The Rickenbarner - my first fully scratch-build!

[RaniBrandt]

I got a little bit more done tonight.

Installed the tuners:

Once that was done, I was able to place the bridge:

You can see above that I also installed the strap buttons and the jack plate. The last photo here demonstrates how nice the action is going to be (I hope, anyway). This is with the saddles all the way down, and the string sits maybe a millimeter above the first and last frets, with a tiny bit of relief in the middle. It's the same across all four string positions. I know I'll get some more relief when I put it under real string tension, but this is a great starting point! Anyway, here it is:

 

[mellowinman]

There are no words for how much I love this.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The Baddassery continues! The action you are getting bodes well for my build too. How far above the body plane did your fingerboard end up at centerline? Mine is planned for approx. 1/2".

 

[RaniBrandt]

I think that's about where mine ended up, but I'll check.

 

[wraub]

The filler application on top of the aged wood looks pretty damn cool.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Man, that half-rotted look is so cool.

 

[PDX Rich]

Loving the look of this!

 

[mapleglo]

Yeah, this is extremely awesome.

 

[RaniBrandt]

So I'm kind of at a sticking point with the wiring...

I bought the RIC wiring harness (the one with the push/pull pot) to save some time. However, it doesn't come with the output jacks. I can't seem to find a clear diagram that includes the jacks, outside of the one provided on RIC's website, which is the more technical schematic type of thing, which I am no good at understanding.

So, can anyone tell me exactly which jacks to purchase, and possibly how the wiring of said jacks should be done?

Any help at all would be most appreciated!

 

[mapleglo]

If you are trying to stay true to the original, you'll need a mono and a stereo 1/4" phono jack. Switch Craft brand seems to be the brand of choice. I seem to remember that the mono jack has a switch built into it, or some kind of extra wire that turns off the stereo output and makes it mono. You may wish to PM @Aceonbass - he builds entire wiring harnesses and sells them for Rickenbacker basses.

 

[RaniBrandt]

Thanks, mapleglo! Yeah, the main thing I need to know is exactly which mono jack to get!

 

[RaniBrandt]

Found it! It's Switchcraft model #13, if anyone else is wondering...

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Ron
I'm in the same boat, and unlike Maple, I'm "electronically challenged", strictly monkey see monkey do soldering. Where did you get your harness? Pick of the Ricks wants $65 without the jacks. Anybody got a wiring diagram for idiots like me?

 

[RaniBrandt]

I got mine from POTR. I'm like you when it comes to soldering; I can handle it if the diagram is more like a drawing of the pots/switches/jacks, but if it's purely an elecrical schematic, I get befuddled. The best diagram I found was this:

Plus this one from Seymour Duncan for the jacks:

Link Removed

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The Seymour Duncan one is pretty good, where does the bridge ground wire go to?

 

[Aceonbass]

Currently available wiring harnesses for 4003's from RIC are tone suckers using 330K CTS pots for everything. Tone, volume, single coil, humbuckers, etc. Doesn't matter. I build harnesses for Ricks using the original spec 500K CTS tone pots, and 250K CTS volume pots for single coil pickups with .047uF tone caps. Humbuckers get 500K CTS pots all around and .022uF tone caps. Wiring the stock Rick-O-Sound output jacks is not for the novice solderer due to it's somewhat complex wiring and use of heat shrink in two places necessary to keep the whole thing from shorting out...***Oh, and the harness pictured is on of mine, not RIC's.***

 

[RaniBrandt]

Thanks, Aceonbass. I might consider a potentiometer switch down the line, if I feel that the tone is lacking. I think I can swing the jack wiring, with the help of the SD diagram above.

Oh, and Gilmourisgod, just run a wire from the bridge to the back of a pot, and you should be good to go.

On a side note, I referred to my neck pickup as being made by Classic Amplification. That was incorrect. CA is the brand of my bridge pickup, and Kent Armstrong made the neck pickup.

Meanwhile, the best I can do while in postal limbo is work on the few little things that need to be done besides wiring.

Shielding done:

Decal printed and Plexi cut to TRC shape:

Decal applied to the back of the Plexi:

Painted back and side edges of TRC with white spray paint:

And now, back to waiting for FedEx!

 

[RaniBrandt]

I can't seem to be able to get the wiring right, and it's driving me nuts.

By the way, if anyone out there has a good, simpleton RIC bass wiring diagram (one that has the pictures of the pots and jacks and where the wires all go), I'd greatly appreciate it. I got a wiring harness from Pick of the Ricks, thinking that it would save me some time, but it doesn't look like any diagram I've found on the internet. Therefore, I don't trust that it is wired correctly, but I don't know exactly what's wrong with it.

I feel like I should disconnect everything and start from scratch, but that's going to take an accurate reference and a hell of a lot more time and patience than I have tonight. It just sucks that I have everything I need, but can't seem to get it to all work together properly. I've spent about five hours on the wiring, and I'm in no better place than I was at hour one.

 

[superheavydeathmetal]

I build harnesses for Ricks using the original spec 500K CTS tone pots, and 250K CTS volume pots for single coil pickups with .047uF tone caps.

I have an Aceonbass harness in my 4001v63, and it is fantastic. It really does improve the sound.

 

[superheavydeathmetal]

Here is a good shot of a wiring harness:
1966 Rickenbacker Wiring Harness Photo by Muki-D | Photobucket

A lot of wiring diagrams show the pickups being wired to the leads of the pots. While this might work, it isn't how Ricks are wired from the factory. The pickups are wired to the leads of the selector switch, as shown in the picture in the link above.

I hope this helps, and I hope you get it working!