Restoration of Rickenbacker 315 ornament

Setup, repair and restoration of Rickenbacker Instruments

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scoobster28
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Restoration of Rickenbacker 315 ornament

Post by scoobster28 »

During the holiday season, Christmas-themed stores pop up in the malls selling holiday decorations. One such place had various guitar-shaped ornaments looking like Strats and Teles, and I usually just nodded and walked past. But one store had a black and white shaped guitar that was clearly influenced by Rickenbacker, and likely based on the 325 model that John played. So I snapped it up.

Every year I would look at it while setting up the tree and notice its shortcomings. It was only a $10 ornament and not supposed to be a scale model, but I thought I could improve it. So, one day this year when I clearly had nothing better to do I decided to give it some upgrades. Here was the before shot of a similar ornament:
Rickenbacker guitar ornament (before).png
I started by removing the pickguard. It was cardstock and slightly yellowed, not the bright white that Ricks are known for. I traced it and marked the holes for the knobs and the "screws" around the edges (which were cut down metal escutcheon pints). I then copied the pattern on some white styrene I had, drilled out the holes for the pins and knobs, and glued it on. Realizing I could do better, I removed the knobs and reduced their height. I repainted them black (for vintage style knobs) and mounted them in a different pattern. I know the knobs' location still isn't perfect, but oh well. I also made a smaller fifth "blend" knob from some styrene rod which also was painted black.

I then added an upper pickguard cut from styrene. It is not supported by the three "screws" (which are just silver paint blobs) because that would be too fragile. Some styrene underneath props it up. While the styrene was out, I also cut a trussrod cover and glued it on. No attempt was made to add lettering or the three mounting screws. That would just clutter it too much.

The Accent vibrato handle is a portion of a paper clip that I bent and glued in. The handle was then painted dull silver to match the Accent body (which should actually be shiny too). I considered giving it an extreme bend like Lennon's but decided the stock appearance was better. The tuning pegs were also painted silver at this time. Finally, the strings were glued in the nut and at the bridge with superglue to keep them from popping out.

And with that, my Rickenbacker 315 ornament was finished.
Rickenbacker guitar ornament (after).JPG
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collin
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Re: Restoration of Rickenbacker 315 ornament

Post by collin »

Nice!

And it's only marginally smaller than the real thing.
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scoobster28
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Re: Restoration of Rickenbacker 315 ornament

Post by scoobster28 »

Perhaps for the next one I will attempt a Fireglo refinish!
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