Ric fretboards

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 10:22 am

So 4001's and 4003's have rosewood fretboards ... How come they look so darn cool and other basses that have rosewood fretboards look so dark?

Is it just the clear finish?

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 1:27 pm

Courtesy of the alt.gtr.rickenbacker FAQs:

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Subject: 5.30 What type of wood is used for Rickenbacker fret boards?

"We use both African Rosewood and Bubinga, which are very similar close relatives. Both are also classified as Hong Kong Rosewood sometimes, which is closer to the mark, since it is grown in Asia rather than Africa."

[John Hall, [email protected], 11/09/1999]

"We do not use nor have we used commonly available Paduak, which is Pterocarpus soyauxii. In past years we used Hong Kong Rosewood (Dalbergia family) or African Rosewood (which is true Bubinga in the Guibourtia family) which we continue to use.

I will grant you that Hong Kong Rosewood has been colorfully referred to as Indonesian Paduak by wood suppliers.

In the end, without the species, the trade names of wood are almost useless."

[John Hall, [email protected], 04/24/2000]
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The Asian rosewood really look different from the African or Brazilian varieties. Add to that the triangle inlays, shiny fretwires, clear finish and fine fingerboard bindings and we have something to lust for!

I first saw Rickenbackers when I was 22 and I was too ignorant and too possessed by the Fender maple fingerboard to appreciate the RICs' rosewood material. I said to my friend (who was the import manager of my local music company then and we had been mates for 8 years in school) who showed me the RICs that the fingerboards looked like cheap woodplies with their white swirl grains...and the clear finish looked weird to me...oh man, I was such a bonehead!

Now I've grown up and savvy a little and really regret for not snapping one for a very very "friendly" price. I still stomp my foot and go "Damn!..." whenever I think about this occasionally.

Ignorance is our biggest enemy.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 3:24 pm

This was probably a Redneck or Tuxedo bass. I think that the original finish has been stripped off and refinned in Natural. Why? Because the tiny black fretmarkers and Maple fretboard. John Hall?

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 4:09 pm

Sorry,I meant to post the above message to the subject of the 4003 with the Maple fretboard.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:22 pm

About the only thing that looks better than a Ric fret board is a birdseye maple fret board ... hey there's an idea A Ric with a birdseye maple fretboard and black trianglular inlays.

Most basses with rosewood have little or no viseable grain ...

Rics have such cool necks ... then to top them off with the cool wood grain ...

Paul after I read your post I'm still not sure why ric rosewood looks so different ... maybe I'm missing something ...

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:42 pm

This is a real nice fretboard.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 10:39 pm

Ric fretboards look so different from other rosewood fretboards for one reason:they are covered in a clear urethane finish and buffed out. Most other guitars with rosewood fingerboards are unfinished or oiled. My 3000 bass fingerboards were unfinished but when I sanded down the neck and fingerboard and refinished both in clear urethane it changed color to match my 3001. Much better look.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 6:41 am

Jeff,
Thank you for posting that beautiful fingerboard picture which explains it all.
If I'm not mistaken, I believe that the RIC rosewood species are grown in Asia, which has a texture of their own. And the RIC style "post-production" really accentuates the beauty of their more swirly grains and skin tone. I also like the fact that RIC's fingerboard rosewood appear to have more orange/magenta color hues in it. Quite exotic, I should say.

On the other hand, take other manufacturers' rosewood fingerboards for example, most of which somewhat belong to the darker, straight-grained sorts. And like what Dane said, most of them are unfinished or oiled only. Not as appealing as RIC fingerboards, IMHO.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 6:50 am

That's sort of what I thought ... it is a matter of selecting more figured rosewood and the finishing ... I was wondering if the bleach the wood to get it lighter or do they just select lighter wood to begin with ...

I have never seen a fender or warwick or most any other bass that has the good looking wood on the fretboard like a Ric ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 10:52 am

I have a question for that has me stumped, I have owned more than twenty Rics in my time, (first one, new in '77) but have owned older ones. I have a '79 4001 Mapleglo with an unfinished neck, I think it is rosewood and it is darker than other Ric necks with the Urethane on them, and I sure that it has been stripped, I have looked closely at it and see no indications of scratches or scrapes that one would see on a stripped neck, and the the grain pits are not filled in, no scratches on the triangular inlays either, it also has a wooden (rosewood?) nut, I do not know if it is original. This bass is a great sounding bass though. Anyone have any ideas, or know if Ric ever shipped unfinished necks with 4001's, especially with wooden nuts?

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 11:03 am

We've never shipped and instrument with a wooden nut nor one with a urethane finish. Urethane is just barely good enough for lawn furniture and bar tops.

We used a slightly tinted wood filler to accentuate the wood grain as we fill it but there is no other bleaching, dyeing, or staining. For the most part, you only see the natural color of the wood which is unique to the species we use. Finally we coat it with a proprietary formula conversion varnish.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:13 pm

Sorry about the urethane remark,I was using it generically as one would use Fridgidare for all refrigerators (I'm a geezer). I thought that I had seen it here somewhere here in this forum. Do you know of any 4001's that were shipped with unvarnished necks?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 10:28 pm

So John, do you fill the pores in the wood on the fingerboard before you cut the fretslots? Or do you just clean them up after filling the pores before you fret? Thanks!
greg

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Thu May 01, 2003 9:40 am

They're filled after fretting.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sat May 03, 2003 2:56 pm

Thank you John. Always nice to hear about the techniques others use.