hello, from the usa

my name is vince and I am new to the forum. I live in southwestern Pennsylvania, USA. I recently bought the rca-4 bass kit. I received the kit in 7 days and it traveled about 11,000 miles! I have been buying, selling, and trading music equipment for 45 years. I play bass guitar in a local classic rock band. I own several Fender "p" and "j" basses, several Rickenbacker basses, and assorted other basses, also. I have just finished a restoration of an Acoustic 370/301 amp and cabinet. several of my rick basses are vintage, and I wanted to build a bass of this style. there are a few changes I will make to this kit to improve the ergonomics to my playing. I did a mock set-up of the bass as advised and found that the neck sets too high in the body cutout. I set a straight edge on the neck and placed the bridge at its location on the body and found that the bridge saddles were about 1/4inch from the straight edge. this means I will have to sand about 1/4inch of wood off of the heel [the back of the neck that fits into the body] to get the proper alignment of neck and bridge to allow for adjustments. also, I plan on contouring the front and back of the body similar to a jazz bass and some other changes that I will post and perhaps pictures, too. this will be a slow winter project. thanks to adam for answering my questions about the kit and the prompt service!

Welcome Vince, good luck with the build.

Hi Vince. Sounds like you have a good plan for your bass. Hope the build goes well.

Hey Vince, welcome aboard. I think we communicated a bit on email, so it's great to see you made it here.

Now, everyone around here knows that I'm not the one to ask ANY build questions. As a guitar builder, I make a good administrator.

Your comment about the neck heel being too high worries me. I'm sure the gang will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I have never heard of a neck heel being to high.

You sound like you really know what you're doing, however, these kits are all made by CNC, and they've made 10's of thousands of them. We alone are close to selling our 5000th kit. I just don't recall anyone having to shave down their neck heel.

Yours could be THAT ONE.

Anyhoo, my (completely unqualified) advice would be to clamp the neck, install the E and G strings (with tuners in place finger tight) and see how it all sits.

Ok, now I'll go back to administrating.

I agree with Adam ! ( on all points LOL )

Welcome Vince, There are a few people here with experience of that kit. Provide pictures so they can offer advice before you start sanding the neck heel.

Welcome aboard Vince, look forward to seeing how your plans turn out.

hey Vince. welcome, start a build diary and post plenty of pics, also try a dry fit and see how it all looks, the more pics, the more we can help. enjoy!

welcome to the forum Vince, good luck with the RCA-4 build sounds like you have a truckload of experience !

Welcome Vince.

Like the sound of your plans and presume the binding will have to go with all the contouring you have in mind? Absolutely love Ash timber for it's grain patterns and will be keenly watching to see how this develops.

ey Vince, is good to meeting you, I'm new at this forum too, is going to be fine learning from experienced musicians like you.

vince here! thanks for all the positive feedback concerning my rca-4 build. as I said, it will be a slow build thru this Pennsylvania winter. I have a table router for the body edges and a small mouse palm sander which I will use for the body contours. I tried clamping the neck as advised to check the neck/bridge alignment, and there is still about 1/4 inch difference in clearance. I will probably start by adjusting this area, then filing the fret edges and rounding the fretboard edge to give the neck that "worn in" feel, then start with the body. also, wazkelly, I like your twin revolver logo. looking forward to comments, suggestions! till next time, rock on!

Heya Vince.
Nice seeing another US builder here (I see store names I've never heard of being mentioned). I know what you mean about the cold winters. Isn't easy in the midwest this time of year either.
Best advice I can give? Patience. Hypocritical of me considering historically I'm impatient; but take it slow, don't overkill what doesn't need to be touched, and Never Settle on your build. Sky's the limit, so make it yours.

Hi Vince, interested to know what vintage Rics you have put away into storage?

I owned a 1970's Azure Blue 4001 and absolutely loved it but sadly that was sold once married and couple of kids had arrived about 25 years ago. Recently bought a 2008 Fireglo 4003 and it is even better than the 4001 I had been missing for so long. Fastest and lowest actions I have ever played on any Bass and plus their unique awesome sound too.

If I had more spare coin I would buy a 360/12 but that will just have to remain a dream for now.

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Hi Vince, interested to know what vintage Rics you have put away into storage?

I owned a 1970's Azure Blue 4001 and absolutely loved it but sadly that was sold once married and couple of kids had arrived about 25 years ago. Recently bought a 2008 Fireglo 4003 and it is even better than the 4001 I had been missing for so long. Fastest and lowest actions I have ever played on any Bass and plus their unique awesome sound too.

If I had more spare coin I would buy a 360/12 but that will just have to remain a dream for now.

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thanks for the question, wazkelly. as I said earlier, I have been buying, selling, and trading for a loooong time. to answer your question, each one of the basses has a story involved for it's purchase, but I will not delve into that now!
the rics I have in storage, a 1973 4001 maroon with checkerboard binding, a 1991 4001 chris squire model. the basses I use at gigs, a 1997 fireglo 4003, and a 2014 4003 walnut my wife bought new for me for my birthday! I also have a 1976 Ibanez copy and a mid 70's electra copy. the only ric I sold was back in the late 1980's. the neck was too wide for me and I didn't like the feel. I notice on your posts you provide plenty of pictures. what is the best format to take and send pics? I would send progress photos when i start this rca-4 build, and a group shot of the kit and some of his "American cousins". to answer you question earlier about removing the binding on the kit body, the answer is yes. the George Harrison 12 string model has been on my "bucket list" for years. once again, thanks for your comments and questions. rock on, vince.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Hi Vince, interested to know what vintage Rics you have put away into storage?

I owned a 1970's Azure Blue 4001 and absolutely loved it but sadly that was sold once married and couple of kids had arrived about 25 years ago. Recently bought a 2008 Fireglo 4003 and it is even better than the 4001 I had been missing for so long. Fastest and lowest actions I have ever played on any Bass and plus their unique awesome sound too.

If I had more spare coin I would buy a 360/12 but that will just have to remain a dream for now.

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thanks for the question, wazkelly. as I said earlier, I have been buying, selling, and trading for a loooong time. to answer your question, each one of the basses has a story involved for it's purchase, but I will not delve into that now!
the rics I have in storage, a 1973 4001 maroon with checkerboard binding, a 1991 4001 chris squire model. the basses I use at gigs, a 1997 fireglo 4003, and a 2014 4003 walnut my wife bought new for me for my birthday! I also have a 1976 Ibanez copy and a mid 70's electra copy. the only ric I sold was back in the late 1980's. the neck was too wide for me and I didn't like the feel. I notice on your posts you provide plenty of pictures. what is the best format to take and send pics? I would send progress photos when i start this rca-4 build, and a group shot of the kit and some of his "American cousins". to answer you question earlier about removing the binding on the kit body, the answer is yes. the George Harrison 12 string model has been on my "bucket list" for years. once again, thanks for your comments and questions. rock on, vince.

Pics are probably best loaded as .jpg, but they need to be trimmed so that the longest side is a maximum of 1500 pixels and the overall file size is less than 976.6 kB. One of the tools on the toolbar is for inserting images. Maximum of 5 images for post. If an image doesn't seem to be loading, it's probably too large in one of those areas.

If you press the 'advanced' button when posting, you get some more options, plus you can then 'preview changes' to view your post to check that the pics are displaying properly. Also under the advanced settings is a 'manage attachments' button, under which you get more details about what files can be attached and their maximum file sizes.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Pics are probably best loaded as .jpg, but they need to be trimmed so that the longest side is a maximum of 1500 pixels and the overall file size is less than 976.6 kB. One of the tools on the toolbar is for inserting images. Maximum of 5 images for post. If an image doesn't seem to be loading, it's probably too large in one of those areas.

If you press the 'advanced' button when posting, you get some more options, plus you can then 'preview changes' to view your post to check that the pics are displaying properly. Also under the advanced settings is a 'manage attachments' button, under which you get more details about what files can be attached and their maximum file sizes.

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simon-thanks for the pic tips and the "good luck" on the rca-4 kit build! rock on, vince.

Hi Vince, welcome to the forum

Hi Vince, I downloaded IrfanView which is a free picture file manager program that allows you to easily resize shots so that neither width or height are greater than 1500 pixels in order to fit within this forum uploading capacity. You can also do this in MS Paint but not as user friendly. To insert shots you use the 3rd last icon from the menu bar that appears in 'Quick Reply'.

Thanks for the summary on your Ric collection. I presume Maroon & Checkerboard Binding would be quite rare? Do you have a favourite and is it true that later 4003's have a fatter neck profile?

Cheers, Waz.

welcome to the forum Vince!

cheers,
Gav.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Hi Vince, I downloaded IrfanView which is a free picture file manager program that allows you to easily resize shots so that neither width or height are greater than 1500 pixels in order to fit within this forum uploading capacity. You can also do this in MS Paint but not as user friendly. To insert shots you use the 3rd last icon from the menu bar that appears in 'Quick Reply'.

Thanks for the summary on your Ric collection. I presume Maroon & Checkerboard Binding would be quite rare? Do you have a favourite and is it true that later 4003's have a fatter neck profile?

Cheers, Waz.

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waz-probably my favorite of the rics is still the 1973 4001. the neck and the action is hard to beat! the maroon finish and checkerboard binding is rare, don't see many advertised, but i don't know the numbers made. in that era when i was playing, i would take 2 basses to the gigs. the other bass i used was an original 1963 fender precision bass! it has a sunburst body, rosewood fingerboard with a torteshell pickguard. both of these basses are retired right now! the 4003 ric i sold, i didn't like the width, or the radius of the neck, it just felt chunky to me. [incidentily, when i sold that ric in the late 1980's, i bought a new Colt ar-15a2 h-bar]. i could play this model better!! anyways, reading some of the other forum comments about the rca-4 kit, there where questions concerning the location of the bridge. remember, the ric has a 33 1/4 inch scale length, and the frets are closer together, whereas the rca-4 kit has wider fret spacing exactly like a fender p or j bass. so the bridge may have to be set for a 34 inch length for the best action! thanks for the pic tips! rock on! vince

wishing a "merry christmas" and a "happy new year" to all! vince

Hi Vince, just catching up on some threads and spotted this one.

Also noticed the 34" scale for RC4 and presume things were done that way to save confusion in the factory and also makes it easier for folk not familiar with original manufacturer quirks.

Only one more sleep before the man in the red suit does his thing so merry Xmas to you too.