Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I had my '04 Cii,which i've owned for almost 8 years now,defretted this last week when i chanced to go to Portland for a mini vacation. The shop that did the work (the 12th Fret) was recommended by Mark Walker and Joseph Starost. They replaced the frets with strips of maple,so the stripes are still visible,but somewhat subtle looking. The "planing" of the fingerboard lightened the color of the wood,and brought out a lot of nice figuring details. I had a new set of Labella 750C Copper White Nylon Tapewounds installed with a nice low action. The bass plays super easy,and sounds great. I am really pleased,And hoping that i get better at playing fretless,since this bass was already one i enjoyed using.
Here's a close up of the work.....

Looks great Woody.

Congrats.

What finish is your cii?

It's Mapleglo,and i may be kidding myself, but i think it may be ambering a bit.

sweet man! Congrats!!! I have been toying with doing something like that... maybe next year....?????

That appears to be some first rate work. Enjoy!

Captain Bob wrote:That appears to be some first rate work. Enjoy!

They did a great job! I even took my Ci in when i went to pick up the Cii,and had them do a set up on it,since i only swapped out strings on it when i bought it back in July. It plays very well now.

Nice job, ol' Woody!

If my Ruby Laredo does not sell soon, I may go down the fretless route with it.

The maple/walnut/maple sandwiched body looks delicious.

Did Dane rewire this one, or is it stock?

rickyfricky wrote:The maple/walnut/maple sandwiched body looks delicious.

I know!

Did Dane rewire this one, or is it stock?

This one,(like all 3 of my 4004's) has been equipped with a new wiring harness from Dane. It's set up VVT,with 500k push-pull pots on both volumes to individually coil tap each pickup. I find it to be very versatile,and easy to use,and the new pots and capacitor really seem to bring out more from the HB1s.

jps wrote: If my Ruby Laredo does not sell soon, I may go down the fretless route with it.

You should! Then,You might even want to toss those other fretlesses of yours.....

You may not have to defret yours,i figure now that i've finally done mine,RIC will be coming out with their fretless 4004 anyday.....

woodyng wrote:It's Mapleglo,and i may be kidding myself, but i think it may be ambering a bit.

It is getting a very rich glow. I don't think that "kidding".

I took the bass to band practice Monday night,and played it exclusively for about 3 hours....i had to dial in a less gritty setting on the VT,but man-o-man,it sounded sweet! The Labella's have a lot of definition ,zing,and even thump to them,but sound pretty warm,especially compared to my fretless Carvin (piezo only). REALLY loving the ease of playability with the lack of frets,as well as the new lowered action. Woot!