Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Tony, Dean's photo was one I took of Melibee's Purpleburst, and which I took the color out to keep people guessing.

But it seems to have a bunch of folks ranting about "Charcoalglo", which to me is yet another color oxymoron.

A toaster shell can be gold-plated, of course...HS? Ummm, I'm not sure what you mean...

If I were to go with this color combination, a "Charcoalglo" if you will, I was thinking how it would look with ALL gold tone hardware.

I have a 1978 4001MG that is going to be my "custom" or "project" bass.

I WAS thinking of an AutumnGlo refin, but the "Charcoalglo" is a VERY COOL idea. I never liked JETGLO, but your colorless BURST is very cool, I don't know why, but I REALLY like it!

A nice DARK gray or silver bursting to a light grey. SMOKE GREY! FULL MOP inlays, BLACK BINDINGS if possible.

I have a special toaster to use in the neck coupled with a HS (whenever I can find one, still waiting for RIC to release them again) but it would look funny with all goldtone hardware and a silver HS.

I figured on using 4004Cii tuners, bridge & knobs available in goldtone. Can a newer HS be plated gold? If they aren't magnetic, would it matter or could it kill the tone?

IF not, BLACK HARDWARE????? I wonder???????

The STEALTH bass, smoke gray with black hardware....I like this.....what do you think? Is it doable?

Of course it's doable. Black or gold. The HS would have to be disassembled and the hoops plated.

Black would have to be powdercoating, but first the old parts would need to be beadblasted. So you can do the surround, the HS hoops, the tailpiece, the toaster top shell. I've had some success powder-coating tuners without disassembling them, but the bead blasting medium needs to be flushed out of the gears really thoroughly, before powdercoating.

And, of course, any paint scheme is possible if you can describe it well enough...

None of this is cheap, but it isn't crazy expensive either, and as it will take several months, you can spread it out over some time to be less painful if needed.

But don't talk about "return on investment" just yet--it's gonna take a few years for things to catch up in any meaningful way.

One more point we haven't explored is 12 vs 6 string models. Hard to believe a company like Rick, known for it's 12 strings wouldn't have one for this.

I'm telling you......crushed sparkle (diamond) inlays.


I'm telling you even though I have no idea!

All I can say is I hope Mike Parks or someone from a Rick dealer is at the party to take my orders for any and all models they announce!

I think they should set up a Webcam at the Confluence activities for those who can't be there to see all this stuff!! How bout it, fellas?

Sad and nerdy as I am, I have just gone back over the thread with a fine-tooth comb and listed the colours and the number of mentions.

The two colours most mentioned by a long shot are silver and red. Silver has been dismissed because of the 'gold trim would good on it' comment. That leaves RED.

Now, there is mention of the finish being discovered by mistake. Previously I have suggested someone was maybe spraying a Fireglo finish and did a bit too much to the point where it became solid red.

This theory would fit with the accidental discovery claim but would produce a transparent red. However, the 'metallic' aspect is not apparent. So, is it Ruby then? But where's the accidental discovery in that?

So, I stumped again.

Help! Please!

Either way, can anyone please tell me how these guitars are going to be sold? Can you order one from a dealer?

... flamed maple metallic fireglo...

What would it look like? Simple... take a piece of flamed maple veneer... stick it on the guitar... paint in normal fireglo... spray with silver sparkles ... clearcoat.... let dry.... repeat 75 times.... on 75 different guitars of course! Oh... and do this on four different models... 330 360 660 4003. (Don't forget to engrave the pickguard with the 75th Anniversary logo)

Result: 300 very "interesting" guitars.

BTW... I have no freakin' idea what I'm talking about...

We know the finish is metallic. We know that it was discovered by mistake, inferring that it must be derived from colors that already exist in the RIC facility. Mapleglo is out, since JH said it's not even close to a blonde finish.

So that leaves some metallic combination of Red, Black or Blue. So either

red + black = metallic black cherry
red + blue = metallic purple
black + blue = metallic bruiseglo

OR

metallic black (sorry Paul)
metallic red (which has been done before)

OR

some combination of the above with leftover COY supplies or the trans 4004 finishes.

Nor do I...in my experience, this type of finish is best left to the guys who inhabit Lowriders magazine, bro.

Clive: Ruby is a three-step finish, not a metallic, but RIC's version of Candy Apple Red. The guitar was sprayed with an opaque, light gray primer first. Over this went Step One: a basecoat of silver metallic, then Step Two: several coats of transparent magenta-red ("Ruby"). Then Step Three: conversion varnish.

The difference between RIC Ruby and Fender CAR, color-wise is that Fender's CAR uses a gold metallic base coat.

Ethan has it.

Cheers for the info Paul!

So, which shade of red is the 75th Anniversary model?

Only 3/5th of Ethan's guesses involved red.