Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Larry, that guitar was one of the nicest Ricks I had EVER seen...i'd love to see those pics again.

Thanks. It was a challenge, since the guitar came to me pretty trashed. WL, the owner, has been pleased with it. I'm now starting another one that will be even more challenging, since the guy wants it to have a birdseye maple top and back. I'll post some in-progress pics later, but here's some of WL's guitar.

Just for grins, here are some pics of how it came to me. Yes, that's bondo in the middle pickup route.

This is always a cool topic that seems to generate a ton of interest. The old MOP inlays are such a definitive Rickenbacker feature and so many people obvious miss them.

That material looks great. The search continues....

Welcome Larry! Great looking guitar there. I wish RIC would reintroduce the crushed pearl. Yes, we know that the exact stuff is not available, but a close substitute like what you used would be perfectly acceptable, as an updated version.

Thanks, Jeffrey. I've been around, just haven't posted anything in a while. I agree on the pearl, and the inlays need to be full-width.

Larry, I was wondering if you could clarify which particular Sparkle MOP (ie in which format) you used, and how much you needed. I'm a player, not a builder/repairer, but I may need some soon for one 4001 bass project or another, and it looks pretty cool in the photos you posted. Apologies in advance if my question seems a little stupid, but I've never previously looked at purchasing inlay materials.

Shaun - Sorry for the delayed reply. The material is made by Abalam, and I bought it through Rescue Pearl. I found that it looks best when you laminate two layers together (the .060 material). I did a mockup before the real thing using one layer, and it didn't have the visual depth needed, and it, not being solid material, was colored by the 'board. Also, if you didn't have the two layers, the edge would get very thin (10" radius is the minimum you can do without sanding through one layer). I have a sample of the real vintage Ric material, and IMO the Sparkle MOP is better looking, in that the original stuff, not being aged, looks somewhat gaudy, whereas the Sparkle MOP looks like it came off a vintage guitar. As I mentioned, we (the guitar's owner and I) looked for a long time before settling on the Sparkle MOP, including some custom-made material, and weren't able to find anything better, and in reality, it's hard to tell from the real vintage material. I recommend it highly.

Larry, many many thanks for your reply. No problem with the delay at all, I'm just extremely grateful for the advice, which is even better than I hoped for. The material does look extremely good in the photos, and seems just what I've been looking for. And of course your recommendation is more than good enough for me! Wonderful work, by the way, the guitar looks beautiful.

You're welcome, Shaun. If you are interested, I can send you a mockup that I put together before doing the 'board. It's finished roughly, but it can give you an idea of what it will look like. Email me offline with your snail mail address and I'll send it to you.

Shaun - Thanks for the compliments, by the way. It was a fun conversion to do.

Thanks for the offer Larry, will do! By the way, no problem re the compliments, they're fully deserved!

Missed this thread and was about to start a new one on another section. This weekend I saw a gorgeous 1968 370 for sale, with the crushed pearl inlays. Fair set me drooling I can tell you.

Man how I wish you could still get this feature. Is there anyway JH would be persuaded by a full on campaign for their re-instatment.

Otherwise I'm going to have to spend £3,000 on a 40 year old guitar....

Nope. You can have your fretboard redone and save about £2500. It involves defretting, inlaying rescue pearl shark fin inlays, sealing, refretting and revarnishing. I'm about to do this for one of my customers. This can even be done on new guitars.

For you bargain hunters, it costs nearly the same to do it with the frets in place, and yields inferior results for all the work involved.

Thanks for the info Paul, that's certainly something worth considering. Were they dropped infavour of the current gray-ish material due to cost?