Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Any more projects to report the progress of?

I haven't posted a lot, because, lately, every time I post pictures, I get emails from every customer who has a project sitting with me. Of course, my customers are the lifeblood of this tiny business, and it goes without saying that I have to answer every email personally. It takes a time to check my records and reply to each customer, and that's time lost from actually working on the projects. Instead, as each customer's project lands on my bench, I notify him or her by email and we have a brief catch-up discussion. This way I can stay productive.

So, if you've got a project with me, and you haven't heard from me, it means it's not hit the bench as yet. I do projects in the order in which they are received, and in general that's how they leave my shop, too. Since roughly July, I've cut my backlog by one third.

I've seen seventeen projects move through my shop in September and October. It was about evenly split between refinishes/restos and smaller projects like refrets and rewiring.

First off, there's a very special project, which I'll call "Project "X", which if the owner gives the OK, I'll post some pics of.

I'm wrapping up two 4005s, one of each style (WB and NS). The WB was a factory re-neck sometime in the '80s which had small inlays, heavy neck wear, and a problematic neck joint. It was refretted, new FWCP inlays were put in, and the neck and part of the body was refinished after the neck joint problem was corrected.













The second is an original NS which has received a bad FG nitro refinish a number of years ago. It was stripped, rebound (the previous refinish treated the back to a massive rounding-off of the edges, so the binding had to be redone), and refretted. The neck was rebound. The original FWCP inlays were in good condition, so they were cleaned up a bit and left in place.





















Now it's resplendent in its fresh AFG, about to be buffed out and assembled. Both of these, along with Project "X", will ship this week.

I've got a fair number of acoustics in the works, awaiting the joining of neck to body and beginning the finishing process. Here are some bodies hanging from the ceiling, eager to get completed. This is only part of my stock of recently-assembled acoustic bodies; as some may recall, I build them in batches for efficiency. though once necks are joined to bodies, I only work on one at a time. Each one of these bodies has a customer waiting. The second photo should interest you and Bob Combs...you guys are not quite up to bat yet, but it is getting close!





Speaking of acoustics, I'm doing a re-top on a 2001 JG Comstock 6 which had a badly-split top and some other issues. When I pulled the old top, I found that the "X" bracing had been placed about 1" further back from the soundhole than it is on newer Comstocks. This would have the effect of stifling sustain. The new top was constructed with the "X" bracing pushed back where it should be, and I also built this one with an experimental 360" spherical radius to add a bit of tension to the air column inside. The finished Comstock should be quite lively.

Beeautiful 4005s there!

Thanks for the update, Paul!

Nice work, Paul!

No worries Paul, I know that you're a busy man!

Great pictures Paul. That AFG color is perfect!

kiramdear wrote:Nice work, Paul!

+1 on that..... Sigh ! Always a thing of beauty in the works !

Paul, while we respect you'd never get anything done if you had to post pictures of everything you're doing,I'm sure you understand, for us, you're the closest thing Rickenbacker has to a custom shop. That said, as a fan I always enjoy the detailed look you give us into some of the projects that are in the loop.

No need to apologize for doing a fine job!

Cool post and coolo pics, Paul! Lovely work!

marc61 wrote:Paul, while we respect you'd never get anything done if you had to post pictures of everything you're doing,I'm sure you understand, for us, you're the closest thing Rickenbacker has to a custom shop. That said, as a fan I always enjoy the detailed look you give us into some of the projects that are in the loop.

No need to apologize for doing a fine job!

I appreciate all of the comments I receive, Marc and fellow Forumites. One more point: Over 50% of the work that I do is not new to me or you--it's work that I've documented and posted before, like crushed pearl inlays, refrets, and prepping bodies for paint. So I try to cover only the new stuff so as not to waste time and bandwidth.

But Paul, that's like taking select chapters out of a good book!

Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John!

Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John! Only if you enjoy reading the same chapter over and over, John!

Besides, I don't like to waste bandwidth...

jingle_jangle wrote:
Besides, I don't like to waste bandwidth...

Who'd-a-thunkit.
JimK

Beautiful AFG, Paul!!

Thanks, Jeff...on that 4005 NS, the binding was the bear. In the previous refin, the painter had aggressively sanded off the nice edge on the outer binding. In spots, it had even rounded the inner checkerboard purfling. I recided to rebind but to try to keep the purfling. I took off the original binding, which had lost most of its opacity and in any case was rounded to heck, and left the checkerboard.

When it came time to finish, there were a number of areas where the rounded-off purfling needed filling and hand-touching-up. But, in the end, it was saved, as the finished photos will show.

Right now it's being color-sanded and buffed, and it will soon ship. Good photos will be posted before it goes back North of the Border, though!