Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I shipped my 4003S bass to Larry Davis last week for him to begin his magic on it. This is the bass I purchased from John Walker (Lefty4001) back in March. Larry is going to modify it to close to McCartney's 1964 4001S specs, including reversing the headstock and period Fireglo finish. It hit his workbench Friday, so as he updates me, I'll update here. This is my holy grail bass, I've lusted for a Fireglo 4001S for two decades, and now I shall have one!!!

Anyway, here's the timeline photos:
As I received it


After I swapped out the pickups and knobs (and on Larry's workbench):


Here she is naked:


And to go with reversing the headstock, I tried my hand at a couple of lefty truss rod covers:

Sweet! I immediately noticed this bass is a lefty and got excited! (Ironically enough, I think this is the bass I just happened to be thinking about earlier today. I recalled that I remembered seeing a lefty S for sale here several months ago, and I wondered where it ended up! How bizarre.)

How is Larry going to reverse the headstock?

There is a lefty Fireglo 4003s for sale on Arni's site/Talkbass, located in Hungary, but I guess it's too late for that

I should post it in the sightings section.

Do keep us posted?

Lefties of the world, unite!

What Larry and I discussed for flipping the headstock is cutting the very end of the headstock perpendicular to the neck and adding material there. Then cutting the headstock parallel to the neck to add the padauk wings, finally reshaping the headstock to the larger 1964 specs. The addition to the maple center should be hidden inside the darkest part of the Fireglo burst, so it won't be noticeable.

And that Firego lefty is nice, but there's something about the 'corrected' headstocks on Ric basses that turn me off. On lefty Ric guitars, I'm good either way, but the basses need to be 'wrong way around'.

wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait

So this will basically become a lefty C64?

jdogric12 wrote:So this will basically become a lefty C64? :?:

For all intents and purposes. Waiting to purchase a lefty of a low production Ric is a pipe dream. Why wait when I can have the Maestro customize one for me?

That's going to be Badass. What's your process for making the lefty TRC? Waterslide decal over backpainting?

You know, it's a shame you didn't post a "Looking For Lefty 4000 series bass" here.
I have one you might have been interested in.
It's a Mg Lefty 4001(S) from '76 that the previous owner turned into a "McCartney Tribute" bass. In 1976 the Headstock on a Lefty is in the position you are looking for.
The owner had the headstock wings turned into the Walnut color, and added vintage knobs. The only thing they didn't do was change the current pups to vintage ones.
(I don't understand how they missed that one)

It's a cool bass in excellent condition, and, the conversion is VERY well done.

Anyway, your project sounds real exciting and I look forward to seeing it's progression. Larry's the man!!!!!!

Gilmourisgod wrote:That's going to be Badass. What's your process for making the lefty TRC? Waterslide decal over backpainting?

Yep. I tried to do it the way Ric does, Lexan, decal, paint. The only problem was the gentleman who printed the decal for me printed it forward rather then reverse, so I had to fall back on a few model car building tricks to make it work properly. Future floor acrylic is amazing for tricks like that!

Lefty4003S8 wrote:You know, it's a shame you didn't post a "Looking For Lefty 4000 series bass" here.

Anyway, your project sounds real exciting and I look forward to seeing it's progression. Larry's the man!!!!!!

I might have been a little hesitant about doi that to an older bass, but this 1993 is a great candidate that I got at a super price that left room in the budget for the conversion.

One of the details that will need to be addressed is the thicknes of the horns. They're thicker on that bass than they were in the 60's. While Larry has the bass, I'd have him cut a maple block to fill the neck pickup route tightly lengthwise, then re-route it for truss rod access and pickup location. That route going all the way to the fretboard can be problematic down the line.

Very nice to see your project underway, Brian. I hope it turns out like you're envisioning. Really cool.

And I kinda feel the same way about the headstock. I like the way my 4001 looks in that regard.

Good luck!

oh, and what Dane said.

PS.....RIC doesn't use waterslide decals on their truss rod covers. The truss rod covers are silk screened on the back, and then back painted.

aceonbass wrote:PS.....RIC doesn't use waterslide decals on their truss rod covers. The truss rod covers are silk screened on the back, and then back painted.

Big +1 on that, Dane!

Sepp

Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to silkscreen the logo with, but I do have access to guys who can print decals, so I went that route. With plenty of experience putting water slide decals on all kinds of model kits, the TRC was a snap.

Maccaguy wrote:Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to silkscreen the logo with, but I do have access to guys who can print decals, so I went that route. With plenty of experience putting water slide decals on all kinds of model kits, the TRC was a snap.

Aah, a modeler! A few of us here, too!

I used to be a modeler too Started out doing commercial airliners with my dad, then dragsters/Funny cars as a teen.

Now....I'm a MAJOR collector of vintage Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and other Diecast cars and trucks.