Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Am I seeing this right? Is there no chrome left on the tailpiece butt?

A beauty! Enjoy!

johnallg wrote:Am I seeing this right? Is there no chrome left on the tailpiece butt?

That's right John, all chrome gone! I guess that it was pretty flaky anyway and was removed entirely.

cool bass mate you must be running out of space !

scotty wrote:cool bass mate you must be running out of space !

Running out of everything Scott!

Can't beat aged Mapleglow! Great to see the photos of it in action....and still a great bass all these years later.

godber wrote:

jps wrote:Very interesting tuning keys on it, late '50s/early '60s?

I'm clueless Jeff - there are holes for slimline grovers underneath.

Those machine heads are likely mid 60s -early 70s Klusons. The non-slotted posts were used
by Guild and Gibson.

I like the worn look of the bridge,and the patina on the tuners,too. This is a real treasure piece!

aceonbass wrote:The chrome plating on the aluminum tailpieces was horrible, and has completely come off on that one. I had an NOS one once that had chrome starting to peel on it before it was ever mounted to a bass. They were originally just a two stage plating process using nickel, then chrome. I get these triple plated....copper/nickel/chrome.

I seem to remember you saying it had peed all over the place....
I had a supply of house training pads ready for it's arrival!

Thanks for all the comments guys. I was certainly pleased with the bass from the moment I opened the case, but went into auto-pilot making a shopping list to get stock parts back on it. It is a lovely player and looker so I'm going to leave it as it is, with the exception of the bridge pick-up - the Seymour Duncan sounds too compressed and smooth to me and so I need to look out for a 72 bridge pup, is anyone holding one they would be prepared to sell?

Lovely old aged MG 4001, with history. They do always look uber cool, once they amber out...

Another great Rick there, good find sir! Why did Jo not want it anymore?

I dont generally dig MG either but that has aged beautifully.

CatHead wrote:Another great Rick there, good find sir! Why did Jo not want it anymore?

I dont generally dig MG either but that has aged beautifully.

The shop said he was trading it for a Tom Petty 660/12 string. He already has a nice 360/12 in Fireglo, so he likes his Ricks, but plays more guitar these days.

Cool bass, congrats!

godber wrote: The pickguard damage came from a bottle thrown at Reading festival, which also knocked out the bridge pickup - hence the Seymour Duncan replacement and the reverse mounted plate.

I assume that is what he says, but honestly, I can't see how a bottle can cause that damage, let alone skip aside and knock out the treble pickup. A less heroic, but more reasonable explanation would be that the toaster height adjustment screw was over-tightened and cracked the pickguard in the same exact place as hundreds of other Ric basses, and the bridge pickup was replaced - like hundreds of others - because it was too thin-sounding, and the owner did not know that all it took to solve it was to bypass the evil cap.