Rickenbacker clone

[BlueTalon]

This isn't a Warmoth build, but I thought people here might be interested.  A friend of mine is an old luthier who is retiring in a year or so, and I talked him into doing a couple of builds for me.  I think only one of them might get done before he hangs it up, but that one is going to be spectacular!


He has done hundreds (thousands?) of guitars in his lifetime, but few basses, and never a Rickenbacker style.  I have a 4001 that he used as a template to make his own templates.  One obvious difference between this one and any other Rick bass is that mine will have a bolt-on neck, with a standard Fender-style neck pocket.  It turns out that a Fender Jazz neck is only 1/4" wider at 2 1/2" than the Rick neck is at 2 1/4" at the neck pocket.  (Part of the goal was to have an exact reproduction of the Rickenbacker 4001 neck dimensions, but that was an easy compromise.)  Since it's not going to be a neck-through, if it's going to be detachable, I want it to be standardized in case I ever need to replace the neck. 


The neck's construction is laminated cherry wood-bubinga-cherry wood, with a figured bubinga fretboard and no inlays.  It will have a veneer on the peghead to match the body.  The body will be chambered mahogany with a zebra wood top.  It will have a tummy cut, and all the edges will be radiused 1/4" except for the areas where my arm and fingers will come in contact when playing -- those will be radiused 1/2".


The humble beginning:

 

[BlueTalon]

And the first bit of progress:

 

[BlueTalon]

This bass will have all black hardware, including Hipshot tuners with 1/2" posts and a Hipshot Rickenbacker-replacement bridge.  The finish will be clear coat, but with black around the edge.  (Clear-burst, for lack of a better description.)  It will have three black Q-Tuner pickups, with black knobs in a VVVTT arrangement (my favorite Turnstyle Switch is one of the "T"s, giving me almost unlimited flexibility.)  DR Black Beauty strings will put the finishing touch on it.

Having gotten this far into the build, my luthier friend is as excited about it as I am.  I selected the wood types, but he selected the individual pieces by tapping on them and listening for their tonal response.  The body pictured above has unusual resonance in different frequencies depending on where you tap.  He told me the neck (which I haven't seen yet) is the same way. 

So I saw him a couple days ago to drop off some parts and some money.  We talked for a while, after he expressed his excitement about this project, I asked him, "Be honest, when I first proposed this idea to you, did you think I was nuts?"  He replied in the affirmative.  But he has a lot of respect for me as a player, and he has seen two of my basses on which I had a creative impact and has a lot of respect for them as well, so he didn't let the nutsiness of the proposal dissuade him from taking it on. 

 

[AirCap]

Should be kewl.

 

[DangerousR6]

Pretty cool, I like the grain on the top.... :icon_thumright:

 

[BlueTalon]

You know, it saddens me a bit to think that Warmoth has never offered a Rickenbacker-esque bass body.  I know they stopped doing Gibson bodies and started offering Gibson-esque replacements -- they could do something similar with Rickenbacker-type bass bodies, and I think they could sell quite a lot of them.  I know I would have bought a few by now.

 

[Logrinn]

Very cool. The 4001 model is a classic. I really like that particular body shape. :icon_thumright:

 

[AirCap]

The 4001 model is a classic.

My first GOOD bass was a 4001. Maple-Glo. This is way back in the mid-70's. Played a lotta gigs with that thing.

 

[rgand]

Very cool. That's a beautiful piece of wood. Looking forward to seeing it done.

 

[mayfly]

You know, it saddens me a bit to think that Warmoth has never offered a Rickenbacker-esque bass body.  I know they stopped doing Gibson bodies and started offering Gibson-esque replacements -- they could do something similar with Rickenbacker-type bass bodies, and I think they could sell quite a lot of them.  I know I would have bought a few by now.

Well, for a very short period of time, they DID!  I noticed an ad in Guitar player for the warmoth Rick bodies.  As soon as I saw it I phoned to place an order... and then was told (by a very sad sounding sales person) that the Rick parts were no longer available. 

I was never told this, but I'm sure the big W got a C&D order from the big R.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

That grain is awesome, a clear-to-black burst will be perfect, can't wait to see it!

 

[swarfrat]

I don't know if R ever sent an actual letter, but I heard there was a horse head in someone's bed.

 

[BlueTalon]

I just got a call from my luthier friend.  The radius and the tummy cut has been done, and next week the pickup routes will happen.