1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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8mileshigher
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1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by 8mileshigher »

Dom ----- we are going to have to "conscript" you to bring this one with the 8) checkered binding and your customized 8) WB wiring and pot jobs, etc. to one of our Rickenbacker Confluence So Cal events, so we can check all your cool gear out and jam with you ! ! ! :D :D
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

Sounds fun! :D

I've got my supplies so I'm going to get the Checkerboard on tonight. Cheers!
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

Checkerboard is on there! It is taped up & drying. I'll instal the outer white binding tomorrow evening If I can . The blue & yellow bottle is what I used to apply the acetone glue & of course, note the celebratory Stone beer...I made sure not to confuse the two.
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Bending the bindings was done with the heat gun. Here I am bending the binding to shape before gluing in the check. My advice, If it is too hot for your fingers it will be too hot for the celluloid.
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Test fit. With just tape. The horns were the critical part so just the tips of the horns needed the heat gun & the rest is not bent.
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8mileshigher
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991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by 8mileshigher »

8) 8) 8) 8)
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cjj
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by cjj »

Very cool to see the process/progress...
8) 8) 8)
I have NO idea what to do with those skinny stringed things... I'm just a bass player...
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

White binding is on & drying. Pics when I get the tape off. Can't wait for it to dry completely so I can sand it all flush. Cheers!
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kiramdear
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by kiramdear »

Dom, you'll want to give it a couple of days of hardening before sanding flush. It stays soft for longer than you might imagine. :)
All I wanna do is rock!
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

kiramdear wrote:Dom, you'll want to give it a couple of days of hardening before sanding flush. It stays soft for longer than you might imagine. :)
Oh yeah, likely will be Tuesday before I can jump into that. I did a test piece on some wood to make sure it will be good to go. With this much effort it is worth the wait.

In the meantime I'm going to start work on the 330 to get it ready to remove the neck. I don't have enough checkerboard to do the headstock. Oh well, still going to look great. I've decided I'd like to have this 350 with no varnish on the fretboard like my 370WB & my red 350. I find I can bend better way up on the neck without it.

I've been thinking of ways to do the wiring. Each of my guitars do something differently and only my Turquoise 330 is going to retain stock wiring. This 350 will look stock and have fiber top HiGains. It will have the same phase switching & neck bridge 3 way with shared volume & mid volume as my 370 but volumes & phase push pulls will be set up in the standard Gibson volume locations. I'm going to build the Craig Anderton passive tone control circuit which is a take on a rotary varitone notch filter but with an inductor and a switch for either half or both inductor coils and a "depth" (tone) knob. I'm going to build it in a stompbox form first and If I like it I may put it in the guitar with a bypass for the entire tone circuit on a push pull. The idea being many tone profiles in addition to the pickups and phase options and the depth or tone knob will also act as a wha effect in some positions.

For my red 350 I was planning on doing a new white pickguard with 2 3way toggles for pickup selection, phase switching, 2 tone profiles blend and series/parallel...however I need to see if the the HiGain pickup surrounds go hot in series mode.
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

My test piece was solid as a rock this afternoon so I scraped the top with a sharpened putty knife. One thing about an uninsulated flat roof garage is it tends to get hot...something that will be addressed this summer as I convert half to a studio and the other half to garage/workshop.

Scraping the binding down...note the right side is still high.
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Lots of shavings...and ramp sanded. One helluva work out.
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Those cutaways look so nice that I'll have to remind myself to look at the neck when I'm playing. Yummy.
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One thing I love about the early 90's 350/325's is how the pickguard doesn't go so close to the edge of the body. This will give room to see the body color and also shows off the binding really well. It's going to look slick with the AFG.
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I still have to sand the sides smooth. Took advantage of daylight to snap a pic with the pickups...nice bit of motivation!
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8mileshigher
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1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by 8mileshigher »

That checkered binding is looking awesome ! ! ! 8) :)
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LenMinNJ
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by LenMinNJ »

Ooh... that is looking seriously good!
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8mileshigher
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1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by 8mileshigher »

Dom --- do you have a status report / update on this 8) Checkered Bound, art work-in progress ? ? :D
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Dom
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by Dom »

Hey gang, nothing much to report as I currently have no currency to devote to the project. I recently lost the exhaust system on my 73 Volvo 164 which will be a custom job and our refrigerator went kaput. To top it off my wife got another job at a new brewery & bistro that just didn't have their act together & we actually lost out on some income for a while. My lottery tickets keep coming up bust too...I wonder why, 'cause they seem like such a surefire bet. I'm holding off until my August bonus unless something pans out in the meantime. Then I'm buying a lifetime supply of sandpaper, all the paint & jumping in full steam ahead. I don't want to remove the neck on the 330 until I have everything I need to finish the 350. One guitar in pieces is depressing enough.

I have tried to straighten out the back a couple times now but they keep warping back so I've been looking for some tight grain fiddleback maple to bookmatch.

I've been planing out my wiring & control strategy too. Stock wiring went out the window long ago. After getting used to using my 370 with the mid pickup volume knob I think a linear master volume closest to the bridge makes the most sense. For 3 pickups that however requires a custom guard for two 3 way switches for selecting pickups. If anyone can find a 7 way rotary let me know. Having a 3 way in the standard location & one where the bass pickup volume usually resides works, but looked a bit ridiculous when I mocked it up on the guard & I want the piezo volume there. I need to add another jackplate for that too.

From what I've experienced a hi-gain out of phase is a hum magnet every time you touch the screws so I'm looking into series/parallel switching via push pull for this one. I'm very pleased with the Torres mid cut & boost tone control I installed on my Red 350. I'm really considering having a rotary where the treble volume goes so I can assign my favorite tone control setups* to the main tone knob which I'd install where the blend knob is. That main tone knob would have a push pull to activate an additional inductor which helps get close to an out of phase sound. The last knob would be a bass contour or high pass filter. I find I need that to tame some of the low end in my Red 350 with some pedals & I'm sure this will only be worse when in series mode.

*The tone setups I'm considering at the moment are .047 dark low pass, .022 not so dark low pass, .010 woman tone low pass, .0047 warm low pass, mid cut/mid boost & second high pass filter. These would all be installed on a piece of stripboard to keep things compact and installed out of the way. Whew, just need the $ to make it all happen.
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LenMinNJ
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by LenMinNJ »

I can't wait to see the progress!
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basshead
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Re: 1991 Rickenbacker 350 complete rebuild

Post by basshead »

LenMinNJ wrote:I can't wait to see the progress!
Me either!
E = Fb
Bass player's theory of relativity...
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