Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was disassembling my '76 4001 yesterday so I could clean everything and give it the ScratchX & Zymol treatment. I like to do this with all my basses I buy so I know what I have and so it'll be nice and clean. I usually remove everything except for the tuner ferruls. Anyway when I was carefully removing the screws that holds the surround on the last screw was so ******** up I absolutely could not turn it with a philips head screwdriver. I tried all sizes but no luck.

Eventually I tryed filing a slot in the screw head so that I could use a straight slot screwdriver and get it out.

I finally got it to turn a bit and the unthinkable happened. The head broke right off! So I have this bass carcass sitting there with everything removed except for one screw broken off flush with the body. The damn thing was so small that I would never be able to drill it out. I did some thinking and I came up with a great idea. I went to the hardware store and bought one of these. It's a cheap countersink bit.

I removed the pilot bit from it and it looked like this.

I chucked it up in my drill press and being very carefull with with the bass laying on a towell I drilled around the small broken off screw. I am a cabinetmaker by trade so I have many years of woodworking experience and the tools. This is what I had when I was done.

This what the bass looked like afterwards.

Nice recovery, Steve! My only option in those instances is to mangle the instrument or get out the credit card.

Then I got my trusty 1/4" plug cutter out. I put it in the drill press and made me a nice 1/4" plug from some hard maple I had.


It fits very nicely!

Now I have to glue that sucker in. Updates to follow....
But before I do that I'm going to enjoy a nice big St. Mary's County stuffed ham sandwich.....er uh...maybe two!

Good thing it will all be under the surround when done!

ben_brown wrote:... But before I do that I'm going to enjoy a nice big St. Mary's County stuffed ham sandwich.....er uh...maybe two!

Now you're making me hungry.

Needs some mustard - Dijonnaise or such.

Absolutely not John....Two pieces of bread and the ham. Otherwise you'll ruin it

Good thing it will all be under the belt when done!

Jeffrey!....Why you I oughtta!

The closest that I came to that was when I broke a truss rod ... except I was able to replace it and it was as good as new when I finished ...

http://www.3dentourage.com/425/restoration.htm

This reminds me of the time my 77 4001 flipped out of its case when the locks failed. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped. Fortunately, all that happened was that the E string broke, and there came to be a wee little green smudge on the back where the bass whacked an antique sea chest. I thought for sure it was trashed.

Robert - I had to smile as I read your post - I still have the old habit of keeping one finger over the outside of the case as I carry it (like I learned the hard way to do back in the early 70s) even though the RIC cases have a lot better clasps system.

Mmmmmm...Ham sandwich

ben_brown wrote:Absolutely not John....Two pieces of bread and the ham. Otherwise you'll ruin it

Well said... to quote another famous rickenbacker player... you dont need anything on it but the bread and the meat, if you look at your teeth in the mirror we are carnivours, lets face it vegitarians fart and smell bad and if vegetables are so good for you... how come cows have to have 4 stomach's to sort all that sh"t out.
By the way ... great job you have done saving that bass.

Neat story Steve. I have a much worse story where I, in one fell swoop, inadvertenly used a mic stand mid-song to remove some binding and fretboard wood from the bass side of the 8th fret of my '90 370/12SPC JG. Can you say "depreciation" ?!?!?! I'll probably have that repaired late next year. I can't even stomach the sight of it long enough to take it out of the case right now.