Ric Telebass???

[ilan]

Well... what is it? Tele-style body, mute-less tailpiece, Fender/MusicMan headstock with the Ric TRC... weird.

[electrofaro]

Good find - I wonder from which year it is - late 60s, early 70s?

[T.A.R.]

What is that?

[incubus2432]

I'm glad it wasn't a production piece. Bleck!

[86kubicki]

IIRC, that bass was a one-off experimental instrument. I believe the individual involved in its design went on to work on the Musicman Stingray (note the 3+1 tuner design) which would probably put this bass sometime in the mid 70's. Here's a pic I took at the RIC 75th event:

[TheFountainHead]

I really like the body/pickguard/finish combo but the headstock w/ trc looks really out of place. Maybe a 4003 headstock would help rickenize it?

[cassius987]

That's a fun change of Rickenpace. Not bad looking either. Cool that it could be a Stingray precursor.

[ilan]

Cool that it could be a Stingray precursor.

The 3+1 headstock is attributed to Leo Fender and Forrest White.

[rickenbrother]

Cool that it could be a Stingray precursor.

I'm pretty sure it's the StingRay precursor. When Forrest White presented that prototype bass guitar to the Halls, they didn't feel it was really a Rickenbacker design.

[ilan]

I didn't know that Forrest White worked at Rickenbacker. If he built this prototype then it is a StingRay precursor. Thanks for the info!

BTW the fact that it has a toaster can be a clue - pre-73 maybe? The first StingRays are from '76.

[JM82]

I really like the look of that one. Kinda reminds me of a Danelectro or some such.

[jps]

As much as it is not really Rick-like, it is a nice looking bass, overall. With two toasters it would be even nicer, plus, a traditional Rick guitar headstock shape would work better than the Fender/Musicman style. I like the "cut-off" tailpiece with no mute assembly. There is an excellent photo of this bass in a book called 2000 Guitars.

[cassius987]

As much as it is not really Rick-like, it is a nice looking bass, overall.

+1

[rickenbrother]

Here's a closeup of the tailpiece from a picture I had taken of the prototype. Notice the mute section is gone. Funny, the early StingRays as well as Sabre and Cutlass had mutes. Now so does the StingRay Classic.

Prototype Tailpiece

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[jingle_jangle]

The finish on that tailpiece--polished aluminum--indicates that it's a cut-down sandcast piece from the early-mid '70s. Never got plated...