Chuck's "Ricken-Ripper" mash-up build!

Okay, another one! This one has been around for quite a while. I started making it after my first ever build about six years ago but somehow got busy and never finished.

The body is modelled on a Rickenbacker 4001. The thing is, I’ve never like the upper rear bout of that shape, so I rounded it off in my version – it’s kind of a cross between a Rick front end and a Gibson Ripper backend! It’s made from two pieces of rock maple (front and back) with a pine (yep, pine!) core. The idea was that a fully solid maple body would have weighed a ton, but this way I was able to rout out a fair chunk of pine in the middle to keep it light. I bought the MM-style pickup so long ago I can’t remember what it is, and originally I was thinking about a mini pickguard...
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... but then I made a maple cover for it and decided I wanted to do away with knobs entirely and wire the pickup directly to the jack (I may need to experiment with capacitors to avoid it being too hot but this will be a simple one indeed!). I also have a Mighty Mite maple J-bass neck for it. And that’s where I kinda stopped.
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Yesterday I got cracking again - it was a building kinda day. First step was to take all the tools out on to the deck and to get the neck on.
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I need to do a bit of fixing around the neck pocket – it’s a fraction wide so I’ll glue in some shims and then sand back to fit but I decided to forge ahead and screw it in place so I could I drill and mount the bridge. I also needed to do a bit of work around the heel to make the shape flow a bit better. With that done I set to routing the pickup cavity. I made a template and measured things up.
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It worked really nicely – given I haven’t used the router in anger for a while. I also drilled a hole to connect a ground for the bridge - although I had to do it twice as I screwed up the first time!
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The final bit of woodworking was to drill a jack hole. I couldn't remember where the cavities were but I know now! I hit one with the first part of drilling and then switched to a smaller drill bit to get to the pickup cavity. It might take a bit of work to get the wiring to find it's way through when I get to that stage, but we'll see what happens.
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So with all the woodworking done I set to sanding… and sanding… and sanding… going from 60 to 120 to 240 to 320 to 400! At that point I did a Timbermate fill, let it dry, and then sanded back with 400. I’m going Tru-oil with this one but using a different approach to previous efforts (it does seem there are many ways to achieve a result with Tru-oil – it seems to be pretty forgiving!). I got some 400 grit and dipped it in some Tru-oil and slowly started applying it.
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And that’s where I finished the day. Next step will be to using 800 grit with the same approach, and then 1200. I’ll see how it’s looking then before working out what to do next!

Plug and play, I like it.

Keep it clean and simple, nice! Great work Chuck.

Over the past couple of weeks I kept going with tru-oil to the point where I was happy with the finish – probably about 10-12 coats. I then went back to finishing up the Telemaster build, which was good in that it gave the tru-oil some good curing time. Once I went back to it I first wet-sanded it very lightly with some 2000 grit and then went to work with Meguiers cutting compound and swirl remover and ended up with a nice shine. It’s not exactly mirror like, but close enough.

With everything ready to roll for assembly I put the logo on the headstock (I decided to call it the "Maplecaster"), and mounted up the tuners and bridge. I had to shave the pickup cover down a bit to get it to fit and cut away a couple of sections to let it sit nicely in the pickup cavity. I did the very simple wiring – remember, this is pickup direct to output jack – and nervously plugged it in. All I can say is wow! There’s a really great raw sound to it, especially as I put roundwound strings on it (Every other bass I own has flatwounds). It’s really bright and punchy. The only downside is that it still weighs a fair bit so I reckon it’ll be a studio/seated-only kind of instrument – in fact I probably won’t even put strap buttons on it!

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wow sweet and clean. Very nice

now THAT is minimalist!

Like it. Simple and clean and visually pleasing

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Very nice, mapley goodness.

Love it!! That is such a good idea, and you could use a volume pedal if you find some sort of control is warranted - nice work!!