Anatomy Of A Rickenbacker Bass Part 4

[nbfanca]

Thanks everyone for the way too positive feed back.

Oh I really chose my pictures well. I mentioned I wouldn't let your critical eyes get too close. Or maybe it was my critical eyes I was worried about.

Actually though th ecrak is very apparent. It seemed to absorb stain from the original dark overspray. I tried sanding it out but the color didn't give any indication of vanishing, so I gave up and just let it show. Also if you look closely you can see the blend and some unevenss in the lighter central stripe.

But my biggest compliment came from a jamming bud and Ric fan, who with the guitar hung on his shoulders noticed the crack but not the refinish.

For those that might attempt this type of thing, please benefit from my experience. I first tried to match the color from the color charts in the Stewart McDonald, but it was too brown and I had to sand it off. A econd attempt, removing some brown and adding some blue also failed. The final color is based on the cherry red Colortone stain from Stewart McDonald sprayed in nitro cellulose lacquer.

Charlie

[nbfanca]

One other part of the story.

After I received the bass, I was very worried. It was obvious that the neck break had been repaired, and hidden with the dark overspray, only to break again. I am not sure why it broke. The eBay listing mentioned bad repalcement truss rods. But in any cas ethe neck had to be reinforced. On a Ric this is tough because the double truss rod leaves very little wood at the neck/head joint. I braced it by running about 6 1/8th in dowells through the crack. So they would not show, I drilled the holes for the dowels down the neck from inside the truss rod adjustment cavity at the top of the neck.


Something else I realized about adjusting the old style Ric truss rods. I have read that one should first pull the neck into position and then tighten the truss rods. If it is not correct then repeat the process. What I hadn.';t read is that between adjustments one should loosen the truss rods before retightening them. The old truss rods are only locked at the headstock end, and loosening the truss rods allows them to reposition themselves so that when they are tightened, they clamp into the neck to support the new neck position. This may be old news to some, but it was a revalation to me.

Charlie

[johnallg]

Charlie, most of us here know that about the old rods, and those that don't and ask get the info. I'm going to guess improper adjustment (just reefing on the truss nuts) was the reason the repair broke the second time. If you do as you describe, the repair you made should hold just fine. Squire's RM had the head flopping at one point in it's history and look how long that repair is lasting.

[nbfanca]

Maybe I was missing something. I remeber the recxcomended procedure was to pull the neck into position, tighten the rods and repeat as needed. The part that was new to me was to realize that the rods should be loosened and retightend for each adjustment so that they can slip in their channels.

[johnallg]

Maybe I was missing something. I remeber the recxcomended procedure was to pull the neck into position, tighten the rods and repeat as needed. The part that was new to me was to realize that the rods should be loosened and retightend for each adjustment so that they can slip in their channels.

Yeah, me too the first time I tried adjusting the old rods.