LeftyBassist.com

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

This is gonna look really nice!

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.

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!

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.

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

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!

fivebass52 wrote: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

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.

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...

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

Absolutely brilliant!

That’s killer

Now that’s fantastic! Great work!