Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

It was sent to me so that the original airbrush art could be duplicated.

Whole bass or just the guard?

I 'll be repairing and refinishing as necessary to bring it back to "as new" condition.

Well they sure got the right man for the job. Your the best Paul.

Is Chris gonna pick it up in person when its finished ???

That's pretty wild Paul Congrats! I'm sure you'll do a great job. Have you seen any notice problems from being wet?

Wow! I can't imagine how long it will take to replicate that artwork. That's an insane amount of time surely? They made 6 of these basses right? I wonder why he doesn't just use a spare?

Awesome!

That incident was discussed here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=394463&start=60

The next day I was informed that this bass had been completely destroyed. The person I spoke to (not Chris Squire, BTW) told me the bass had been completely destroyed, that Chris had another one, but this one had been tweaked to perfection and the other wasn't ready for service. I believe a third one was auctioned off for charity.

Anyway, I stressed, as hard as I could under the circumstances, that there are some pretty amazing Luthiers out there that can perform miracles on instrument that the rest of us may feel are past repair and that he should look into attempting to have it repaired. (Of course, Chris knows this already) To be honest, I forgot about it after that point until reading this post. I'm happy to see that the instrument was indeed able to be saved.

Here's a pic I took not long before this mishap.

Great job, Paul.

Cool.....thanks Jim!

bartyclue wrote:...2nd - Was this from the stage collapse last year in Oklahoma?...

Correct, Brian. I believe a microburst with 80 mph gusts took out the stage prior to the show, with no injuries, (other than this bass and some other gear.)

8mileshigh wrote:Cool.....thanks Jim!

Just to be clear, I'm not taking any credit for the decision to have the bass repaired. I just remember hearing that it had been "completely destroyed" and urged for someone to look into another option, other than discarding it. Chris certainly knows how to handle these situations. My guess would be that a call went out to Mr. Hall almost immediately and then PW's expertise was called into play.

Whatever the scenario, the end result will be wonderful!

That's so cool, thanks for posting Paul.

I thought it was a "gonner" for sure.

There were three of these made originally, and one was displayed at Harrod's and subsequently auctioned off.

The bass I am working on appears to be a different one from the one shown in Jim's stage photo. There are variations in the art in the portrait and in the background, going from photos alone. I will examine the actual instrument closely when I get back to my shop tonight. Also, the bass I have in my possession looks virtually unplayed--neither wear marks nor fret wear are in evidence.

The plot thickens...

It's probably a fake...

cjj wrote:It's probably a fake...

*Bops CJ in the head*