Paul Boyer has opted to customize his recently purchased JG 4003 with some bits from Pickguardian. Paul took them a step further and trimmed the black plastic in white. I think it ties in nicely with the binding. We had to restore the circuitry because the original pickups were replaced with a set of Bartolinis. Anyone want a nice new set of Barts?
The action on this baby is perfect! The neck is actually slim for the year. I have two recent 4003s here right now and Paul's is definately slimmer feeling.
I think I'm going to nickname it "Some Blacker." ;^)
This is the bass that flashed on eBay a couple weeks ago with a BIN of $500. Click. Previous owner had installed the Barts direct to the output, bypassing the vol and tone board (?). Some of the wiring was missing, but the sale included the original Rick pickups. It's not quite mint: a couple of tiny dings, one on the upper horn binding, and another BB size depression in the upper horn face. When Ted was repositioning the original pickups, we discovered that one of the mounting screws in the treble pickup had sheared off, but Ted was able to remove and replace it.
If I were to do it again, I think I might attempt to create a 45-degree bevel to the pickguard and surround before painting the edges white for more "reveal." Still it looks nice. I painted the edges with Polly Scale white model paint, then cleaned up overstrike with Windex and polish. Thanks for fixing the electronics stuff, Ted. Go to Ted if you want to buy the Bartolini pickups.
Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years As Rock's Bottom"
Hey! My 4001 FL BG has a TRC with white on the edge, too. I don't have a close-up picture of it with me, but I'll take one and post it later when I get home from work.
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
Gary, was it painted on, or was it a factory piece? If so, it may have been a laminate of some kind. I think they would look cool, but figured I'd have to do it myself -- so I did!
Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years As Rock's Bottom"
After looking at it more I really like it. I never liked black pickguards on JetGlo 4003's because of the white binding.....it just looks wrong (IMO). With the white trim everything is brought together nicely. The black/chrome TRC is a nice touch as well.