Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Has anyone seen any of the thin 425 bridge/baseplates floating about lately?

I could shoot myself for getting rid of the one I had. I have a trashed out '64 615, and when I got it I really only needed it for the parts it came with at the time. The neck was snapped off just above the heel(It WAS a neck thru, lol), but that's been repaired and dowelled and is super strong now and is not a viable resale thing I feel.

I feel like doing something with it, so I wanted to turn it into a 425ish(I know the neck is slightly higher on the 615 to the body than the 425 was but I can make due), and then I could actually make something usable out of what's left here of it.

The only thing I'd need for it would be that bridge. I could buy a bigsby compensated one and modify it to look close and work, but i'd rather use a ric one if I can find one.

I know it's kind of a shame to not turn it back into a 615, but it would cost way too much to do that and i wouldn't need it for playing as I've already got a '60 450, a modified and rebuilt 325v63 w/vintage parts and an almost rebuilt 325v59 w/ vintage parts too, whereas a 425 would be cool to kick around and maybe use as a backup for Beatles trib stuff too.

-Jeff

Hey there Jeff,

I have a 450 that I'm refurbishing; I think it and the 425 share the same bridge assembly. Anyway, I looked and looked for it but no one seems to have it at all, or express any hope of finding one in the foreseeable future. I went for Bigsby/Tune-O-Matic instead. Not ideal, but second best in my opinion.

Best of luck,
Seth

Seth,

Thanks. I've been told they're discontinued and that Rickenbacker has been out of them for a while from the dealers I've spoken with.

I've already made a replica of the bottom plate, so I'll just use a spare Tune-o-matic I've got here and that should work fine.

Jeff: If you have the baseplate why not use a standard 6 string RIC bridge on top of it.

Peter,
I could, but I don't have any of those spare, and I've got about 6 or 7 of the tune-o-matic styles ones lying in my parts boxes. The other thing is that I kinda like the idea of a thinner looking bridge, and the tune-o-matic would be closer visually in thickness to the regular 425 ones.

My '60 450 has the reg Ric one, and it's nice on that one, but as of right now I might use one of these for at least the time being. I've got someother projects I need to finish off first, including my 325 rebuild which is about 76 percent done then I'll finishing putting this one back in some order of assemblance.