Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Matt Clark wrote:It's an ebony inlay.

That is very cool. Nice work, did Larry do it, himself?

As usual, awesome work from Larry, but why wouldn't you keep the original body with a chambered section glued into the back? Doing it this way has gotta make it heavier than a Les Paul, but more importantly, there isn't much original RIC wood left.

jps wrote:

Matt Clark wrote:It's an ebony inlay.

That is very cool. Nice work, did Larry do it, himself?

Larry did this at my request. I sent him a standard 330 to convert.

aceonbass wrote:As usual, awesome work from Larry, but why wouldn't you keep the original body with a chambered section glued into the back? Doing it this way has gotta make it heavier than a Les Paul, but more importantly, there isn't much original RIC wood left.

Yes, 9.9 pounds. And no there is not... The back of the neck and the headstock are about it.

And I wanted a solid body. Just as easy to do it this way.

Matt Clark wrote:

jps wrote:

Matt Clark wrote:It's an ebony inlay.

That is very cool. Nice work, did Larry do it, himself?

Larry did this at my request. I sent him a standard 330 to convert.

I was referring to the inlay work, I know he built the guitar for you.

John Hall once said "It's a real Rickenbacker as long as at least 50% of the original substrate is left". By that standard, this guitar isn't really a Rickenbacker. Larry did an incredible job of duplicating the body of one though. It's more of a Larrybacker.

aceonbass wrote:John Hall once said "It's a real Rickenbacker as long as at least 50% of the original substrate is left". By that standard, this guitar isn't really a Rickenbacker. Larry did an incredible job of duplicating the body of one though. It's more of a Larrybacker.

Well that's Mr. Halls opinion. There is no legal president so who cares what he thinks. It's not up to him. It's still a Rickenbacker to me. This guitar was borne from the RIC factory in 2004. It is a RIC wether RIC likes it or not.

jps wrote:I was referring to the inlay work, I know he built the guitar for you.

Why do you ask?

Just curious as to whether Larry did the inlays himself, that's all; no hidden agenda here.

jps wrote:Just curious as to whether Larry did the inlays himself, that's all; no hidden agenda here.

Larry hand poured the neck inlays.

jps wrote:Just curious as to whether Larry did the inlays himself, that's all; no hidden agenda here.

He removed the bubinga fret board and replaced in with an ebony one. So, yes he did the inlay work, cut the fret grooves, installed the stainless frets added the black and the white binding. Installed and cut the top nut, bound the head stock, added the ebony backstrap to the head stock, ect.

He also removed the body. Extended the neck. Created a new solid body. Cut the sound hole through. Bound the body and sound hole front and back. Cut out the ramp. Installed my "R." Cut the electronics chamber and pickup slots. Installed the original pickups plus the one I sent him extra. Installed the hipshot bridge. Installed the Grover pickups. Wired it. Set it up. Painted it white. Clear coated it. Insalled the pick guard. Notched the pick guard to accommodate the new bridge. Strung it with Ernie Ball super slinkys. Had all of the hardware powder coated black that needed it. Painted the TRC black and scraped the letters back to white. Installed the angle-in jack. Installed and plugged the original jack plate. So yes, Larry did the work... Because I can't.

I would have had this guitar made completely from scratch but a ghost guitar would be illegal. So a donor guitar was required. I also gave the factory first crack at it but as we all know they don't do custom work... Except one offs and if you are famous enough. The black pick guard was from Pickguardian. He also left the finger board unfinished, and installed the RIC style Schaller strap lock pegs I bought from Germany. All of the electrons and knobs/switches are original until I give it my local artisan to do the rewire.

Oh yeah, and finally, he reduced the back of the neck for a lower profile.

Cool, but I was asking if Larry did the R inlay himself, or had an inlay artist do that?