Rebuilding my 77 Rickenbacker

[Grant]

Hi all,
I know I'm going to upset the purists amongst you but I'm completely restoring a 1977 lefty Rickenbacker 4001 I bought. These are really hard to find in Australia and I paid $1500 USD for this one but it had a deep crack in the timber at the back and needed to be repaired plus it was missing some of the hardware, screws, covers etc.

This is how i got it but i didn't get any photos of the back.

[Grant]

So in order to repair it the Luthier had to completely strip it down to bare timber.

[Grant]

Then they had to heat the offending joint to breakdown the glue and remove the section to clean it up prior to re-gluing.

[Grant]

And now i had to pick the color to paint it. I have enough black basses and i know there are some that will say keep the color original but I really liked the Turquoise so i decided to go with that. I didn't have a bass or sample to go by and I wasn't able to get the exact spec for the paint and all the photos I could find it looked different in all of them. So I selected a color from the samples from the paint supplier and had to guess on the outcome when including 50% fine metal flake. But I think it will come out ok.
This is the first coat.

[Grant]

This is the second coat and with a pearl pickguard I had made for it. It still needs sanding and another coat plus 3 coats of clear.

[Grant]

So let me know what you think so far. I should have it finished within about 2 weeks and will add to this thread with the finished item.
Altogether it will cost me about $2500 USD that is including all the missing parts i had to buy.
I don't know if that is a lot in the States but as they are so rare here it is not too bad and according to the Luthier should be worth around $5600 USD here even if I have changed the color.

[tim]

I don't know about value, but it's shaping up to be a beauty!

[paulo]

This is gonna look really nice!

[Grant]

Thanks guys I'm not so much worried about what it is worth once it is finished but I would be interested in how much a refurbished 77 Rick would cost in the States. Like i said this will cost me about 2.5K USD finished and it should look and feel like showroom condition. Just wondering if I have paid too much.

[fivebass52]

This is from Reverb.com... https://reverb.com/price-guide/guide/63 ... 977-jetglo ... considering the work you had to do to it, your final cost is "in the ball park"... looking forward to the final pictures... enjoy!

[donahue]

Wow! What a great bass and story. Thanks for sharing the photos of the progress. I love these threads. That bass is going to look so slick with the turquoise and white binding!

IMO I don't think any of us in the States could buy a lefty Ric, get a intensive repair done and have it refinished for much less than you paid, so I'd say you're doing quite well.

[Grant]

Thanks fivebass that looks like mine before restoration and i paid $1500 USD at that point

[fivebass52]

It's interesting you say there was a crack in the back... when you look at the paint that's still on the "wing" after separating it from the neck, the conclusion I come to; the wing wasn't planed properly, it wasn't able to be completely, and 100% glued to the neck, and that's why you see paint-bleed on it. You've just corrected a factory default!

[Grant]

It's interesting you say there was a crack in the back... when you look at the paint that's still on the "wing" after separating it from the neck, the conclusion I come to; the wing wasn't planed properly, it wasn't able to be completely, and 100% glued to the neck, and that's why you see paint-bleed on it. You've just corrected a factory default!

Well thats possible but someone had tried to hide the crack with what looked like a black epoxy so it could be that that leached into the wood........or maybe i should have sent it back for repair under warranty

[Grant]

Well after all this time it's finally ready and in my hands tell me what you guys think.

It has 50% fine metal flake in it but unfortunately it doesn't show its true beauty in the photos. The best picture that shows it off is the one of the headstock.

I think i'll look for a white truss cover to replace the black.

[fivebass52]

Wow, that turned out great! As far as replacing the original Ricky truss rod cover - I'd say try to have the scratches buffed out... it' a nice contrast to the paint, and goes with your thumb rest...

[bobjones2260]

Holy Cow, that looks Amazing! Congrats! Just an Amazing Color! I would agree keep the Black Truss Rod cover.

[tim]

Absolutely brilliant!

[Matt R.]

That’s killer

[NoXX]

Now that’s fantastic! Great work!