm not after the headstock logo, or interested in trying to pass it off as a fake, I mostly just want the pickguard to cover up the nasty routes, and possibly some pickup covers to make it more comfortable to play. Can anyone give me suggestions?

 

[JumboFriendly]

Sorry I haven't been able to get pictures up ye - it's been a busy few days, but I still figured I would bump this up. Should I have it moved to another section? Are people boycotting old Ric copies? Do I smell bad?

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Are people boycotting old Ric copies?

Yes.
Unfortunately.

People are also waiting for the pics I assume, it's pretty hard to offer any advice without seeing what You'll need.

Any old VVTT wiring will do, but You might want to copy the Ric wiring, with or without the Stereo outputs.

As for the parts themselves, every music store carries them.

Regards
Sam

 

[JumboFriendly]

That's what I was mainly wondering - if the Ric copies could/would use real Ric replacement parts. I'm not trying to pass it off as a Ric, and neither is the owner... when he told me he had a bass he wanted me to help him get in shape, he told me it was some kind of old Frankenstein bass that was put together from parts and he didn't know what any of it was. He doesn't care about the brand at all, just wants to have a bass to fiddle around with again. I want to redo the wiring for him, but I'll need a new pickguard. I guess my main question was if a 'real' Ric replacement pickguard would fit on whatever this is. Now that I think about it, I realize how silly it was for me to have asked that without showing what I have. Duuuuuh. Here are pictures:

I forgot to take a picture of the neck plate, but it's a bolt-on neck and says "Made in Japan" with a serial number. Hopefully this helps.

 

[RaniBrandt]

I can't say anything with certainty, but I'd imagine that RIC pickups would fit fine in this. The screw holes may not line up exactly, but with some light woodwork, you can get around that.

The main issue I see is the pickguard. Right below the switch, there appears to be a big gouge that goes almost out to the binding. Am I seeing that correctly? If so, you'd have to either cut your own pickguard or have one custom cut for you. Different RIC models have slightly different pickguard shapes and placement of the screw holes, so it would be a crapshoot to try to get one to match exactly.

Keep in mind that genuine RIC pickups are a bit pricey. So if your friend is just trying to get something remotely playable, you might want to try something cheaper, like some generic Jazz pickups or something. You could then cut a custom pickguard to cover all the gaps in the wood.

Good luck!

 

[202dy]

• Clean the guitar.
• Check pickups for function.
• If good, rewire. If not, decide on replacement.
• Rewire.
• Cut and install new pickguard.
• Install new strings.
• Setup and play.

Pretty straightforward program. Everything else is cosmetics.

 

[JumboFriendly]

Thanks for the responses so far, gentlemen. I've done a very light cleaning on the guitar, it's been in a closet for 20 years and I didn't want to put it through too much all at once. When I got it, there were only two strings on it. When I removed those, the nut was stuck to the A string and came off with it. I was able to clean the nut pretty well and glue it back in place, and with it out of the way, it gave me a good opportunity to use some Q-tips to clean the gunk out of the truss rod nut. I've put new strings on it, as you can see, and I'm waiting for them to settle in and see how the neck reacts.

The poster that mentioned the gouge in the wood is correct - I don't know if someone went crazy with a router trying to fit some kind of preamp in there, or what. I didn't even think about just getting a sheet of pickguard material and making my own. That'd probably be the easiest way to do things.

202, thanks for your list. It's simple, to the point, and actually helped quite a bit. I'm going to make a checksheet, and go from there.

Thanks again for the responses so far, and if anyone else wants to add to the discussion, please feel free. I could use as much help as I can get.

 

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Thanks for the pics.

The tuners look great, so if those work, no need to replace.

The bridge PU sounds good if it's anything like the one in mine (assuming it works of course), but it'll be vastly overpowered by the Schaller humbucker.

The Schaller humbucker has a non-standard color coding IIRC, so pay attention to the phase, I had one in my Ibanez Blazer back in the 80's and there was some trouble in wiring it "correctly".

The pickguard is easy enough to cut, You'll need a bit creativity to cover the chiseled control cavity, but at least you can fit almost anything you want in there .

Looks like a very cool project.

Here's mine (NT Herby) BTW.

Regards
Sam