(We now join this RM 1999 restoration already in progress)

[ken_j]

...My next search is for a suitable neck block in a plainer grained Maple - I may have to go root around some construction sites in the city.

I have a piece left from the first guitar I built back in '69. Let me know the dimensions if it long enough you can have it for the price of shipping.

[walker]

Sweet, Ken! Will hit you via PM.

[Lefty4003S8]

Wow Mark!!!!! Love this project and can't wait to see the finished product.

Two questions........
1. WHERE did you find an RM1999????????
2. Where, and how did you locate the parts needed to restore it??????

You have GREAT skill there!!!!!!!!!







Do not drink from the toilet when taking Lyrica

[walker]

Yeah - I'm getting pretty stoked to see this finished, too. I've got a chunk of bird's eye on the way for making the new top wing, and am just trying to narrow down a good piece for the new neck block. Once I cut & carve the new body wing, I'll be passing the pieces to Jeremy @ Rudy's Guitars for assembly. As much as I'd love to do ALL the work myself, I know that I don't have the sufficient tools & materials for gluing the pieces together perfectly even & flat. On that note, I'll also have Jeremy take care of all the fret & fretboard work that needs to be done. (JUMBO frets courtesy of Chip Little! ) Then when I get it all back - routing the new cavities and refin in Fireglo!

I found the bass on eBay in 2006. Fortunately, I outbid vintage bass collector Vincent Gallo to win it. He must have been really upset about the defeat. After the auction, he spewed a stream of trash talk here on the RRF about me and the seller in Australia. Pitty his rant was deleted; I'm sure there was insight there that we could all have benefitted from. Or not. Enyhu, when all is said and done, at least this is a vintage '60s bass that will actually get played and see the public eye again.

I also outbid Gallo to get the tailpiece, too.

The horseshoe pickup is from a lapsteel. I cut the surround down to RM specs, and converted the 8-pole bobbin to 4-pole.

I got VERY lucky with that toaster - another eBay acquisition. At the time I bought it, I didn't really know much about the difference between old RIC pickups and new, and as it turns out, this one is right out of the mid-'60s. Only paid $80 for it.

Dane Wilder cut the PG for me, and I got the thumbrest from Mike Dudzik at Pickguardian.

Not sure where I got the knobs, but they float around fairly often.

The wiring harness took the longest to find. I finally purchased this one from a "donor guitar".

The PG & surround screws took awhile to track down, too.

Earlier I commented that the bass had none of the original hardware except for the tuners - it actually had the original jack & jackplate, too.

!Please offer these fine businesses your patronage:

Rudy's in Times Square (top notch repair staff!)

Pickguardian

[Lefty4003S8]

I thought that Mr. Gallo already HAD an RM in his collection------the one that Chris Squire is playing in the video for "Hold Out Your Hand". Said bass was originally owned by Donovan, and given to Vincent by Chris himself.

So....WHY would Mr. Gallo cry over losing that auction??????????????????????????????











Do not drink from the toilet when taking Lyrica

[ram]

Yo Mark, what about the nut?

[walker]

Right, Tom! I totally lucked out with that piece, too. It was in a box of random parts that I got off eBay. I almost sold it before realizing that it wasn't just a beat-up hunk of junk, but a period correct RM nut!

Greg - yeah, Gallo has more vintage basses than you'd care to think about. Not that owning a ton of vintage basses is a wrong; it's just a shame that once a hoarder acquires a piece, it's never seen outside of the confines of his closet again.

[walker]

This is the toaster. I'm not sure of the actual vintage, but I'm pretty sure it's far from new. Note the zig-zagish pattern of the magnets, and the absence of the "dimples" on top.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

i gotz a drunken stagger pole toaster like that from '72 !!!

[jps]

Is that Brian Crisman's blood on it?

[walker]

Ronbo - then I wonder if mine could be a '72 also. ? No complaints, though. It's a perfect match tone & volume wise with the horseshoe. It's by far the mellowest toaster I've heard in a bass, and the horseshoe is likewise the snarlingest. Snarlingest - not a word? It is now.

JPS - if that IS Crisman's blood, then at that factor to the bass value! "CULLED FROM WOOD AND BLOOD!"

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

new album title !!!

[walker]

HA HA! There you go. Just make sure I get my royalties.

[jps]

"CULLED FROM WOOD AND BLOOD!"

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

"CULLED FROM WOOD AND BLOOD"...the blood spattered coffee table book of the dastardly painful restorations by mark walker...coming to an autopsy table near you !!!