480 De-Mod Project

IHeartRics · Post by **IHeartRics** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 6:11 pm

You may remember this heavily modded 480:

Well here she is now:

She plays and sounds awesome!

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:28 pm

I don't remember those before pics, but, yuck!!!

Very nice restoration it looks awesome now, with the Bigsby, Chip.

Grey · Post by **Grey** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:16 pm

You saved that thing from a life of shame. Good on you! Bigsby and toasters look fantastic.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:17 pm

Still got the Super Distortion? Might be interested if youre selling, thanks.

360girl · Post by **360girl** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:25 pm

Nice job!

Not only does it look better, I bet it also sounds worlds better!

JakeK · Post by **JakeK** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:31 pm

You saved this guitar of a life of misery. Well done!

IHeartRics · Post by **IHeartRics** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:43 pm

Thanks all.

Jeff and Erik, I put the Bigsby on for a few reasons. 1.) It's hard enough to get an R tail piece as well as the $$$. 2.) It distracts from the patched up damage from the old Bowen handle. 3.) A friend let me play his Gretsch and I had a blast goofing with the Bigsby. And Erik, it was one of your photo-shopped 480's with the Bigsby that inspired me.

Ellen, it does sound way better.... now like a Rick. The pick-ups in there sounded fine, but not like a Rickenbacker.

John, I still have the Super Distrortion and the Gibson '65 to '72 T-Top. I also have the Gibosn Kluson tuners, Bowen Handle, Schaller roller bridge, and the gold top hat knobs (not sure if they are Gibson). I was thinking of keeping one of the PU's for a guitar I was piecing together for my daughter, but PM me if there is any interest.

I thought about refinishing the guitar in a solid color or maybe even a dark burgundy to cover the damage, but she has enough battle scars on her that I figured what's a couple more and it retains it's original finish. I play 'em hard so I'm sure I'll end up adding a few more anyway.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 9:53 pm

IHeartRics wrote:I thought about refinishing the guitar in a solid color or maybe even a dark burgundy to cover the damage, but she has enough battle scars on her that I figured what's a couple more and it retains it's original finish. I play 'em hard so I'm sure I'll end up adding a few more anyway.

Good move!

Ontario_RIC_fan · Post by **Ontario_RIC_fan** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:48 pm

MD1506... April is good month for RICS....

Love the toasters and the older style knobs too! Congrats on getting her back into shape!

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:09 pm

Chip who did the work? Very nice FG.

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:55 am

Nice work on getting it back in shape, Chip !
Congratulations

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 3:37 am

Grey wrote:You saved that thing from a life of shame. Good on you! Bigsby and toasters look fantastic.

+1!

jcreasy · Post by **jcreasy** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:36 pm

How does it sound with toasters? I've got a 480 with Hi-Gains and often wondered...

Ivan3000 · Post by **Ivan3000** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:50 pm

That looks really nice! The toasters and the knobs really make it look like someone shrunk a 1999RM and put 6 strings on it, stunning!
AND the bigsby looks phenominal! I love the look of bigsbys on Rickenbackers.

IHeartRics · Post by **IHeartRics** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:29 pm

sloop_john_b wrote:Chip who did the work? Very nice FG.

A friend of mine that builds his own guitars drilled out the old ferrules then handmade the maple plugs and inserted them. The holes were actually too big for the ferrules and were epoxied in to fill the space!

As we were drilling them out the epoxy got soft and came right out.

He then made the colored nitrocellulose lacquer (I thought he nailed the shade!) for a light spray over them, then buffed the whole top after the area was cured. He also added maple to the routes in the bridge PU and touched that up too. Once I got it back I assembled all the pieces including the install of the Bigsby and set it up. The action is low with no buzz and intonation spot on.

I also had to reconfigure the wiring as the switch and pots were completely flip-flopped from normal.

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