Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Photo today as promised. More to come today. Kudos to Dane!

SWEET... love the tuners..

I love that! It looks really cool as it is, but with these the package would really be complete:

That is Stunning! Great work!

Here are the rest of the pics. Dane suggested going with an original style bridge, I stayed with the stock ABM bridge. Had to draw the line somewhere, as it's a modern interpretation anyway. The stock bridge did have to be remounted, as it came from the factory mounted off center. Dane plugged the original holes and drilled new ones towards the G string side. Dane added lots of great touches, from the peg tuners to the colored access panel on the rear. He even put felt washers between the strap bolts and the body. Very elegant! I got the finger tug from Pickguardian, and Dane drilled his repro pickguard accordingly. The v57 pickguard shape had its curve on the E string side altered to both hide the original bridge pup route, and to be able to surround the pickups in their entirety. Both pups were moved the the 4002 position. Thanks to everyone who helped verify that placement, and all the work that went into the pup placement charts here. The chrome knobs are stock 4004 knobs, the push pull feature is on the vol, goes from humbucking to single coil mode on each pup. Also had Dane do a bit of truss rod work. The previous owner must have had some neck bowing issues, and had to gain access to the body side of the truss rods to attempt to remove or replace them. This release of the 4004 was one of the ones that did not have the neck pup route tight up against the bridge, so they had to make some truss rod access routes on the face of the body, and then covered it best they could with a plastic cover. (see original pic in the first post.) Dane removed the rods with great effort, adjusted them, and reinserted them. The neck is now dead flat.

Oh yeah, thats amazing... wowzers!

I would love to see this bass return to the model lineup.

egosheep wrote:I love that! It looks really cool as it is, but with these the package would really be complete

This would be even better

Just arrived a couple days ago. It's going on my FG 4003s. Making my own RM1999.

I will repeat myself---STUNNING!
Congrats to yourself,and to Dane on this.
I am soooo tempted to do something similar to my cii....

This is one of my favorite projects ever. Dane, killer execution on this one. I love every element of it.

John, what kind of camera do you use?

Absolutely gorgeous! What a great retro-ish tribute to the early 4000!

John's a pro photographer and it shows! I'd love to be able to use a shot or two in the "custom" section of my "project."

sloop_john_b wrote:.....John, what kind of camera do you use?

Believe it or not, it is a lowly Canon 1Ds digital EOS body, circa 2002. I suppose it's time for an upgrade!
Just as soon as I quit blowing my money on Rics!!

bassduke49 wrote:John's a pro photographer and it shows! I'd love to be able to use a shot or two in the "custom" section of my "project."

Let me know what you need Paul. I have the hi-res files here.

Very nice pics! Enjoy your 4004/2 v57!
Now let's hear it!