Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yeah, Gilmer wood has beautiful stuff but is kind of a stickler for the $100 minimum. Well, they said they'd go down to about $75 when I needed a fingerboard blank.

I eventually bought one from Bell Forest Products, (877) 770-9663. No minimum, and they were more pleasant to deal with.

http://www.bellforestproducts.com/fretb ... 1-V0vldXm4

Never heard of Chechen, but found this source pretty quick:
http://www.hibdonhardwood.com/products/ ... ingerboard

Again, the problem is going to be thickness. If this starts out as 5/16"thick, it'll be 1/4" by the time it's radiused and finish sanded. The Rick bass fingerboards are unusually thick and already raised off the plane of the body by around 1/8", which results in the "Chunky" feel of the neck.

Edski,
Thanks for the lead to Bell Forest. The Padauk looks pretty good and is probably period correct for an early 80's 4001.

Gilmourisgod wrote:Edski,
Thanks for the lead to Bell Forest. The Padauk looks pretty good and is probably period correct for an early 80's 4001.

You are very welcome

Good luck!

Gilmourisgod wrote:The Padauk looks pretty good and is probably period correct for an early 80's 4001.

Except, that AFAIK, RIC never used Padauk for fingerboards.

jps wrote:

Gilmourisgod wrote:The Padauk looks pretty good and is probably period correct for an early 80's 4001.

Except, that AFAIK, RIC never used Padauk for fingerboards.

I saw a pic of that piece, and I think it's not too far off from bubinga. Given that this isn't a rigid restoration with respect to every detail, it'll probably look good.

Not quite as tough as bubinga, but about the same as maple.

http://www.thinboards.com/WoodHardness.aspx

I wonder how well Padauk takes to staining. I think it usually looks kind of light and pinkish, maybe a med. dark stain of some sort would warm it up and look good?

I just had a custom made of padauk, I'd suggest tru-oil (or something like that) rather than a stain, but that's of course preference. I like to see the natural wood. It is a strongly colored wood - reddish orange to start, and will change over time to a maroon-brown.

Some have had success slowing the color change, I've read about soaking the fresh wood in acetone for silly amounts of time (coupe weeks) and using UV resistant coatings. It's a pretty open pore wood, like ash, so a pore filler is a good idea, especially is being used for a fingerboard.

Is there a source for just chrome pickup ring for the Bridge pickup without buying the whole OEM assembly? People part out brand new Ricks on E-Bay charging $150 just for the ring itself, or you can buy the whole assembly including pickup, all hardware, etc.for $150 on Pick of the Ricks. Amazing what people will try to charge for these parts! they have exploded diagrams showing all the parts for the bridge pickup assembly, but does Rick sell individual parts for these assemblies?

Gilmourisgod wrote:Is there a source for just chrome pickup ring for the Bridge pickup without buying the whole OEM assembly? People part out brand new Ricks on E-Bay charging $150 just for the ring itself, or you can buy the whole assembly including pickup, all hardware, etc.for $150 on Pick of the Ricks. Amazing what people will try to charge for these parts! they have exploded diagrams showing all the parts for the bridge pickup assembly, but does Rick sell individual parts for these assemblies?

If you are in the USA, call RIC and ask for part 02038.

I found this company that makes Chechen fingerboard blanks, but they are only 5/16" thick. I can't find any more info on the required fingerboard thickness other than "approximately 3/8". Can somebody take a measurement off a 4001 era bass on the exposed strip of fingerboard below the neck binding and total height of fingerboard centerline at the neck pickup end above the body? If the fingerboard thickness is around 3/8" at the highpoint of the 10" radius, I'll probably have to find a 1/2" thick piece of chechen or bubinga to allow for stock loss during milling and sanding. Luthier's Mercantile doesn't carry chechen, but they will pre-slot and radius a blank if i send it to them. I'll keep looking for thicker chechen or bubinga, if anyone has a lead, please let me know.

http://www.hibdonhardwood.com/products/ ... ingerboard

Gilmourisgod wrote:Can somebody take a measurement off a 4001 era bass on the exposed strip of fingerboard below the neck binding and total height of fingerboard centerline at the neck pickup end above the body?

The height of the fingerboard at centerline, at the body end, is exactly 3/8" on my 1973 4001.

Daveman,
Thanks for the measurement, so that's 3/8" actual fingerboard thickness, taken from the top of the painted maple "shelf" that raises the fingerboard above the body plane to the highpoint of the radius at center of fingerboard? How high is the "shelf" off the body on a 4001? That seems to vary from bass to bass, at least on the pre-CNC models, averaging around the same thickness as the pickguard. The "husk" my buddy and I are working with looks like the top of neck surface was planed or sanded down when they removed the fingerboard, so it's less than 1/8" proud of the body, more like a raggedy chewed up heavy 1/16th. I don't know how critical that is to the string height, clearance above the pickups, etc. I suppose we could laminate on some maple veneer to build it up to the correct height, or make the fingerboard thicker. Bell Forest has some 11/16" stock we could plane down to 1/2" prior to having it radiused. It all looks kind of "yellow" on the website, might be a crapshoot to get something in the right reddish color range.

http://www.bellforestproducts.com/hand- ... NoZWNoZW4v

I'd opt for making a thicker fingerboard.