True, and even with a thin straight-toothed specialty blade under 1/16" kerf and little further loss to the joiner blades afterwards, it would still amount to over 1/8" total loss, (ready for this one?) no matter how you slice it (OK, not punny!)
You are right, making such a change does not make sense unless you really do very badly want to reproduce this specific configuration, and it makes no economic sense to do so. By the time you invest so much time and care into such a project, it would have been far more sensible to have put the equivalent resources into finding and buying a real 21-fretter for yourself.
I was just curious how Ted would do it, that's all. Still am.
So, Paul, why did RIC abandon the 21-fret exercise after 1970/early 1971 anyway? I sure liked my 21-fretter, and it was superior to my 1990 JG 20-fretter in every way as well. It was more than having the 21st fret. It was longer, thinner-feeling, and felt more well-balanced IMHO than the more chunky and thicker-necked descendants.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
Elys, I know you're asking Paul W., but let me say that RIC didn't abandon 21 fretters, I think they never completely accepted them. There can't have been many made. It may have been an experiment, and I doubt they ever advertised it or offered it as a special option.
It wouldn't make sense to dismember the body wings to just insert a plug in the through-neck. All you would have to do is just carve a little addition and glue it to the body end of the fretboard. It should work fine for the few occasions when you need to finger that fourth octave E.
Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years As Rock's Bottom"
So are you saying that they made both 20 and 21 fretters during this time? If it was not offered as a published option, then how did they ever get any orders for them?
I bought mine new, and the dealer simply ordered a 4001 in the color I wanted and $285 later it arrived like that, with 21 frets. I assumed all made during that time had 21 frets, and so did he.
I agree with you that it would not make sense to hack a donor bass to make one. You would not have the longer neck and balance of the original if you did just glue an extension, though
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
Elys: No, you would not remove the body wings. The neck would have to be cut at some point and a piece of wood inserted to extend the neck far enough to add the extra fret. Roughly 1/2" would do it. The question of where to do it remains. The taper of the neck would be altered slightly after inserting the wood. You want to pick a section that has enough to wood to work with but is not under heavy load. Off the top of my head I would guess somewhere between the first and third frets might be a good choice. As I said, I did not work this out in a practical manner. This is just off the top of my head. The inserted wood would have to be cut to allow the truss rods to pass and the laminations would probably be more substantial than as simple butt joint.
Paul: Take a look at Sergio's 21 fretter. Notice where the tailpiece is compared with 20 fret 4001s. It is about 1/2" up the body. Note all of the FG visible just south of the string balls. The scale is the same but the neck is 1/2" longer. That puts the nut farther away from the bridge. The bridge must then be shifted forward to preserve the scale.
That was a great read Paul, thanks for posting. Seeing the Mink in person in Santa Ana was a personal highlight - it was goregeous. I bet it'd look great on a 350, or a 660.
Thanks, Ted! My error was in assuming that one would never section the neck itself if avoidable, as a structural concern. Why would you not need to relocate the pickups? They would be 1/2 inch farther away from their optimum resonance points along the string length, if you simply extended the neck and left the body alone, wouldn't they?
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
I agree with Elys, although I suppose we were talking about theroretical vs. practical...
I can't see adding 1/2" to the neck, then having to reposition the fretboard, which has another 1/2" added to the top end to accommodate the 21st fret. New fretboard needed, too.
I understand that the reasoning is that the scale length must remain the same while still having that one magic extra fret.
I also see that what is being done is an attempt to replicate the look of a factory 21-fretter. Seems like doing it this way would so compromise the integrity of the instrument as to render it practically worthless...
If that extra fret is really needed for playing purposes, why not add it to the fretboard and let the FB overlap the body a bit more than a factory original. There would be no structural penalty and the tailpiece and pickups remain where they are.
For those of you who may be thinking that I "don't get it"; yes, I do. We're discussing chopping up a perfectly good 20-fret bass, grafting a piece of wood somewhere in the middle of the neck, changing the neck taper, seriously compromising the strength, reducing finishing options (unless you don't mind the joint showing--and for strength it would have to be an accurate scarf joint at a 30 degree angle or more to increase contact area and divert forces from torque to shear--), moving the tailpiece, and making a number of other adjustments to end up with a hacked instrument that would impress 5% of bass players ("In the know" Rickers) from six feet, and upon closer inspection, make the same 5% wonder aloud (as I did), "Why bother???"
At least for me, it would be easier to build a fresh bass. Of course, that's treading on the wrong side of the law, and no way would I consider it.
Well, may I say that this has been an, er, intriguing exercise in mental masturbation...
Now back to the previously-scheduled "Minky" show.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
At the risk of taking this thread into oblivion (and how self-serving would that be?), I will make just one brief observation:
Elys, since when has there ever been something like "unsafe solo sex"?
Back to you, Chet.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
Dunno, I suppose if David Brinkley had a heart condition then anything is possible.
I shall have to engage in further experimentation in order to come up with an answer to that one.
OK, this has swerved so far off-topic now that I cannot remember where to go to get back on-topic, or even why that rapidly-oncoming traffic seems to be over in my lane now...
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
The pickups on the 21 fretters are in the same positions as the standard basses. I could get tones out of my 21 fret bass that did not sound the same on a regular 4001. I remember the first time I plugged it in I played the fast riff for Starship Trooper and it sounded just like the tone CS used on The Yes Album. He used a 21 fretter for that record and I recall seeing Rotosound ads in old Guitar Player magazines where he is clearly holding the 21 fret bass.
That makes sense, Bob, because other players used to tell me that my March 1971 21-fretter sounded different that other Ricks they had played. I had always ascribed it to the pickups themselves, rather than how they were placed. Or why when I bought my 1990 4001 JG, that it did not sound nearly the way that my old bass did.
Oh, why oh why did RIC abandon 21-fretters made like this, and why don't they start offering this as at least an option again on new basses? It would be the only thing that would make me buy a new one again. I haver tried a new one in a guitar shop that I liked, they don't sound as good as my 21-fretter did....
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
Paul W. has the right idea; he agrees with me! Just cobble up an extension to the fretboard with an extra fret. No surgery. I'm sorry this thread has deteriorated.
Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years As Rock's Bottom"
Me too, sorry Paul B! I agree with your idea that the easiest way would be to add the extension bit yourself and leave the bass intact.
That would give the 21st fret and leave the common pickup positioning as it usually is under the strings. Of course, I cannot do that and still get the sound that I remember Oh well.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and sit in with the band whenever you can, to keep your chops up!
(OK, not punny!) 
