Winter Build Off 2019- Li'l Ricky 330BS

[GeraldMcG]

I love the Rickenbacker 330. Rick basses not so much. At first I was thinking of doing a mashup restyle on the 4001 based on a design I drew up years ago in an effort to make a Rick style bass the way I think they should be made but then I decided that a 330 style short scale bass would be even cooler.

I mean this guy played 330s

And he's nearly as cool as this guy

And it helps that I have a 330 six string to refer to for dimensions and details.

Here is my 330 in all its fireglo glory propped against sheets of 3/4", 1/4", and 1/8" Baltic birch plywood. Baltic birch ply is actually metric but those are the approximate English thicknesses. 5' x 5' sheets. That is the wood I will be using for this build.

330BS specs
(BS=Bass, Short)

Baltic birch plywood thinline hollow body
Baltic birch neck with walnut stingers
White plexiglas pickguard
Cheap imported toaster style pickups
Tuneomatic style bridge
Old style Rickenbacker trapeze tailpiece
30" scale 4 string bass
Fireglo nitrocellulose lacquer finish

 

[GeraldMcG]

Rickenbacker did make a thinline hollow body bass, the 4005

But, no offense, it's kinda fugly. The top horn is too big, the 360 roundover just looks pretty lame, and the pickups are too far apart.
One good thing about the 4005 is the headstock

Not crazy about the bottle opener headstock Rick usually has on their basses but the 4005 used a headstock more like a 330. It looked a bit like a boat paddle so I cut and pasted a mock up that looks better and has a better string pull.

 

[GeraldMcG]

Here is the tunomatic style bridge and some Ricky knobs. Probably won't be adding the fifth "magic" knob that the 330 has so only got four knobs.

The bridge is a Gretsch with a 2" string spread. It had to be 2" since the pickups are guitar pickups and not really wide enough for a 2 1/4" string spacing.

 

[GeraldMcG]

I printed out a 30" scale fretboard and did a mockup of the 330BS.

 

[Beej]

More, more!!!

 

[ctmullins]

Right up my alley!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I’m interested in how the ply neck comes out.

 

[GeraldMcG]

I’m interested in how the ply neck comes out.

I am too. A lot of the cheap guitars and basses from Japan in the 70s had plywood necks.
Birch is tough stuff and with the cross ply laminations it sould be very stable.

 

[GeraldMcG]

Gathering parts.
EY toaster humbuckers, tuners, and other bits and pieces.

The tailpiece is a prototype of an old build. Hand made out of stainless steel. I will be making a four string version for this build but this one may go on the Schnitzelblaster VI.

 

[GeraldMcG]

25 square feet of 3/4" Baltic birch plywood is heavy and awkward. Not even thinking about putting this on the table saw ever for any reason. Kickback would put a serious end to my building days.

Read the tablesaw safety thread before you make another cut if you haven't already.

I made this low buck panel cutter for just such occassions. Works great and no worries about setting up cuts. The plate of the circular saw rides on the MDF and the blade is right at the edge of the masonite. Just line up the masonite on the cut line, clamp it down and a nice straight cut.

I'll save you from posting pictures of every cut but I cut two body sized cores in 3/4", two for the front and back in 1/8", which makes a 1 3/4" sandwich. A 1/4" thicker than a 330 but about average for most solid bodies. That way I could save getting crazy with multiple thicknesses of plywood.
I also cut three pieces of 3/4" x 1 1/2" x 30" for the neck and two 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 30" pieces of walnut because that's what Rickenbacker does.

 

[GeraldMcG]

The grain on the face and back is not too bad.

Here's the sandwich

 

[GeraldMcG]

Neck laminates clamped together. No gluing today just cutting.

The walnut strips from Home Depot were 36" which left enough scrap for the headstock.

I decided to go with the smaller guitar headstock. It will look better and since I am using compact tuners I don't need a massive boat paddle up there. Also with the smaller headstock the neck blank is only 30" long which works better since the Baltic birch is 60". Fewer cuts and less waste.

I will probably taper the head so that it has a straighter string pull.

 

[GeraldMcG]

Body and neck blanks cut and ready for the next step.

 

[83_Silberpfeil]

Very interesting going with plywood. Will follow this one very closely with lots of curiosity!

 

[Five String]

This is going to be good

 

[GeraldMcG]

More gluing. Another neck blank. Again with the marking and flat ssnding. I use chalk in dark woods like walnut but same process. And lots of clamps.

These pictures were actully taken after the sun had set on my outdoor shop but my shop light is a 400 watt metal halide. The same kind of lights stadiums and big-box stores use. It's like my own personal sun.

 

[GeraldMcG]

I had big plans for tonight all day at work but it's too cold, too windy and has been too long a week to get much done. Besides he paper on my sanding board is wornout and I am out of 80 grit.
Plus on the upside I have to get packed for a long weekend out of town to see X, Los Lobos, and The Blasters!

I did manage to flatten one side of the neck blank.

Wet it down with naphtha. Not 100% on the sanding and want to square it up a bit but that can wait until I am unhurried and well rested because I will be squaring it up on the router table using a Whiteside RFT5200 2" spiral upcut router bit. It's a big scarey bastage so I want to be on my game for that.

Even just looking at the picture makes me count my fingers to make sure they are all present and accounted for. This beast wants to eat them.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, you want an upcut bit for table routing because the bit is upside down and the spiral pulls the wood down toward the table rather than sending it skyward or worse.

 

[Reedt2000]

Really cool concept cant wait to see it come together!

 

[GeraldMcG]

Really cool concept cant wait to see it come together!

Thank you. I have wanted to try this experiment of building a guitar entirely, well almost entirely, out of Baltic birch plywood for a few years.

 

[GeraldMcG]

The wind has finally stopped and it's almost warm enough to work outside.
Time to square up the neck blank.

First pass with a guide board double stick taped to the narrowest side of the blank. 1" x 1/2" router bit to get a square line for the big Whiteside bit.

That is way too much blade for my liking but that's what I get for being sloppy with my glue up.
I hope you all understand I won't be taking any pictures while my fingers are inches away from 5000 rpms of death.
The blank came out OK. A little bit of wobble that I can sand out. If I do this again I will make a sled to hold the blank square and steady. The blank itself is too narrow to run smooth and square on the router table.

The darker spots on the birch plywood are the low points. Not too deep and I gave myself plenty of wiggle room on the blank.

Good news is I still have ten fully functioning fingers.