Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

teeder wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 8:48 am It was painful trying to listen to Dave in that video. He is certainly no Rickenbacker expert.

When I saw him take a wrench to the truss rod nuts without first shaping the neck, I thought “Oh no, this is how the fingerboard came off the first time and needed replacement- that poor bass!”

Bighouse wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 9:18 am

teeder wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 8:48 am It was painful trying to listen to Dave in that video. He is certainly no Rickenbacker expert.

When I saw him take a wrench to the truss rod nuts without first shaping the neck, I thought “Oh no, this is how the fingerboard came off the first time and needed replacement- that poor bass!”

+1!

I'm still wondering what's up with the second photo- in particular the finish around the D-string tuner. It seems to indicate to me that a finish had been reapplied to the head and there was some kind of washer or larger tuner bezel in place, that was subsequently removed. That could have been done when the entire thing was refinished and would explain why there isn't any "lacquer displacement" as commented by Dave. It's a strange thing to see...it's gotta be some kind of key to understanding the modification or creation of this instrument?

I don;t know how to identify fakes and I would not venture a guess but I wonder if these differences between the fins and the dots basses indicate anything?:

The spacing of all the electronics and the bridge looks different than the shark fin bass positioning in the comparison pic and I am wondering why that is so. Like, the control knobs are in a tighter configuration and the toggle looks placed differently.
Its really hard to tell because its a pic but the pickups look a little differently placed by a few mm and the bridge is definitely placed more inboard on the dot version. Look at the gap between bridge pup and tailpiece. Even though the tailpiece is more inboard, the gap looks bigger on the dot bass than the fins bass. Is this placement correct for that year?

Nevertheless, that is a really nice looking fingerboard and that nut looks really nice too!

Also, someone who has one of them of the same year could confirm if the pup and trod slot body routes are period correct or not.

Does the neck have a volute?

Hmmm…the 20th fret on the ebony fingerboard looks to be in a different location compared to the other bass, below the cutouts.

So Ric retooled for everything before the year your bass came out looks like since everything on the dots bass is in different positions…or…..
But before we say something that could be wrong, you should compare your body routes to the dots bass routes.

But I would not draw conclusions without bassduke49/Paul Boyer chiming in first. I am surprised he hasnt already. You could always pm him about this.

lumgimfong wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:08 pmBut I would not draw conclusions without bassduke49/Paul Boyer chiming in first. I am surprised he hasnt already. You could always pm him about this.

Ah, but I DID! Before your initial response!

Haha! Yes you did!!
I still wonder what would account for the neck, bridge, and electronics being positioned differently? Mods? Or was the couple year spread between his and his friend’s bass be enough that Ric was repositioning stuff?

lumgimfong wrote: Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:58 pm Haha! Yes you did!!
I still wonder what would account for the neck, bridge, and electronics being positioned differently? Mods? Or was the couple year spread between his and his friend’s bass be enough that Ric was repositioning stuff?

Even the shape of the pick guard on the outside of the controls, to the edge of the instrument seems off. Compare the amount of exposed wood in both basses between the edge of the pickguard and the binding. Can there be that much variation between issues/models/years?

I just found out that the 1978 bass in the comparison photos has replaced pickguard so they won't match up evenly. I was going through the case and found receipts from previous owner from more than 20 years back.

One thing you might look for is writing in the body cavity. Some of those might be able to be verified and dated.

There was some writing on body cavity "4001-M-W Lopez MA5DA". I'm not sure if there is any significance in that.

Can email that info to Ric to see what they say it means.
I am not sure it is a 5 though. Looks like it could also be "MA 15 DA" There is definitely an intentional "1" or "I" there before the 5 (which could be an S, too).

RatBlitz wrote: Sat Jul 09, 2022 11:33 am There was some writing on body cavity "4001-M-W Lopez MA5DA". I'm not sure if there is any significance in that.

I wonder if those are names of workers, or codes they write in the cavities? I wish people wrote legibly. I have no idea what some of those scribbles are in mine.

Mark A or Paul W might be able to shed some light on the scribblings.