Are 21-fretters THAT different?

Vintage, Modern, V & C series, Fretless, Signature & Special Editions

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dale_fortune
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Post by dale_fortune »

Kens Bass was a 1970 I think.. It came in to my shop for a complete restoration and to have a piece of the fingerboard replaced. Someone had a piece of bone with a name engraved on it inlayed in the 19th fret area. It was a very nice Bass when finished. I know Ken had it on Ebay several years ago but never got his asking price. Don't know where it is now...
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b53/DaleFortune/Kens4001Bass017.jpg
wished I knew how to resize and post pictures here without using Photobucket.. Nice 21 fretters guys....
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heinpete
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Post by heinpete »

Nice to see all theses beautiful ladies, but the pictures don't give a clue to the "intonation miracle"??? Image
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rickcrazy
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Post by rickcrazy »

I just checked: Ken's 21 fretter was a November '70.
And here's another 21 fretter which cropped up on Ebay 4 or 5 years ago.
Image
Some parts on it were not period-accurate IIRC.
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
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heinpete
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Post by heinpete »

...also with slipped tailpiece! Gene's one, you showed here in this thread before is so far the only other one that has the position similar to Elys' Susanna.
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ken_j
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Post by ken_j »

Here you go Dale.
Image
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teeder
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Post by teeder »

Dale, nice job on Ken's 21! She's purdy!

Where's Elys?
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elysrand
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Post by elysrand »

Sorry everyone, today is my wife's birthday so I have not been paying attention as I should! Image I have just a few moments at the computer today, so here is a post I made some months back about this:

Here is a photo that Peter took before shipping. It shows that Susanna actually does have her tailpiece pushed forward, away from the heel. The factory in early January 1970 just did not mount it quite as far up as they did later 1970 models. She does intonate properly according to my strobotuner, with the original Maxima purple-silk strings or with Rotosounds, and with her action set fairly low. But the adjustment stops are near bottoming-out on one of the four bridge saddles when she is perfectly intonated, as you can see:

Image

I figure it is one of those factory inconsistencies that were common in the early days, to give it better aesthetic balance compared to earlier models. But later, functionality won out over looks, and in order to give more adjustment range for differing ranges of strings, and to better center the adjusted saddles in their adjustment range, the factory just made it a point later in the production year to move other tailpieces up even farther than they did this one in January 1970, and the "gap" became more noticeable in others than it is in Susanna:
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teeder
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Post by teeder »

"Sorry everyone, today is my wife's birthday so I have not been paying attention as I should!"

Elys, you need to get your priorities back in line!Image
My wife's birthday is Thursday!

Thanks for throwing in your $0.02!
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heinpete
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Post by heinpete »

Hey Elys! Best regards and congratulations to your wife! Don't forget: She is your support, so you can join in the forum and don't have to take care of your kids at the same time. So the other forumites only envy you of your ladies. Image
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wints
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Post by wints »

If you want "different", these two examples stand out from the rest...

'71, with ebony board,
Image

And if that wasn't rare enough, something even more interesting...
Image
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sloop_john_b
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Post by sloop_john_b »

What...the...
rickcrazy
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Post by rickcrazy »

Hi Andy...Image
A Rickenbacker bass is much like the Jaguar E car - perennially ultra-fashionable.
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thx1955
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Post by thx1955 »

Some nice looking Fireglo's there folks !!!
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sloop_john_b
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Post by sloop_john_b »

Secrets, secrets, are no fun,
Unless you share with everyone!


...or just me.
teeder
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Post by teeder »

Are those black full width inlays and 21 frets on the white one? !!!

Wow!
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