Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Thanks Andrew. You are right. I know Chris well and was just having a bit of fun with him. I agree that the idea is unthinkable Brian. I know he won't touch it.

Andrew,

I know Peter was kidding. So was I.

Have a good weekend!

I'm not likely to sand it down... as it is now, it's too good of a conversation piece.

Me too!

But, then again, what's good enough for Macca...

...except maybe for Heather.

or at least half...

I've heard Mark Arnquist say that when Maccas bass arrived at the factory to be repaired, it smelled like sweat and armpits! No wonder he dosen't play it now. He should have it cleaned up and have a sealer put on it and play it. But, it's his bass and he can do as he pleases. However, I don't think I'm the only one who would like to see him use it again.

Randy, I think they sealed the bass when it came into the factory.

The story is in the long lost archives. They also made a special bridge pickup for it at that time which was ultimately replaced with a modern horseshoe which it now still has or had a few years ago.

Very cool and unique C64S, Chris. Welcome to the forum...and welcome to the C64S club.



Mine is a 2003 also, but was born with sanded horns.

The sanded horns do not make the guitar any more comfortable for me to play than any of my other Ricks either.

I would think that Macca sanded his horns off deliberately as the horns remained intact after the bass was stripped of its MMT paintjob. Why would anybody want to do this to a poor defenseless Rick? Who knows, but I've seen worse Rick butchery!

There is one interesting thing I recently learned about this bass: I've probably played 200 Rick basses including at least 15 from the 60's and I've never played one with with a neck like my C64S. The back of the neck is more flat than other Ricks. Its almost like holding a floor plank with the edges rounded off! I really didn't think that my C64S, which is a very faithful reproduction of Macca's bass in every other way had a neck that was faithful to the original. But then about a week ago I had the good fortune of meeting Andy Winter and checking out his Ricks. And wouldn't you know...He has a 64 4001FG that has a flat neck that feels just like my C64S!

Good point regarding the neck Jeff. In many comments posted about the "C" Series basses this is an area not mentioned nearly enough. I love the necks on these basses.

Be careful of the guy standing next you. He has an evil eye on you.

My C64 has the same flat neck, and it is absolutely as comfortable as it can be. The thinness, front to back, is very, very noticeable when comparing to other Rics. It is nice to know that it is faithful to a true 64.

Yeah...a month or so ago I was surprised when Tim Sarter told me about his C64 having a flat neck. Up until that point I thought my C64S was just a fluke. So then I figured that all C64's probably had a similar flat neck. But I still didn't believe that it could be similar to a real(PM's) 64 Rick because I had never felt a similar neck... even Ted's 63 4001 has a nice slim, round neck.

But as we've all heard before the early Ricks were not very standardized. When I was at Andy's I played his White Gibb '64 RM1999: Cool bass, nice neck...but it is round. Then he brought out a 64FG: Flat, squarish neck...feels just like my C64S...very different from any other Rick that I've ever played. I was amazed! Not that my C64S has to be exactly like PM's, but its just nice to know that at least some 64 Ricks(and probably PM's) were made with a flat neck just like my C64S.

I've got a C64S and ditto on the "flat U" shaped neck.

I had owned a '77 MG 4001 back in the day, and loved the thin-ness of the neck. The late '90's 4003 necks that I happened to try out at a couple of music stores didn't compare favorably to that neck profile, so I was worried that the C64S's neck would be similar to those 4003's in chunkiness. I'm pleased that my worries were all for naught.

As far as Maccas bass goes, it was not sealed at the factory. Arnquist said that when reconditioning the bass they decided against sealing because they were already doing a lot of work that was not asked for. All McCartney wanted was the horseshoe pick-up fixed, according to Mark.