Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

. . . strike a familiar note? Ah, Ruby. Dated a girl named Ruby a few times. But I digress. Ruby is a vivid metallic red, supposedly available only from 1980 to 1984, according to the Rick Page/Rittor color chart. 4003 basses came standard with white and chrome trim, but some examples received the "reverse trim" of black binding and plastic. I've also seen Ruby 4003S (Hi Jeff!), 4003S/5 (Jeff again) and 2030 basses. I believe all Rubys were accomplished with a clear red over silver, kind of a "candy apple red" method. I'd like to see the return of Ruby one of these days. The color, not the girl, thank you.

Here's a Ruby 4003 that belongs to my drummer. One of these days I'm going to talk him out of it.

And here are Jeff Thomas' gorgeous 4003S and 4003S/5 (an '89, so much for the color chart). So let's discuss and post photos of Rubies!

Man, both of Jeff's basses are calling my name. But I won't bother trying to talk him out of them.......

Ruby was a three-coat finish, sprayed over a light gray automotive primer. The wood surface must be perfect before painting, as Ruby and similar finishes (Silver and early MID blue being two of them) show the tiniest defect, they're so reflective.

After priming the guitar with the light gray material, the body was sanded with very fine paper. It's important here that the depth of the scratches left by the paper be much less than the size of the particles of the reflective silver base coat, which is applied next.

This is followed by the transparent red tint, which is put on in multiple coats to achieve the final hue. At one time I had no less than four Ruby instruments in my shop (two belonged to me--an '82 and an '88), and none were exactly the same shade. The color depends upon the dilution of the tint coat, and also on how many coats are applied and how heavy they go on.

Finally, the conversion varnish is sprayed, sanded and buffed for protection, gloss, and depth.

Ruby has a tendency to check due to the thickness of paint and varnish, I've found.

jingle_jangle wrote:Ruby and similar finishes (Silver and early MID blue being two of them) show the tiniest defect, they're so reflective.

Interesting. Does JG share this property, and if so, for the same reasons or not?

cassius987 wrote:Man, both of Jeff's basses are calling my name. But I won't bother trying to talk him out of them.......

Ha!

Thanks, Joshua. I really like the color. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Ruby is my birthstone, so I'm biologically programmed to like it!

jingle_jangle wrote:Ruby was a three-coat finish, sprayed over a light gray automotive primer. The wood surface must be perfect before painting, as Ruby and similar finishes (Silver and early MID blue being two of them) show the tiniest defect, they're so reflective.

After priming the guitar with the light gray material, the body was sanded with very fine paper. It's important here that the depth of the scratches left by the paper be much less than the size of the particles of the reflective silver base coat, which is applied next.

This is followed by the transparent red tint, which is put on in multiple coats to achieve the final hue. At one time I had no less than four Ruby instruments in my shop (two belonged to me--an '82 and an '88), and none were exactly the same shade. The color depends upon the dilution of the tint coat, and also on how many coats are applied and how heavy they go on.

Finally, the conversion varnish is sprayed, sanded and buffed for protection, gloss, and depth.

Ruby has a tendency to check due to the thickness of paint and varnish, I've found.

Mine two are very close in shade if not the same. Paul Boyer's pics show that. My 4-string is an '87, my 5-string is an '89.

It is a thick finish, but my 4 string only has 2 small finish checks and my 5-string has none.

Ruby is one of those colors (Turquoise too) that really reflect differently in different light. If you take a photo with a flash, they look very different from Paul's photos.

Here's a pic of my 5 string taken with a flash:

http://www.rickresource.com/register/us ... llsize.jpg

Note the difference in headstock appearance from the body. Same bass as Paul Boyer posted above.

I think a V63 would look great in Ruby!!

Jeff, you'd probably think a VW Thing would look good in Ruby!

jdogric12aolcom wrote:Jeff, you'd probably think a VW Thing would look good in Ruby!

Hmmmm........

I do not like red. I do like Ruby. Jeff, that 4003S is a stunner. Binding would get in the way.

Ruby never grew on me. Then again, it's one of those finishes I haven't seen often in person.

And she's back!

John Hall has posted a brief announcement on the RIC site in the General Forum that Ruby is now a standard color. I'll have to revise the color timeline once again!

Nice! I'm another of those that does not care much for red, but Ruby is a stunningly lovely finish. It will be interesting to see how it looks with RIC's new finish process. Ruby with black binding, plastic and hardware would be fantastic.

FretlessOnly wrote:Nice! I'm another of those that does not care much for red, but Ruby is a stunningly lovely finish. It will be interesting to see how it looks with RIC's new finish process. Ruby with black binding, plastic and hardware would be fantastic.

Oh yeah, ruby with black! I'll even take chrome hardware (I actually like it better than black), just bring back the option of black binding and plastic...

bassduke49 wrote:...Ruby is now a standard color...

Ric...adding something!?