Photographs of the 480 Series

[Grey]

BTW, did anyone track that dog of a JG 480 that ended over the weekend on eBay? It started out slow and hung in at <$500 for nearly a week with 10 bidders. I had about $750.00 sitting on it (my estimate of its true worth), and in the last 2 seconds it shot up to close at $921.00!

This was a '75 that had been heavily-used by its original owner, who was offering it up for sale. It had been fitted with humbuckers at some point long ago, and literally needed everything gone through. The neck pocket had cracks on both sides, and the seller made no bones about it being a rubberneck as a result. The headstock had soaked in water, and the finish had been peeling off in that area, and had been touched up.

WAAAAY overvalued IMO. A fluke, or are values on the rebound? I think the former.

Back in '04-'05, 480s were selling in the $700-800 range in VGC. Then came Serge and Kasabian and hoopla...

Serge has great taste in Ricks!

I saw that one. I don't know how it ended but I wasen't expecting it to get that high. I think values are on the rebound but not to this extent, it was likely a fluke. Maybe someone who really wanted it as a project and saw the 2,200$ pricetag of the other 480 up on eBay right now?

I think Serge is definatly responsible in part for bringing these guitars into the public light, but they're also on a rise as a new generation finds out there's a guitar with the looks of a 4000 series bass.

[jingle_jangle]

Good point. To many younger players, the Rick bass shape is more contemporary than that of the stereotypical Rick guitar.

That $2200 Autumnglo 480 on the 'Bay seems to be a fishing expedition more than anything else. It would have been a $1200-1400 instrument before the Bust. Still, there's always ONE person who wants something badly enough--the trick is to connect with them.

[admin]

This thread provides us with another great example of the importance of providing photographic documentation at the time. Attaching a photo is easy and most helpful; sometimes providing the "proof."

[Grey]

Hmm.... no new pics, how about a video?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1244235/Hosted% ... -take2.wmv

Practice for a YouTube cover. My good condenser mic is being asinine and I had to use the onboard.

[egosheep]

I would love to see a 480 neck through done in the style of a 4000 bass. It would have a Combo bridge plate moved back to change the scale to a 30" baritone, but the neck would be essentially the same length as a 480. Add in a dual-coil horseshoe pickup and you would really have something... a Bass VI killer!

I posted this by mistake in the AZ4080 thread, but deleted it... meant it to be here.

[libratune]

Hey there! Stop messin' with my 480! I hope you didn't take a router to it! Oh, that's right, Photoshop . . . Nice work!

Even so, I'd like to see it restored to it's original condition . . . .

[egosheep]

Hey there! Stop messin' with my 480! I hope you didn't take a router to it! Oh, that's right, Photoshop . . . Nice work!

Even so, I'd like to see it restored to it's original condition . . . .

480 MG 74 front.jpg

Sorry Ron... a lot of us professional dreamers hang out in your photo pages. Don't mind us, please.

[jps]

Hey there! Stop messin' with my 480! I hope you didn't take a router to it! Oh, that's right, Photoshop . . . Nice work!

Even so, I'd like to see it restored to it's original condition . . . .

480 MG 74 front.jpg

Sorry Ron... a lot of us professional dreamers hang out in your photo pages. Don't mind us, please.

I like it with the horseshoe pickup on there.

[cjj]

I would love to see a 480 neck through done in the style of a 4000 bass. It would have a Combo bridge plate moved back to change the scale to a 30" baritone, but the neck would be essentially the same length as a 480. Add in a dual-coil horseshoe pickup and you would really have something... a Bass VI killer!

2-fuze.jpg

I posted this by mistake in the AZ4080 thread, but deleted it... meant it to be here.

Ooh, I like that idea...

[Grey]

I just noticed the Registry entry for that Prototype 481. I think this is the same model anyway, I highly doubt there's two JG un-slanted 481s floating around.

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... hp?id=2634

What's interesting is how rough the pickup routes are, and the beveled pickguard. Maybe this model was intended as a proof of concept or something.

[Grey]

I think this is turning into a bit of an addidiction....

[cjj]

Well, maybe, but it's a cool shot!

[jps]

It reminds me of this:

[Grey]

It reminds me of this:

Haha, what a cool POV.

[Grey]

Tonight I finnaly finished something i've been meaning to do for awhile.

Last week I tracked down the source of my buzzing issues to the bridge, specifically the saddles. The vibration from the strings was causing the metal parts to rattle, and partially deadening the B string. I looked at some other Ric bridges and noticed that Ric progressively improved them over time by replacing the rubber washers on the height adjusters with springs, and adding springs to the saddle adjustment screws. I deduced that the springs served to put constant pressure against the saddles and keep them from moving.

This is convenient because another problem i've had to deal with is that two of the screws for adjusting intonation have been completely stripped out by the previous owner. As such I haven't been able to correct the intonation. I wasen't able to track down the slotted-head screws that were used on my bridge, so I opted to order the newer hex-head style intonation screws from POTR, along with springs. It's more important to have a functional instrument than to have it be period-correct, and I still feel comfortable knowing they're genuine Ric parts.

It would have been much, much easier to replace the whole bridge. The screws were rusted and it was no small effort to remove them whilst trying to be careful to preserve the originals at the same time. But, I prefer to try and 'restore' the exsisting parts rather than just replace the whole unit, so I kept the original bridge housing and saddles.

The result? The buzzing is completely gone and the guitar sounds brighter than before, it's regained the beautiful ringing sustain. I was also able to intonate the saddles properly. It looks purdy too.