RC-4 Stuarts project

[stuzl873213]

thanks Simon

[wazkelly]

Hi Buddy, not sure if you have glued yet but the mock up tended to suggest the neck was too deep into the body to cause scratch plate to look so out of place. There is a bit of real estate available behind the bridge PUP to assist with correct placement as you may only need to shift things north by about 3mm - 4mm perhaps.

Bummer with the tuners. As Simon suggested have you tried them all in different spots? On my Ric 4001 the Tuners wound in the opposite direction to what you normally expect, which is top side turned away and bottom set turned towards you where the Riccy was opposite. Strings still went around posts the correct way and just put it down to another odd Rickenbacker quirk. Thankfully my 4003 is setup normally but it is only one of 2 Basses I have with 2 a side tuners whereas all others are inline ones.

[stuzl873213]

Not glued the neck yet. Found a simpler solution, indent the neck into the scratch plate.

Bit loath to move the neck forward (to position it a bit like a real Rick) as:
a) There is not a lot of surface are to apply glue to, don't want to lose any more
b) neck is pretty sloppy so I would anchor it to the body at the back of the cutout.
c) not finished the neck all the way, if I moved it forward it would expose bare wood
d) already anchored the bridge

[Simon Barden]

If it's that sloppy I'd be looking at gluing some thin veneer to at least one side of the pocket. I'd prefer the joint to be pretty good mechanically first with the glue just making the joint stronger, than 100% relying on the glue.

[stuzl873213]

Have been considering it, but think may have enough surface area to get a good bond, will only really know once the glue is on--need to make my mind up quickly at that stage. Think is may be climate related as when it was unpacked the neck was quite tight, got sloppier since.

[wazkelly]

Does the pick guard slide under the end of the fret board as that is quite common on lots of guitars and maybe there lies your solution.

[Marcel]

I know you pain Stulz. I had a similar issue on my RCM-4F build with there being not a lot of wood contact area between the neck and the body. Luckily on mine the fretboard was in the right spot for the guard to sit correctly when the neck was fully inserted, but between delivery and assembly the join had become significantly looser. It was still snug but quite loose that overall it gave me the impression that there would be nil mechanical strength and I would be relying entirely on the glue to maintain the integrity of the joint.

As a remedy, in an effort to 'increase' the surface area of the join I took to both the neck and the body with stanley knife and scored some moderately deep gouges that followed the grain on all the contact areas. Not to many, just a few, enough that the raised edges of the gouges made the neck fit tight enough to hold the bodies full weight moderately firm. Firm enough that without any glue I could manoeuvre the build on my bench and the two wouldn't just fall apart. The gouges also serve a secondary function as tiny reservoirs for the glue to solidify in thus hopefully increasing the overall strength of the joint.

On my build Waz where the fretboard stops there is a vertical drop down to the heel, and the guard sits hard up against that vertical drop.... there is nil fretboard overhang.... just a fraction of exposed neck wood above the guard that also needed staining and clear coating.

[stuzl873213]

Thanks Gents.
As Marcel says the Pick Guard abuts the fretboard.

I had considered forming high points on the neck by drilling a few small hole on the mating side of the neck, even considered adding a couple of dowels. However looking for guidance on the Internet the thoughts there was that the mating surfaces should be smooth.

Marcel approx how many and how deep were the gouges you made.

Very little mating surface on the side of the neck on theses RC4s

If all else fails could end up screwing the neck on :O

[stuzl873213]

Marcel

Looking at your build your JB Pup looks to be is a different position from mine, Also your neck looks different, the tuners fit on yours.

I sometimes wonder about the Quality Control on these kits.

[Marcel]

They weren't that deep Stuzl, and yeah, there isn't much holding that neck to the body.

There were about 6 to 10 diagonal cuts on every mating surface that were at best maybe 0.5mm deep along the length of the mating surfaces and angled (with the blade leaning at 45 degrees) to create a wave like ridge on one side of each cut. Most of the original flat mating surfaces were left in a raw unsealed and un-sanded state.The tiny ridges created by the cuts simply tightened up the joint. TightBond original glue (Red bottle) was then used to set the joint. I also made sure that sufficient glue was applied to ensure the cuts/grooves were entirely filled. The idea being that when set there would be a kind of semi-random array or mesh type array of beams of solid glue which crossed over each other that hopefully hold the joint firmer than a completely flat layer of glue between two flat surfaces..

My JB route was done by Dingobass as an extra before it left the PBG wharehouse. As the original kit was a rejected special order for someone else it didn't have a bridge PU position routed, and for reasons unknown the neck inlays are not what is typical on a RC build but are only simple dots so it's no surprise that the neck and headstock are slightly different to yours...