Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

After 28 or more years of nightclub abuse my beloved 68 4001 has finally become a chore to play due to string heigth. The neck is straight and the bridge is bottomed out but it must be giving at the neck joint area. So I had this dumb idea to buy a new body and pull all the guts and hardware from my 68 and have a playable vintage bass. It just isn't the same, I miss my "Mistress" bad. Now after finding this forum I see that this is not a unique problem and some have actually had some surgical sucess. Could someone please hook me up with a luither or shop that is capable of this kind of structure repair ?

Welcome James,

You will find a lot of love here for your '68.

This is ALL YOU NEED to bring her back to life.

PM Paul W.

PICTURES of your 'ol gal are ALMOST mandatory!

http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/memb ... file&u=560

Welcome to the Forum!

Yep, contact Paul W., he's in the San Fransisco bay area, and is most masterful at bringing old basses back to life.

I'm trying to learn how to get my pics from my computor to the post .Any easy suggestions?

bassjunkie68 wrote:I'm trying to learn how to get my pics from my computor to the post .Any easy suggestions?

LoL

It can be a bit frustrating. If you like, you can Email them to me & I can post them for you.

I use Photoshop and it just saves it to the proper size when I use "Save for web".

Should you feel so inclined, my email address is Ajish4@comcast dot net, just send it like Comcast.net

Pictures can't be bigger then 800 x 600, < 300k (thanks Jeff!), and when you are typing to post look below the text box and clipk the "upload attachment" tab then follow directions. You should get the feel quickly.

And welcome and congrats on owning a '68 4001! This repair is not that hard, just takes someone who is meticulous and exact - that'd be Paul.

Welcome, James. Actually pics can be just under 300Kb in size, make sure they are .jpg format.

Here are a few of James' pics!

...AND a few more...

They were the correct size, just the wrong format....

Just a small correction, maximum allowed image size: 1280x1280, not 800x600. Feel free to upload larger images.

New size. Gil? Cool!!!

Wow, James, she has some miles on her. Nothing that can't be fixed up if you wanted to restore her. Fixing a flex problem at the neck/body joint involves a precisely fitted wood plug to "force" the neck to straighten back out. Paul is your man. He is at the SoCal 2008 Confluence so a reply from him might be a while.

Welcome James,

That is a lovely old 68, and quite rare in Mapleglo. She certainly needs saving, and being refurbished properly. What's the serial number if I may ask?

Andrew , The jack plate reads HL 1695. I've owned her since 1983, Someone had added a extra PU where the mute was .Great tone variations .I mostly played her through a 70's Fender 100 tube amp with the angled 4x12 cab.

Cool...

I have HL 1764.


There are a handful of 4001's from Dec 68.

The necks are so thin, it's no surprise that after many years of heavy use, it's showing signs of movement. What strings do you have on her James? I have to go 40-95 on my 60's basses, to counter the neck/headstock pull.