Gold hardware on a Rick?

[simer4001]

Elegant V63, Brian!
Are the tuners+bushings, TRC, toaster pickup cover, treble pickup surround and tailpiece gold ones as well?

Yes. One of my clients gold plated the original chrome pieces and RIC supplied the TRC. John Bolin of Bolin Guitars made the gold pickguard for me.

Thanks for the compliment John! I really love how it turned out. it's my fave bass.

[beatlefreak]

Looks great, Brian.

[simer4001]

Looks great, Brian.

Thanks Kris
.

[paul_yan]

Thanks for the enlightment, Brian.

[simer4001]

Thanks for the enlightment, Brian.

Nice! Paul, have you always been this fnny or is it something new?

[ajish4]

The gold trim is one of the reasons I ordered a 4004Cii over the 4004L.

[simer4001]

The gold trim is one of the reasons I ordered a 4004Cii over the 4004L.

It's the reason I bought the Cheyenne I instead of the Laredo all those years ago.

[paul_yan]

Haha, Brian, learning to...

Tony, I bought my Cii BBR for the same reason, besides wanting to have a taste of something other than the classic 4001/4003.

[Ric O'Sound]

A few years back I was in a club in the SF Bay area and was watching a band whose bassist had been playing a Sting Ray. All of a sudden, he went back behind the stage behind and emerged with a beautiful JetGlo 4001 (with black TRC and PG) and all gold hardware, including the bridge and rear PU cover and with gold control knobs (even the jackplate and toggle switch ring were gold). Looked incredible.

Between sets I asked him where he got the gold hardware for his Rick, and he said that his brother-in-law worked at a plant that plated metal parts, and that he had done it for him. I was never really a big fan of gold hardware for all of the reasons mentioned in the previous posts, but I gotta admit, that bass looked really, really nice.

[beatlefreak]

A black finish with gold hardware always looks classy.

[jps]

...I gotta admit, that bass looked really, really nice.

I agree that it looks great, just don't touch it!

Welcome, Daniel!

[bassduke49]

A black finish with gold hardware always looks classy.

And you don't even need "gold" plastic. Here's a prime example, Joey Vasco's Cheyenne II in rarely seen Jetglo (rarely for a Cheyenne, anyway):

[rickenbrother]

I've had gold hardware in the past from Gotoh and Schecter on other instruments. I was always very careful, always tuning up with a cloth, wiping down any finger marks and sweat from that gold hardware. It didn't help! The gold plating wore off rather quickly!

I think the gold hardware looks great when it's shiny and new. I was skeptical about the gold hardware on a Rick when I got my first Cheyenne. I'm assuming that Schaller and ABM must use better quality gold plating processes than others, since the gold is holding up quite well so far on my Cheyenne basses.

I doubt there are many Jetglo Cheyennes. Maybe I have the only one? Someone had posted a while back that he tried out a Jetglo Cheyenne, but I think the one he tried is the one I have.

[beatlefreak]

That is a great looking Cheyenne, Joey. I know what you mena about the gold wearing. I do believe the RIC parts are extremely well plated. My 650S still looks great, and it's the main guitar I use.

[rickenbrother]

Thanks Chris. Let's see that 650S!
Yeah, the hardware on Ricks is extremely well plated.