- The frets were so badly worn that it was hardly playable
- I have no idea what its original color was, because at some point it had been refinished in transparent black. The color itself was okay, but whoever did the work did a pretty crummy job; there are places where the paint coverage wasn't good and you could see bare wood, like the back of the top of the headstock.
- The original pickguard had been replaced with a truly hideous yellowed pearloid version
- The original knobs had been replaced with some gross beige knobs that came from god knows where
- The pickup switch cap was gone
- The neck pickup wasn't secured to the pickguard at all; when it arrived it was just floating freely in the pickup cavity, held in place only by the strings themselves. (I ended up getting a small refund for this because it wasn't like this in any of the listing photos; the seller swore it must have been damaged in shipping, but I don't know how you lose a whole pickup assembly in shipping.)
- It had aftermarket hipshot tuners (but they're pretty good so I ended up keeping them)
Of course I knew it was rough when I placed the order, and I had a plan in mind already. I contacted Larry Davis about doing a restoration. Although it took a few years to get started due to swings in my financial situation and other issues on Larry's side, in December of 2021 I shipped the bass off to him, and then we worked out the details of the restoration.
I wanted a period-correct color and I had a few options I liked in mind. Unfortunately, whoever refinished the bass in black neglected to put on an initial layer of clearcoat, so black paint had been sprayed directly onto the body wood. Larry put some effort in to see how much of it he could get out, but in the end he recommended going with a solid finish, limiting our options (I'll get you next time, Burgundy!)
After some consideration, I opted for the White Tuxedo look--that is, white with black binding. However, I asked Larry to mix up a creamy, aged white, to give the impression of the instrument's age (without being that gross splotchy yellow that you frequently see with old white Ricks.) What I wasn't expecting was that he actually did try to simulate slight differences in the coloring of the finish in different places, as an aged white Rick would show, but I'm quite pleased with the effect.
I finally got the instrument back this month, and after a brief wiring hiccup that I resolved with a local tech, I have to say I couldn't be happier with the bass--it looks, plays, and sounds fantastic. I would 100% recommend Larry for any restoration work in the future.
