Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I picked this up today for a song, and need a little help bringing it back to life as I'm primarily a bass player.

What I think I have here is a late 60's 450, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Neck is straight with no major issues that I can see. I'm thinking later 60's because of the tuners, but I'll need a more practiced eye to let me know that. There's no hardware other than the tuners on it, so obviously the serial number on the bridge is long gone. There's enough tinfoil on it to make a nice hat to block out all CIA signals, and it's been painted with a brush by a visually impaired orang-utan, but other than that, it seems fine.

So, if anybody can try to date this accurately so that I can start to look for correct hardware for it, I'd be grateful. Also, I'll be putting a post in the Wanted section for bits and pieces once I know a little better what I have here.

Garett how about some more closeup photos of the front and back. What is under the foil?

Could really be made anytime between 1965-1982...without more parts it's hard to date. I'd guess mid-late 60s.

Might not have always been a 450 either, there are a lot of routes going on. Good luck with the project Gareth!

I think it is this 425 which was up on ebay last year... Someone has started to do some work on it before putting it up on Ebay again... I think anyway!! Look at the pics in the Register and see of the markings are the same...

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... 6order%3D5

Sn is GI3941 - Sept 1967

Either way good score for $200!

collin wrote:Could really be made anytime between 1965-1982...without more parts it's hard to date. I'd guess mid-late 60s.

Might not have always been a 450 either, there are a lot of routes going on. Good luck with the project Gareth!

+1

If the back of the neck at the body junction is square, then it's am earlier one.

All that foil sure made me remember my days at Berkeley PD!

Lots of people with foil hats on Telegraph/Durant.

Sounds like its a wrap everyone.

"Curses, foiled again!"

Well we may be able to reflect upon it a little more, Gary.

PM sent.

OK, so here's a few more pictures taken after a quick application of stripper and a quick sanding to see what's up under the huge layer of brush paint and laquer.

First off, here's the guitar from the front. Nice wood underneath it all still, but getting that foil out was a pain. There was about 3 or 4 layers of it, and all of it held in with glue. In a just world, people who do this would be dragged from their homes by an angry mob and beaten. Not shown, the several layers of skin I removed whilst using the stripper. Real men ignore the instructions and never wear gloves.

So here's the rear of the control cavity. Why route when you can just drill repeatedly and rip out parts of the body ?
And here's the front route. I'm not sure if this route sizing is standard, so I'll need a little help here. I suspect not. However, I'm pretty sure that the little pieces of wood glued and screwed in there to address some issue aren't. The more observant of you will notice in the first picture that where the tailpiece would be, there are three holes, two of which the previous master luthier used a drill for. By the time he came to the third, he appeared to have broken his drill or just decided he'd use an icepick instead. Whatever he wanted to fix there after this fine piece of work needed some good wood screws to hold it in there, and nothing says commitment to fasteners like using screws that are too long and poke out the back of the guitar. I sincerely hope that they gave him gangrene of his gonads. Anyway, the next post will shoe the neck/body joint from the back.

And here's the neck/body joint. I suspect that even if the glued joint gave out here, the sheer amount of paint and varnish would hold the old girl together.

So, as I have clearly got no idea of what I have here, is it a 425, a 450 or something else entirely ?

What I do have is one of my favorite RIC 6 strings. The first hit record I ever had started with an intro on one of these so it holds a special place for me.

Oh, and by hit record, I mean a vehicle to make others rich.

Ontario_RIC_fan wrote:I think it is this 425 which was up on ebay last year... Someone has started to do some work on it before putting it up on Ebay again... I think anyway!! Look at the pics in the Register and see of the markings are the same...

http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... 6order%3D5

Sn is GI3941 - Sept 1967

Either way good score for $200!

Nope, it's definitely not that one. Despite the issues, the one I have is in way better condition as far as the neck goes

Gareth it is a two pickup model and so a 450 in my view.

Yep, originally a 450. Forstner bit drilled wiring channel. Probably not the original tuners. The ends are clipped off a few of them.