Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey guys,

I've been doing some research and couldn't find a clear answer, do you know if there's anyway you can get a custom ric? My Ric has 18 frets and I'd like to have a neck that has 24 frets, I play lead a lot and my old schecter bass had 24 frets and was very nice to have if needed. Do you know if Ric would ever accept a request?

They don't do any custom work unless you're a major star. Which Rick bass only has 18 frets?

sloop_john_b wrote:Which Rick bass only has 18 frets?

That weird, one-off short-scale JG bass with the dot neck that was around a while back...which was, ironically, a custom job!

That's my guess...

I'm sure for the right price Jingle Jangle would take your bass and custom fit a 24 fret board to it, assuming you don't mind any re-routing to move the neck pickup a little bit more towards the bridge, to fill in what has already been routed out with a wood block to support the new fingerboard, a custom pickguard from somewhere like the pickguardian, and then have the entire instrument, or at least the face of it, refinished accordingly.

Is it worth more than doubling the $$ you already have in the bass to get those last few frets?

Whoops, miscounted, mine only has 20 haha, Yeah i can see going that route but I dont think I could do any work to my bass, its my baby maybe try building a bass with rick pickups and slap a 24 fret neck on it or somethen.

nextcliffburton wrote:Whoops, miscounted, mine only has 20 haha, Yeah i can see going that route but I dont think I could do any work to my bass, its my baby maybe try building a bass with rick pickups and slap a 24 fret neck on it or somethen.

My 4003 was/is my baby too...having work done to it (cosmetic in my case) only made it more special to me and unique.

nextcliffburton wrote:Whoops, miscounted, mine only has 20 haha, Yeah i can see going that route but I dont think I could do any work to my bass, its my baby maybe try building a bass with rick pickups and slap a 24 fret neck on it or somethen.

I built a custom P-style half-fanned (starts with a square nut) bass when all my old injuries started haunting me a decade ago. There's a thread on it somewhere. I narrowed the string spacing so I could use an HB-1 in about the same position as a 4003 treble or a P-bass D-G segment position. Does it sound like a Rick, 4003 or 4004? No. It sounds like a P-bass with a tad more growl.

Cheap way: get a new pickguard and glue a small piece of a fingerboard to it that has been fretted. You should be good for about 2 or 3 more frets that way.

That's a good idea.
If you push the bass pup back you could get to 24. Even more if you remove it.

iiipopes wrote:

nextcliffburton wrote:Whoops, miscounted, mine only has 20 haha, Yeah i can see going that route but I dont think I could do any work to my bass, its my baby maybe try building a bass with rick pickups and slap a 24 fret neck on it or somethen.

I built a custom P-style half-fanned (starts with a square nut) bass when all my old injuries started haunting me a decade ago. There's a thread on it somewhere. I narrowed the string spacing so I could use an HB-1 in about the same position as a 4003 treble or a P-bass D-G segment position. Does it sound like a Rick, 4003 or 4004? No. It sounds like a P-bass with a tad more growl.

Cheap way: get a new pickguard and glue a small piece of a fingerboard to it that has been fretted. You should be good for about 2 or 3 more frets that way.

That's a greeeaaattt product idea!

We could call it "Addafret" or "Fret Some More" or "Fretty Krueger" or...

jingle_jangle wrote:

iiipopes wrote:

nextcliffburton wrote:Whoops, miscounted, mine only has 20 haha, Yeah i can see going that route but I dont think I could do any work to my bass, its my baby maybe try building a bass with rick pickups and slap a 24 fret neck on it or somethen.

I built a custom P-style half-fanned (starts with a square nut) bass when all my old injuries started haunting me a decade ago. There's a thread on it somewhere. I narrowed the string spacing so I could use an HB-1 in about the same position as a 4003 treble or a P-bass D-G segment position. Does it sound like a Rick, 4003 or 4004? No. It sounds like a P-bass with a tad more growl.

Cheap way: get a new pickguard and glue a small piece of a fingerboard to it that has been fretted. You should be good for about 2 or 3 more frets that way.

That's a greeeaaattt product idea!

We could call it "Addafret" or "Fret Some More" or "Fretty Krueger" or...

Stick to your day job, Paul.

jingle_jangle wrote:We could call it "Addafret" or "Fret Some More" or "Fretty Krueger" or...

Who let him out?

jingle_jangle wrote:We could call it "Addafret" or "Fret Some More" or "Fretty Krueger" or...

It's been done. Some European makers, including Lavigne of Paris, used to inset frets directly into the top of the guitar before the idea of the fretboard with a tongue extending to the soundhole was developed.