Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I saw this video:

...and at around 2:50 you can see an old bass pulled out of a case and flipped around. That bass looks SO thin in every way, and look at the shape where the neck meets the headstock! Is that what a rick might look like if you shaved the neck a ton? Is that what old old ricks used to be like? What are we looking at?

It's mighty close to my 68 and other mid sixties basses I've played.

...unique odor....



I'll bet!!!

Yeah, that bass is beat. Wonder how the resto went.

s4001 wrote:Yeah, that bass is beat. Wonder how the resto went.

Yeah, I wondered that too.

Wow, great video, and not just any bass, but Lemmy's original Ric! I have a feeling that odor is more than just from having been in a lot of clubs...

Older basses were not only made smaller in some cases but also a lot of them have gone through repeated sessions of sanding and refinishing, which wears the wood down over time.

jamespaul71 wrote: ...and at around 2:50 you can see an old bass pulled out of a case and flipped around. That bass looks SO thin in every way, and look at the shape where the neck meets the headstock! Is that what a rick might look like if you shaved the neck a ton? Is that what old old ricks used to be like? What are we looking at?

I've played a few '63's and '64's as well as a few later 60's Ricks, but I don't own any. One thing that I thought was interesting about Andy Winter's '64 RM 1999's is that they are so different from each other. One of his has a very pronounced volute similar to that shown on this Lemmy bass, and the other is just flat from the neck to the headstock. The Lemmy bass looks like it has had it's headstock replaced/repaired, so that might be a factor here as well.

I agree though, that neck looks thin!

I think even the 70s necks are thin. IIRC.

Consider that the neck might have been sanded enough to make the neck profile even thinner than it was originally.

paologregorio wrote:I think even the 70s necks are thin. IIRC.

Consider that the neck might have been sanded enough to make the neck profile even thinner than it was originally.

not that thin! It must have been sanded a little bit, but no wonder they beefed up the necks. I wouldn't trust that neck with many bass players

yeah I see where it looks like the headstock has been repaired as well. Very thin instrument.

I think I would love walking around the factory and watching the guitars being made. Looks like a labor of love to the workers.

marc61 wrote: I think I would love walking around the factory and watching the guitars being made. Looks like a labor of love to the workers.

Yes, the cnc machines are pretty cool.

I'd like to hear that guitar John designed some day.

Thanks for sharing that vid, was real cool. I was interested to know that the earlier models were more hand made and not by a CAD machine. So to me that means there is more personality in the older models. Johnallg and I were comparing our 4001 Ricks. I believe one of his to be a 1975 and mine a 1976 and there was a bit of difference in the neck girth. Probably due to the hand madeness ( if that is a word) of them.

Mine was narrower, yet they both sounded Great!!!!

Great video..............more of!

The RM series of basses from my experience are quite thinner than current and "V" 4001 basses although the CS was very close in dimensions.
None of the three RMs I owned had any volute behind the nut and there was vey little tilt back of the headstock.


Has anyone ever tried shaving off the volute to emulate the 60s shape?
Would it take the tension I wonder.