And another 1968 4001 resurrection.....

[henry5]

Thanks guys!

Sepp, what it actually plays and sounds like - obviously subjective - is always a bit of a concern; I was worried about my Azure until I got it (it's great) and am about every bass bought unseen/unplayed. We'll see, but I'm optimistic. Structurally it has no issues (now at least), I was advised the neck angle was great and it's getting TI rounds which are about as low tension as you can get. I'll be interested to see what the Classic Amplification flat top '60s sounds like as that's something of an unknown quantity, although I also have one of Sergio's pickups which sounds not unlike my screw tops. Are your CAs fitted yet?

[Gilmourisgod]

Shaun,
I noticed something unusual about your bass, in that the neck beam itself (not including fingerboard) appears to be flush with the body, instead of raised above it around 1/8" like this typical example:

I always thought the extra height of neck material above the surface of the body was necessary to get the fingerboard up to the right height relative to bridge saddles? I'm sure your luthier knows what he's doing, but curious if this detail has varied over the years. I've never seen a Ric bass that didn't have this detail.

[henry5]

Interesting observation!

Here's my '72 Azure (I have the action lower now, 2/32nds at the 12th E):



Here's Steve Wood's '68 (with a little shadow in the first):





Both appear pretty much the same as my '68, so hopefully we should be ok.

[Kopfjaeger]

Shaun,
I'm sure your luthier knows what he's doing, but curious if this detail has varied over the years. I've never seen a Ric bass that didn't have this detail.

For Shaun's sake, i hope his restorer knows what he's doing!

Actually, the neck being above the plain of the body is something that seems to have have occurred in the late 60's. Bad Ronbo did a survey of the years and pretty much figured out when it first occurred.

My late 68, now Geddy Lee's bass.

Sepp

[chefothefuture]

Shaun,
I'm sure your luthier knows what he's doing, but curious if this detail has varied over the years. I've never seen a Ric bass that didn't have this detail.

For Shaun's sake, i hope his restorer knows what he's doing!

Actually, the neck being above the plain of the body is something that seems to have have occurred in the late 60's. Bad Ronbo did a survey of the years and pretty much figured out when it first occurred.

My late 68, now Geddy Lee's bass.

6.jpg

Sepp

I'd like to see that. The earliest I've encountered that was on an early '73. All of my 71's and earlier are flush.
Yet, given how different they all are, I would not dispute an earlier one being built that way....

[henry5]

Shaun,
I'm sure your luthier knows what he's doing, but curious if this detail has varied over the years. I've never seen a Ric bass that didn't have this detail.

For Shaun's sake, i hope his restorer knows what he's doing!

Actually, the neck being above the plain of the body is something that seems to have have occurred in the late 60's. Bad Ronbo did a survey of the years and pretty much figured out when it first occurred.

My late 68, now Geddy Lee's bass.

6.jpg

Sepp

"Now Geddy Lee's bass"......how cool is that?

[teeder]

My '67, 2-'69's, and 3-71's that I've had were flush. Two V63's were different from each other. The '92 (FG) had more of a step than the '93 (MG), which is almost flush with a noticeably thicker fretboard.

[henry5]

Both my '72s:



'73 PW refin:



'71 21 fretter:

[Gilmourisgod]

It looks like they just experimented with fingerboard thickness vs. "shelf" height to arrive at the same fingerboard height above body. Probably a tradeoff between more expensive fingerboard material thickness vs. the additional machining necessary to shave away part of the neck beam where it passes through the body to create the "shelf". The fingerboard needs to be about 1/2" above the body to work well with a stock Ric bridge. Given the level of craftsmanship displayed by the OP's luthier, I'm sure he's taken that into account.

[henry5]

It looks like they just experimented with fingerboard thickness vs. "shelf" height to arrive at the same fingerboard height above body. Probably a tradeoff between more expensive fingerboard material thickness vs. the additional machining necessary to shave away part of the neck beam where it passes through the body to create the "shelf". The fingerboard needs to be about 1/2" above the body to work well with a stock Ric bridge. Given the level of craftsmanship displayed by the OP's luthier, I'm sure he's taken that into account.

We've had a lot of discussions about low action and Larry removed the old fingerboard because it was too thin, also not profiling the new board until he had the bridge etc, so I'm sure he's taken it into account.

[Martin Gordon]

And on this topic: a return to Ric (albeit 4003) and Rotosound (standard gauge): http://martingordon.de/gilbert-gordon-sullivan/#4003. It seemed to come out quite Kimono.