Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello. This is my first post on your forum. I'm 54 years old and have been playing Ric basses since I was 16 years old. Currently I use a '79 that started out white but has turned to that creamy yellow with black guards and binding. Now on to my question. I've not seen a new Ric bass for a while but in the photos I've seen it looks as though the pickguards have a weird shape on the outside edge as it heads down toward the toggle and controls. It doesn't seem to have that graceful flow that followed the body shape but instead has a bulge or "potato" shape. Does anyone know if the new models will accept a replacement guard in the original shape, or has the control cavity been routed differently and be exposed if I tried this? I realise the newer models contain the push-pull pot, but that is not near the area I'm talking about so why the new pickguard shape?

Welcome to the fun, and I'm sure a smarter person will come and answer your question!

We all love seeing pictures of classic Rics, so post a couple of the '79 if you can.

What style of music to you like to play?

Rick is somewhat notorious for subtle changes to body shape and pickguard config over the years. Pickguardian has a line of really good replacement pickguards, his website has downloadable full-size templates of a few of the more common variants. I cheaped out and bought an Allparts replacement pickguard, big mistake, the neck pickup hole is slightly too narrow for current production Rick high-gain pickups. The neck pickup position relative to end of fingerboard changed spacing too, with the newer ones being farther from the fingerboard. I don't think the control cavity route has changed enough to matter, but I could be wrong there. The cavity rout has also varied a lot over the years.
http://www.pickguardian.com/options/templates/

You can have a custom guard made in the shape of a 4001 guard (no bulge) but with holes drilled to fit a 4003. I had a guard like this made by Tony at Pickguardian. I had to send in a tracing to get this done. If you're interested I can send you a scan of my tracing. My guard was done in 60s style with a very narrow gap between the guard and the bridge pickup surround, but the tracing could easily be modified to a 1970s shape.

Out of curiosity, I looked through the register to see if I could figure out when the "potato" bulge first appeared on 4003 pickguards. It looks like it occurred around April 1997. The change coincides, not coincidentally it would seem, with a subtle change to the position of the control knobs. Prior to March 1997, the knobs were are not quite aligned in even rows. After 1997 things became more orderly. The bass volume knob was moved a bit closer to the edge of the body, so that all four knobs were more or less the same distance from one another. I am guessing that the control cavity was made a bit larger to accommodate the new placement, and this necessitated a larger guard with the now familiar bulge. Perhaps someone else can confirm this.

Here is 4003 from March 1997 with the smaller pickguard and uneven spacing of knobs.

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

And here is a 4003 from April 1997 with the bulge and the realigned knobs:

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

Yes, but on many of the much older Rics the knobs were aligned straight (proportionally) like the newer versions, yet did not have the goofy pickguards. The Squire model and V63's and S's have straight control layouts but do not have the weird pickguards so I must ask... has anyone with a new model that has the new shape pickguard successfully installed an earlier version without having the control cavity routing visible because the older (re: graceful) guard does not completely cover the cavity? Can anyone who has a newer model remover it to confirm this?

Prior to ordering my custom pickguard for my 4003 I asked Tony at Pickguardian whether he could simply take a 4001 pickguard blank and drill holes in it to fit a 4003. He told me that a 4001 guard will not cover the holes on a 4003. So, unfortunately, even if the guard covers the control cavity it is likely there will still be exposed screw-holes.

RIC calls it the "double hump" pickguard. And yes, it's ugly, on an otherwise gorgeous looking bass.

RIC calls it the pickguard. Others have dubbed it the "double hump." I don't find it objectionable. It is what it is.

Borrowed this pic of a '71 4001 to point out what I think our brains find attractive about the old pickguard shape.
It's all the subtly parallel lines, IMO. Pleasing to that part of our grey matter that likes order.

Bigbajo
I see your point on the parallel lines, never noticed that before. Oddly enough, I like the second "hump", go figure. Chalk it up to the charm of what was, until the advent of CNC, very much a hand-made instrument with a lot of quirks depending on who put them together. It seems like Pickguardian could make something the OP will like if he sends them a tracing of the existing body and screw-hole locations. Having to fill screw holes would be a drag.

When I asked Tony to make me two pickguards for my '08 4003 I left the bass with him to use as a guide for getting everything just right.

bigbajo60 wrote:Borrowed this pic of a '71 4001 to point out what I think our brains find attractive about the old pickguard shape.
It's all the subtly parallel lines, IMO. Pleasing to that part of our grey matter that likes order.

As correctly pointed out by "a friendly voice from on high"... the area between the edge of the pickguard below the pickup switch and the edge of the body's lower bout don't exactly meet the definition of "parallel". What I was wanting to point out was the more evenly tapering spacing of that area as the arcs of the pickguard and body edge take their swooping course... which to some eyes, is interrupted by the aforementioned "hump".

bassduke49 wrote:RIC calls it the pickguard. Others have dubbed it the "double hump.

I'm pretty sure John Hall mentioned in a post here that this is how they call it. Until that post, I haven't heard this term.

I guess what I was really getting at was that it's ugly, and unless it's absolutely necessary to cover a control cavity that is larger than it used to be, it's an unnecessary change. I'm not sure why the screw hole placement would be an issue as the rest of the pickguard appears to be unchanged, and even if they did not line up precisely with a replacement they would still be covered. But I could be wrong. I have made plans to travel to Vancouver Island where I will meet with a friend who recently purchased a new 4003 Jetglow with the current pickguard. I'll have my '79 4001 with me and will be doing some comparisons and measurements. If he is willing to let me try a temporary 5 min. swap (unlikely), I'll check the whole thing, overall dimensions, screw hole alignment, distance from the outer body edge and any dissimilarity in the routing, take some photos and post my findings when I get back. It should be within the next week or two. Until then, if anyone has access to the same, see what you can determine as I would love to buy a new Jetglow, but not unless I can do something about that guard that will suit me. It may seem picky of me, but it's still a lot of dough to spend on something that I love to look at as much as play and I don't want to see that uneven guard. It bugs me. Rant over.