Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So, I finally got around to moving on with the 4003 project that's been sitting there taunting me for the last few months. It was either that, or do something useful. I was able to move on it becuase Paul W was nice enough to lend me a bar heater to get the job done. By nice enough, I mean he finally dropped to his knees and beseeched an uncaring God to stop me from bothering him about it.

Anyway, I needed the bar heater because the fretboard had to come off. The truss rods in this puppy were locked up like an old lady on a cheese diet. One had been snapped off and the fingerboard had been popped off up to the second fret. They wouldn't budge with a good hammering with a center punch, so the only way to see what was up was to get the fretboard off.

So..... On with the bar heater. After a nice cooking which made the whole house smell like a mouse had died under the floorboards, I used a thin palette knife to ease the fretboard off. Here is is all done. Not shown, me with a palette knife shaped burn. Note to self. Bar Heater hot.
Of course, that's not the end of it, because that would be way too simple. The channels for the rods were filled with glue and corrosion, and the packing wood on top of the rods was firmly stuck, so I had to chisel it out slowly and carefully' Here's a nice blurry picture of the base of the rods. You can see that the channels are full of glue.
Eventually it's done. The rods get pried out. They are covered in glue and rust, so I already have the bar stock to make new ones on hand. That'll be the next job. Until then, here's the 4003 completely naked. RIC porn if you will. Settle down now.
I should put the old worn out truss rods on eBay and say they are out of a 4002. Someone will pay big for them. Apparently old worn out parts only go up in value. That's what eBay tells me anyway.

Hubba, hubba, hubba!! Love that last pic!! Woo Hoo!!!!

Nice work, Gareth. I love these threads!

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing! Hope you don't stop now.

bow chica bow wow

Best of luck ...and thanks for the porn!

Out of curiosity, how did you remove the wood strip and all that glue from the rod channels? What will you use for new wood strips?

johnallg wrote:Out of curiosity, how did you remove the wood strip and all that glue from the rod channels? What will you use for new wood strips?

A combination of the bar heater, an X-Acto knife, and swearing. Mainly swearing though. The right one had to be chiseled out a quarter inch at a time. The left one came out a lot easier. I'll just replace them with two more strips of maple I guess when it's time to reassemble.

I don't think I'll re-use these though.

Great stuff, Gareth! Sometimes these fretboard removals are a bear, but whoever installed that one on your bass probably used white glue, which reallt softens (much more than yellow AR). Or, could we think he was a real pro and used hide glue? Naaaah!

gareth wrote:I don't think I'll re-use these though.

Not even remotely straight; impossible to make parallel, etc. Yikes.

I always learn something new on every resto. Usually, it's a new swear word.

Yeah, swearing at Murphy as he hands you the tools usually reigns. Those rods look terrible. I can only imaging the hack who worked on this bass before.