Can a Ric 4001 or 4003 be refretted?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 12:48 pm

Just wondering, I remarked to someone here to just get his old 4001 refretted and he mentioned that it would be a hard job with the trim, so I was wondering if it can be done, if it is a big job, etc?
Has anyone had it done here, or heard of anyone getting his Ric with trim refretted?

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 1:08 pm

that someone was me right?

theres stuff from Mark Arnquist in the archives, stating is a very difficult task

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 10:26 pm

You mean with neck binding, right? Yes,, it can be done; care has to be taken to not chip out the fingerboard wood around the fret slots, and the fingerboard should be sanded clean of the old finish with a long bedded sanding block/plane, which can true up any unevenness in the neck before refretting. Then a new finish can be put on the board and polished out. A bit more involved in real life, but essentially, this gives you the idea.

sneakers · Post by **sneakers** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 12:21 am

Don's right, you can do it yourself if you're careful. I replaced the fingerboard AND applied new frets to my bass. You'll need a good set of fret nippers and maybe a fret clamp vise. You can bang them in with a hammer, but I prefer pressing them in. The key is getting them level after they're in. You don't want any high or low frets. Clean out the fret slots real good so that you get proper seating. Some believe in super gluing them in but I don't.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:08 am

Joe;
The way I do Rick refrets[especially on bound necks] is the way Arnquist showed me 20 years back, and he didn't invent the idea; he got it from one of luthier Don Teeters' repair books.
You carefully pull the frets while heating them with a soldering iron.Then, after all frets are out, you use a Dremel with a straight bit that is slightly wider than the fret tang, and a bit deeper than the tang, and get the fret ends undercut, then,you do a "dry run install" of the frets-glueless,to check for basic fit, and while the frets are in, you mask off the board all over, right up to the edges of the frets, and the edge of the board, covering the binding.All this in preparation for getting some clear slow drying 2 ton epoxy to lay in the fret slots.Get the glue in, put the frests in, then,you can lay a board the length and width of the fingerboard on top of the whole fingerboard, which, when used with clamping cauls and C clamps[about 5-6 of them the length of the neck]delivers even pressure to hold All the frets in at once.One other thing about the clamping board; it is flat bottomed, and, of couse, the fingerboard is radiused. To remedy this, I get two 3/8" diameter steel or aluminum rods the length of the clamping board, and secure them to the bottom of it in a few places with tape. The clamping board with rods underneath "rides" the radius of the fingerboard.
Just don't tighten the whole thing too much, as the metal rods could put dents in the fret tops. But after the epoxy dries, you have to nip the fret ends, and file flush the ends, and do a tape removal to re-expose the fingerboard. Finally, you do your fret leveling, crowning, and polishing. Involved?? Yes. But I get Perfect fret jobs Every time, and raves from guys who needed the work done.And the frets ain't coming out.
Ever need to refret again? No problem; get out the soldering iron, heat the fret and out they come.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:09 am

Thanks everyone, that sounds very interesting, one of my 4001's frets are on the way out too, I may try that when I get back to the states, which won't be until probably April at the earliest, but I'm sure I will have more questions. And yes, Owen gave me the idea, and I have found a lot of usefull information in the archives from Mark, I don't remember reading that though, but I will.
Actually I do have another question, what type of fret wire do I use, is it available from Ric, and is the new stuff the same as the old? The bass in question is a 79 4001.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 9:17 am

Fret size is a personal choice; I don't know if Rickenbacker will sell you fretwire.I just make sure I get a Good greade of wire, a hard one[some sources of wire, like Japanese, are soft; you can tell because uninstalled, you can bend the wire easier than the good stuff.My choice in recent years is Dunlop 6105[I think that's the #?] which is perhaps a tad wider than stock Rick, but it has more height, and on guitars, this is great if you do lots of bending strings. But works good on basses, too. If it seems a bit high, well, you can level and dress the frets to get the height where you want it.I have done at least a half dozen 4001 basses for guys with this wire, and they loved it. YMMV...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:13 am

Thanks Don, I think if I ever get it done I'll send it to you, if you do mail order stuff, I wouldn't want my first fret job to be as involved as that sounds like to me, especially on an old 4001.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 1:55 pm

Bob;
That's a possibility, though it sounds like you are not necessarily in a rush.I got a few priority irons in the fire right now, and I won't take on anything bigger or more time consuming than the occassional pickguard repro order.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:23 pm

Yeah,
You're right Don, I'm not in a rush, when I'm ready to have it done, you'll be the first person I'll contact as I know you know your stuff from reading your posts, right now I'm still in Perú and trying to get an SVT head in order, but this particular 4001 is one of my favorite basses, and has been well played, well, at least played a lot. And even though I have TI's on it and it probably won't get worse, I'd like to get it back to good playing condition. When I'm ready (and it will probably be a year or more) I'll contact you and if you have the time we'll set something up, thanks.

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Sat Sep 27, 2003 12:02 am

In actual fact, the frets on my 73 are basically toast. The nut has been cut lower by someone (very well tho) due to the low frets. With TI's i cant notice the wear and it plays great.

But when the time comes............who knows Ricks well in the UK? hmmmm