Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Very cool to see a restoration nearly realtime! Did you have to remove the fingerboard binding at the heel end of the neck, or did this bass not have any?

As far as I know, it did not have any there. None of my basses have binding there, come to think of it.

Sepp

Sepp,
I mean at the bridge end of the fingerboard, wrong terminology. I think all the basses with bound fingerboards have it on three edges, don't they?

Gilmourisgod wrote:Sepp,
I mean at the bridge end of the fingerboard, wrong terminology. I think all the basses with bound fingerboards have it on three edges, don't they?

AFAIK, the binding at the heel-end of the fretboard was added in the early 1970s, perhaps around 1971/1972?

If that's so, then it wasn't consistently applied - I have 5 Ricks that were made from the mid 70's to the mid 80's. The only one of those that has binding on the butt end of the neck/fingerboard is the top of the range 4002.

Ash

My 79' Jetglo had it on the end of the fingerboard, I remember because it separated at the miter joint and I tried to glue it back with model airplane glue!(young and stupid)

Ashgray wrote:If that's so, then it wasn't consistently applied - I have 5 Ricks that were made from the mid 70's to the mid 80's. The only one of those that has binding on the butt end of the neck/fingerboard is the top of the range 4002.

Ash

Not sure - but I have seen many 4001s from the early 70s and up that have binding at the heel-end of the fretboard.

Also, many 4005 models and the 4005LS had the binding as well.

Both of my current/former '73 4001s have it.

The binding was added around Feb of '71.

This Jan '71 didn't have it, but the Feb '71 did.

Two 21-fretters! Yummm!

Not much progress here lately. Still waiting for my Pickguard from tony as well as my Horsie assembly. Something about California law selling used gear has to wait out a 30 day period in case it's reported stolen?

I pulled out the truss rods, cut the mangled end back, re-beveled, both and tapered the threaded ends a bit. Turned out real well! i think I took .25 of an inch off of the one. No big deal. Someone threaded the one quite a ways down the rod. Did they really think they were going to have to adjust it that much?

I cut strips of electrical tape and lined both sides where the rods touch. The were quite snug coming out so I did not think the extra tape would have worked very well. Instead of using a clamp at the first fret, I used 2 feet of surgical tubing to tightly bind the fretboard and neck. It's an old gunsmith trick to fix a cracked stock. It puts pressure on the entire area, evenly, and works really well on odd shape areas, like the neck!

Sepp

teeder wrote:The binding was added around Feb of '71.

This Jan '71 didn't have it, but the Feb '71 did.

It's interesting to see so much difference between basses made one month apart! Notice the difference in bridge placement, the fireglo on the right has the bridge noticeably farther towards the neck than the current production basses, the body actually looks longer, or is that just the photo? The upper horn on the fireglo looks longer in the photo. Was there a difference in scale length on these two basses? If the bridge placement changed, the fingerboard would have to move with it unless the whole body got longer. I guess that speaks to the "hand-made" quality of the older basses pre-CNC machining.

Kopfjaeger wrote:The short pole toaster measuring 8.25k
Sepp

Drool...

Gilmourisgod wrote:It's interesting to see so much difference between basses made one month apart! Notice the difference in bridge placement, the fireglo on the right has the bridge noticeably farther towards the neck than the current production basses, the body actually looks longer, or is that just the photo?

Certainly subtle differences in shape, but a lot of that had to do with the handmade construction back then. The bridge placement is much different on these because they are 21-fretters; most 4001 and 4003 basses are only 20-fretters. They made the neck a bit longer (about 1/2") so to keep the scale the same, the tailpiece/bridge was moved "up" the body to compensate.

collin wrote:

Gilmourisgod wrote:Sepp,
I mean at the bridge end of the fingerboard, wrong terminology. I think all the basses with bound fingerboards have it on three edges, don't they?

AFAIK, the binding at the heel-end of the fretboard was added in the early 1970s, perhaps around 1971/1972?

Early '71.