Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So...Is checkerboard binding still made with the alternating black&white binding, or is it...printed on in some way?

In the "4003 New Features for 2022" thread, there's a picture of the binding.

aceonbass wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 12:27 am So...Is checkerboard binding still made with the alternating black&white binding, or is it...printed on in some way?

Printed on!? That's a new one

Same as ever and we ain't running out of it any time soon.

(And no, NOT going to be a standard feature on the 4003)

Not sure why the site insists on posting these photos sideways but oh well...

Ben, no matter which way you look at it, checkered binding is a good thing. Thanks for your post!

RIC_FACTORY wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 2:14 pm Not sure why the site insists on posting these photos sideways but oh well...

I don't think it is site-specific. I have seen this kind of this (sideways photos) on several sites; most likely, something to do with metadata, perhaps?

It is exceedingly difficult to scrape right to the edge where the thin checkered binding meets the wood all the way around a guitar without the razor taking a tiny bit of the paint off of the body too. When this happens it exposes a little sliver of the wood underneath and has to be reworked. If we were doing one or two a day, sure, but not the dozen or more we normally do in a day when these come through.

Remember, it is all done by hand too. In fact, the same lady has scraped every CB model we've put out for the past 25 years and I bet you have even seen her name written inside some of your Ricks.

For the record, this is not a new phenomenon. I specifically remember talking to Gary Clauson about this exact same thing years ago at NAMM.

On MG this is obviously not an issue.

Long live checkerboard! Nice big boxes too.

I've always assumed they were laminated B&W pieces, right?

Ben, the reason I ask this question is that there are a couple of morons over at TalkBass perpetuating the idea that checkered binding is now printed on, based on an online photo of a current walnutglo 4003. Another member has shown a photo of a section of binding on his CB 4003 that he was able to scratch a little off of one checker where it turned white, supposedly proving it to be some kind of printing. I have a 4003MG CB I bought a couple of years ago, and it looks authentic to me, but after being called a "fanboy" by the Cretan that started all this, I thought I'd pose the question here. I would have contacted you directly, but all of my emails and contact info have been deleted here.

aceonbass wrote: Mon Apr 25, 2022 9:05 pm Ben, the reason I ask this question is that there are a couple of morons over at TalkBass perpetuating the idea that checkered binding is now printed on, based on an online photo of a current walnutglo 4003. Another member has shown a photo of a section of binding on his CB 4003 that he was able to scratch a little off of one checker where it turned white, supposedly proving it to be some kind of printing. I have a 4003MG CB I bought a couple of years ago, and it looks authentic to me, but after being called a "fanboy" by the Cretan that started all this, I thought I'd pose the question here. I would have contacted you directly, but all of my emails and contact info have been deleted here.

Lol, that is wild. One of the more interesting conspiracy theories I've heard.

Hi Ben,

Any chance to see those CB basses in Europe?

Thanks,

Fanboy!?? I think I'd wear that moniker proudly!! Sometimes dealing with folks like that can be like casting pearls before the swine.... they just trample them into the mud.

How about pinstripe binding? RIC used to do pinstripe on Jetglo from time to time coupled with black guards, and I've always liked that look, even more than checkerboard.

(And no, NOT going to be a standard feature on the 4003)

I've been out of the "new" loop for a while.
Are there any bass models with this?

Fun fact: The last time we actually bought the checkered binding was in 2014. Those boxes in the pic I posted? Yeah, they got here to the factory 8 years ago. I reckon we have enough of it to last another 90 years too

And I don't plan on using it on a certain 4000 Series kinda reissue that might be revealed within the next few months or so