Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well, I screwed up the binding whilst taking off all that old crud! I already have an issue with the binding where the nincompoop sanded it down to make it look more "modern. So I will probably have to take off the binding. My concern is with the neck binding. Can that be replaced? I'l put up pix in a bit

Here's some pix

more

headstock

It already looks better than it did when you got it.

Charlie, you can indeed replace the neck binding. It's just a strip of plastic. You can buy some from www.stewmac.com ... they have binding, glue and even instruction on installing it:
http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/A-BINDINGS.html

The instruction have a lot more information than you need for this type of job... but it's in there towards the bottom.

(Personally I use super glue to glue on binding... but it's tricky)

The harder part will be the side markers. They are just plastic dowels glued into holes that you drill after the binding is glued on. You have to be careful to get the holes straight. After you glue in the dowel, you snip if off a little proud of the hole, and then you can sand or scrap them flush after the glue dries.

You can also buy the side marker stock from Stew Mac.

You can sometimes remove the present binding, and reglue it, if it's still good, but it tends to shrink when removed, which requires it to be replaced anyway.

You can see the binding removed on this bass:



New binding will glue right onto that ledge.

Well, it has been cleaned up even more than these last pictures. I' thinking of "rewinging" it with curly maple. Has anyone done or had done this changing of the body wings? I guess you would just saw off the old wings, make some bumps and valleys for fit(as Ric does), and glue on the new? I suppose I could live with the screw hole thingy but it's not that cool of a piece of maple anyway. I could get a really pretty curly maple slab and just redo it, if at all possible.

ROFL...
Charly, I don't think you want to saw off the wings. I think you would have to properly warm the body/neck glue joints to soften the glue so they will come apart. That's something best left to someone who knows how to do it.
How about just having a thin layer of curly maple fitted on top of the body?

I thought of that too. Dane Wilder gave me the number for the fellow who does his work. I haven't called him yet as I don't know how much I am going to have to lay out for head gaskets for my Durango (fighting with the extended warranty people). Once that hurdle is cleared, I will be able to discuss it with him and see what he would be most comfortable with.

Well after seeing how nice Dane's custom basses turned out, I think that would be your best bet.

Charly,

Do a search on Ted Staberow. I believe he unglued some wings and did some work and reattached. Anyway it didn't look to difficult and he posted some nice pictures.

Thanks man, I'll do just that!

Now there's an idea Charly. Remove the body wings, shave down the tops and laminate them with book matched maple of your choice. If you make the new laminate the same thickness as the binding depth was, you can skate out of having to shave 1/16" off of the edge of the entire body in order to have an edge you can work with like we discussed. While your at it, a nice touch would be to do the same thing to the headstock wings to match the body.

Why would laminating them be better than just replacing them? A nice chunk of curly maple isn't that expensive.

http://www.hvgb.net/~tonewood/solidquilt.htm

oops that was quilted maple, which I prefer!