Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

whatever finish the guy in london sprayed onto chris squire’s rm1999 that fateful day in 1970, that thing hasn’t aged a day. no cracking, no flaking, no discoloration, i haven’t seen any of it. what in the world did they use on the bass? state of the art poly? conversion varnish? definitely isn’t nitrocellulose. i’m wondering if maybe chris just kept insanely good care of the bass.

I defer to the experts but my understanding is that it was refinished multiple times over the course of its lifetime, hence why it never really looked very worn.

That's my understanding, too. A definite piece of evidence is the pickguard screw hole on the E string side at the heel of the neck that was exposed for many years after Chris reshaped the pickguard. One day, it was gone, as in filled in and the refinished.

Near where is index finger is at.
01/15/06

if it’s been refinished over the years, then what was the initial finish? does anyone know that? i know that at that time, poly was sort of a new thing for finishes. and conversion varnish is notoriously hard to deal with.

Squire's bass was originally a Fireglo "RM 1999" which was the importer's (Rose-Morris) designation. It is essentially a model 4000 with a second pickup ("Toaster Top") added along with the extra controls. We've come to know this arrangement as being a "4001S". At some point Chris applied faux binding and some fancy wallpaper to the front of it. I'm sure that didn't hold up for long. He also cracked the neck near the nut and had the instrument repaired and refinished in cream. I think it was refinished at least once more, likely several times, but always kept in the cream finish.

i meant the initial finish of cream, that was probably given around 1970.

This is just my personal opinion about the Sam Li cream refinish we all associate with Chris’s RM.

To begin with Chris said in an interview that when he finally decided to get the RM cleaned up and resprayed in (late 1970?) Sam told him “no more wallpaper!” which implies that Sam had done some previous repairs and was basically warning him off wrecking the bass for good.
(Looking at video footage of Yes in Paris from 1969 you can see a clamp of sorts on the root of the headstock indicating a break or warp which was later repaired presumably by Sam Li)
By ‘69 the RM had wallpaper (and sticky tape around the edge imitating binding) on the body and headstock and also what appears to be white paint on the rear of the neck indicating some refinishing over the Fireglo by that stage.
Sam Li was well known for repairs and resprays and was involved with working on Peter Green’s Les Paul which probably reinforced his credentials as the ‘go to’ repairman.
Not wanting to “have a pop” here at our American friends but there is a tendency for Americans to overestimate the disposable income of us Brits in the ‘60s and ‘70s so when it comes to an emerging act like Yes (who were not selling many records and didn't have any real interest in the singles market so they were only known in “underground” music circles) the band were on the verge of losing their deal with Atlantic and money was very tight . (In later interviews Bill Brufford complained about the amount of band money Chris spent on gear in those early years). I mention this because every so often someone sees Chris’s RM with his wallpaper disaster job and asks “is that a different bass?” assuming Yes had money to just buy another expensive American guitar any time they liked.Remember the specification for the RM was for a cheaper bass than the deluxe 4001 which was considered too expensive to compete with Fender and Gibson innthe UK. Even The Who were in debt over their gear breakages and they sold hit records.
So by 1970 Chris needed a good affordable refinish plus having probably over spent band money buying a 21 fret 4001 as a backup bass while the RM was suffering from neck trouble he also discovered Ric-O-Sound using the 4001 and had the RM made “stereo”.
Pause for a moment now to look at Chris’s Fender Telecaster Bass. This bass had a second pickup and was really popular with Chris who liked the look feel and sound (listen to South Side Of The Sky on Fragile) of it and used it extensively (I saw him use it on several songs on the Yes Album tour) until he bought his Jazz Bass.
The finish on the Tele Bass? Cream.
I’m convinced that Chris was after a similar colour finish to the Tele Bass and Sam Li mixed the colour himself.
Chris said that the colour didnt quite look like he expected it to when he saw the finished bass in one interview which to me implies that he was expecting a more translucent Fender Blonde finish. Also the Fender is made from Ash whereas the Rickenbacker is Maple so that may have given Sam a different more solid coloured end result.
( I used to own Maurice Gibbs RM and I would guess that it too was a Sam Li respray less glossy though with a rather flat non clear top coat finish).
The Sam Li paint job definitely didnt have a clear coat like the 4001CS which would have discoloured with handling.
Chris’s bass was further refinished in the same (Devon Clotted Cream is the name of the CS colour btw) cream style over the years judging by the photos taken since 1970.
And thats my two penneth for you.

Compare a ‘72 Blonde Telecaster to Chris’s RM colour.

Devonshire Creamglo?

pag wrote: Tue Feb 01, 2022 6:39 pmChris’s bass was further refinished in the same (Devon Clotted Cream is the name of the CS colour btw)

DCCGlo! Nice to finally know its "official" (not by Rickenbacker, though) color name.

https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/clotted-cream/

For what its worth, I saw YES in Kettering, Ohio during the "Symphonic" tour back maybe 2000-2001.? It was an outdoor show and my wife and I had really nice seats, very close to the stage, and on Chris's side.

His bass tech came out with his RM before the show, flipped the bass over to plug it in to check tuning, and when he did I was amazed at how much belt buckle rash it had on the backside. I'd never seen it before in pics, and looking at the photos of it recently, I'd have to say its been redone since then.

The best YES concert I'd ever seen. The weather was perfect, and the sound guy really did his job that night. Production was spot on.

The more I look at the Fender Blonde finishes the more I am convinced that that was what Chris and Sam were aiming for. Regarding what type of paint Sam used..its anyones guess but one would have to look at what suitable mixtures of spray paints would have been available in the London of 1970. Car/coach paints would be the obvious choices.

pag wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:14 pm The more I look at the Fender Blonde finishes the more I am convinced that that was what Chris and Sam were aiming for. Regarding what type of paint Sam used..its anyones guess but one would have to look at what suitable mixtures of spray paints would have been available in the London of 1970. Car/coach paints would be the obvious choices.

Something like this?

jps wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:45 am

pag wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 4:14 pm The more I look at the Fender Blonde finishes the more I am convinced that that was what Chris and Sam were aiming for. Regarding what type of paint Sam used..its anyones guess but one would have to look at what suitable mixtures of spray paints would have been available in the London of 1970. Car/coach paints would be the obvious choices.

Something like this?

Jaguar XKE.jpg

Schwing!

Well you never know. Car respray paints would have been readily available through garages and auto spares companies. The paint would have had to have been affordable and quick to apply and dry with money and time being tight. Never underestimate how “cottage industry” and “garden shed” this kind of work would have been in the UK in 1970.