Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Paul, that must have been a very exciting project. Being a huge fan of Tom's, and a big proponent of the 12 string bass, I would love to hear your story of that bass when you CAN talk about it. I'll wait.

I'll do a photo story in July on it, after it's been out there awhile.

Paul, still interested in hearing your story on this one if you have the time to tell it

I was approached by Tom's bass licensor to build a Light Show 12 string bass, so I did. I started out with a Waterstone TP12, refinished the top in black (sorry, Jetglo), and cut the top out. I handmade the lenses out of plexi, cut a couple of pieces of Rowlux for the diffusers, and also made some backplates for the LEDs from mirrored acrylic.

A bit of rewiring and control relocation was done, and a pot to control sensitivity was added.

Reassemble, calibrate, and test, and it was sent off to Tom's hotel in West Hollywood for him to use.

Here it is alongside a stock TP12 in AFG:

How cool!

jps wrote:How cool!

+1 - both the guitars AND the story!!!

Paul, that is just awesome. How long did it take from start to delivery?
I'm sure I will be seeing them soon (I always do) and if it is onstage, I will take pictures of it.
Also, did you get any feedback from Tom about it? I'm a bit of a fanboy where Petersson is concerned.

Took a couple of weeks, in between my usual assortment of large and smaller projects. Now the one in the background will get converted for myself.

I love it! I kinda suspected you were doing somthing like this Paul...........
My Sparkle Red (Galaxy yo-yo Glow) Tp-12/32 has become my main bass on stage, I try to play my 74 4001 now and then, but they complain that the bass sound has all gone funny (meaning that they have lost the wall of sound that they were riding on )
Waterstone have a unique product (as does Rickenbacker) and Paul, you have made one that bit more special!
Eden.

Wow, Eden, thanks! I realize that a bass such as this has a very limited/narrow appeal, and it's great to know that it's hit the nail on the head in at least a few (nut) cases...

I'm going to get one and fire the rest of the band, except the drummer. You should have seen the look on my rhythm player's face when he heard Amy Humphrey and Clatter, he looked like Bambi in the headlights

jingle_jangle wrote:Wow, Eden, thanks! I realize that a bass such as this has a very limited/narrow appeal, and it's great to know that it's hit the nail on the head in at least a few (nut) cases...

Such narrow appeal for such a wide bass....

Eden.

Hadn't been back to this thread in a while and wondered what became of that project. That's sharp looking, Paul! In a way, with the bold pearl against the black, it keeps in line with the bold paint jobs Waterstone has going on those basses. Very nice!

qwezirider wrote:... with the bold pearl against the black ...

But it's a light show!

Not trying to raise any trouble here, but it's interesting to me that RIC would be OK with giving the Light Show treatment to a non-Rickenbacker instrument, given how tightly they control their trademarks. I wonder where that falls in the spectrum of aftermarket mods. Is it permissable because it's not for resale? Is that how that works? I know you're licensed to make acoustics for Rickenbacker - does that agreement change your relationship to other clients who would like their non-Rick instrument modded in the Rickenbacker-style?