Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all.

Just wanted to share with you the amazing work my friend Amanda did in transforming my Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo bass guitar into a one-off Paul McCartney "Magical Mystery Tour" special. Here are a couple of the work in progress shots she took during the transformation process.

I would love to hear your feedback.

Thanks,
Rob

Very cool. What are you doing on the back of the body? McCartney's was white. When I had my C64 done by Paul W, he did the back of mine in an amber fireglo. It came out very nice.

simer4001 wrote:Very cool. What are you doing on the back of the body? McCartney's was white. When I had my C64 done by Paul W, he did the back of mine in an amber fireglo. It came out very nice.

I've never seen any pics of the back of McCartney's bass...anywhere.

This is a nice job, but did you paint over the binding?

simer4001 wrote:Very cool. What are you doing on the back of the body? McCartney's was white. When I had my C64 done by Paul W, he did the back of mine in an amber fireglo. It came out very nice.

I left it in its natural state. I love the original finish and wanted to try to maintain as much of it as possible. I had it painted up to the seams on the side.

JakeK wrote:

simer4001 wrote:Very cool. What are you doing on the back of the body? McCartney's was white. When I had my C64 done by Paul W, he did the back of mine in an amber fireglo. It came out very nice.

I've never seen any pics of the back of McCartney's bass...anywhere.

This is a nice job, but did you paint over the binding?

I may have answered your question in my previous response but being a drummer who is not too hip on bass guitar lingo, I'm not sure.

Very cool! I like it with the full inlays!

Jake, here is a picture of the back of McCartney's MMT. Not great quality, but the color is clearly white.

Wow! I had always thought he'd left the back alone, like Brian's replica. While I do get that it was the times, Macca ruined a beautiful fireglo finish. And as big of a George freak as I am, he doesn't get off easy with Rocky, either, FWIW. I do like what The Fool did to Clapton's Cream SG, though. There were too many cherry SGs out there back in '67, as far as I'm concerned!

Back on topic!

Robber Soul wrote:

JakeK wrote:This is a nice job, but did you paint over the binding?

I may have answered your question in my previous response but being a drummer who is not too hip on bass guitar lingo, I'm not sure.

It appears that the binding was painted over. It's all right, though, the finish wouldn't make sense with shiny white binding sticking out. Would be too much of an eyesore.

There was a point in time when I would have loved a MMT paint job on a Ric bass. Now, with a little age, I appreciate a lovely fireglo finish.

Great job on the paint! She's a very talented and detail oriented artist, that's for sure!

JakeK wrote:Wow! I had always thought he'd left the back alone, like Brian's replica. While I do get that it was the times, Macca ruined a beautiful fireglo finish. And as big of a George freak as I am, he doesn't get off easy with Rocky, either, FWIW. I do like what The Fool did to Clapton's Cream SG, though. There were too many cherry SGs out there back in '67, as far as I'm concerned!

Back on topic!

Robber Soul wrote:

JakeK wrote:This is a nice job, but did you paint over the binding?

I may have answered your question in my previous response but being a drummer who is not too hip on bass guitar lingo, I'm not sure.

It appears that the binding was painted over. It's all right, though, the finish wouldn't make sense with shiny white binding sticking out. Would be too much of an eyesore.

I always liked what The Fool did to Lennon's acoustic.

I'm in the same boat -- where did you find decent pictures of the MMT era paint job?

jayfbv wrote:I'm in the same boat -- where did you find decent pictures of the MMT era paint job?

The Hello Goodbye video promos are by far the best source.

There are several good photos of it, if you look for them.

When I painted my lefty 4001S back in the early 90s I printed out screen shots from Hello Goodbye and I Am The Walrus videos.

iamthebassman wrote:When I painted my lefty 4001S back in the early 90s I printed out screen shots from Hello Goodbye and I Am The Walrus videos.

I always liked yours, Ronn. With a bit of originality to it too.