Maximus's RC-4 "McCartney 64"

Hey guys, Maximus here! Today, my stains came in so I can finally start my Paul McCartney 1964 Ric replica for my own personal use. I've always found this bass to be my favorite (I know, I know, the Hofner is the most iconic and still a favorite of mine) and ever since I've seen the video for I Am The Walrus, I was hooked on it. I'll attach a few photos of Macca with the bass for those who've never seen him with it. I'm prepping the body by sanding it currently. I've been sanding it constantly in order for everything to turn out perfect!

I've been working on the bass since I received it. I even put it all together and was playing it for some time before the stains came in. The neck is already glued in with Gorilla Glue wood glue (as it's the only strong glue I found at Walmart and I have no car to get to Home Depot.) I've added 2 photos of the body and neck (excuse the teddy bear neck holder, it's my dogs toy that I'm using to support the neck haha)

Edit: cannot add my photos on the thread. I'll try on the computer later on

Hi Maximus, welcome to the forum and look forward to seeing your RC-4 build. You probably need to resize the photos maximum size is about 1MB or resolution no more than 1500 x 1500.

So are you trying to find a horseshoe pickup too?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fretworn

So are you trying to find a horseshoe pickup too?

---

Yeah, I've been looking into them and they're real expensive. Maybe in a few years

So... a left-handed body with a right-handed neck?

cheers, Mark.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by king casey

So... a left-handed body with a right-handed neck?

cheers, Mark.

---

I just got the standard RC-4 kit, but if I did more research on it, I would've gotten a righty kit and a left handed neck. But I'm happy with the way it is and really happy with how it's turning out so far

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MaximusY

I just got the standard RC-4 kit, but if I did more research on it, I would've gotten a righty kit and a left handed neck. But I'm happy with the way it is and really happy with how it's turning out so far

---

Not having a pop, but it's strange that even with P.M.'s stature back then they couldn't supply a left-handed neck.

cheers, Mark

who knows King Casey there may be a reason why Paul had a right handed neck on a lefty body. I noticed the did reverse the Rickenbacker engraving on the truss rod cover the correct orientation

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

who knows King Casey there may be a reason why Paul had a right handed neck on a lefty body. I noticed the did reverse the Rickenbacker engraving on the truss rod cover the correct orientation

---

No worries wokka. It obviously didn't worry P.M. Perhaps the rose-coloured glasses had something to do with that.

cheers, Mark.

It's the standard Rick LH bass neck arrangement. Here's a pic of four LH ricks

Attachment 20360

So it seems that Rickenbacker never bothered to build a dedicated LH neck for any of their basses, but simply used a RH neck and fitted a different nut and truss rod cover.

Maximus, just for future reference, it's not ideal to use Gorilla Glue for neck fixing. It's a very strong, permanent glue and if for whatever reason you glued your neck in slightly the wrong place or it was at the wrong angle, then it would be impossible to remove.

Standard Titebond (the bottle with the red label) is the normal glue used for guitar work as it can be removed using either steam or heat. I'd avoid other 'stronger' Titebond glue variants as they are water resistant. If you can't get out to a store, then I'd buy from eBay or Amazon etc. and have the glue delivered.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simon Barden

It's the standard Rick LH bass neck arrangement. Here's a pic of four LH ricks

Attachment 20360

So it seems that Rickenbacker never bothered to build a dedicated LH neck for any of their basses, but simply used a RH neck and fitted a different nut and truss rod cover.

Maximus, just for future reference, it's not ideal to use Gorilla Glue for neck fixing. It's a very strong, permanent glue and if for whatever reason you glued your neck in slightly the wrong place or it was at the wrong angle, then it would be impossible to remove.

Standard Titebond (the bottle with the red label) is the normal glue used for guitar work as it can be removed using either steam or heat. I'd avoid other 'stronger' Titebond glue variants as they are water resistant. If you can't get out to a store, then I'd buy from eBay or Amazon etc. and have the glue delivered.

---

I've noticed that Ric does that for the LH basses, but it would still be cool if they did it the other way around, like a RH with a LH neck.

Also I've assembled it and played it when I got it back in the beginning of May and it played and felt just righht to me. Although, I may be wrong

I'm also working on trying to get photos of the progress. Importing from an iPhone doesn't work so I'll have to resize them on the computer after work and get them up

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wokkaboy

who knows King Casey there may be a reason why Paul had a right handed neck on a lefty body. I noticed the did reverse the Rickenbacker engraving on the truss rod cover the correct orientation

---

I read somewhere that Ric had never made a LH bass before Paul so they took a RH body, flipped it backwards, routed everything and put on the neck and turned that into a LH.

Sounds like you got the positioning OK then, which is great.

It's just that some people have stuck necks on in slightly the wrong place or that had the wrong neck angle, and on some guitars/basses there's no way to adjust for it, so the necks had to come off. Titebond gives a stronger bond than the surrounding wood, so you don't really need anything stronger.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Sounds like you got the positioning OK then, which is great.

It's just that some people have stuck necks on in slightly the wrong place or that had the wrong neck angle, and on some guitars/basses there's no way to adjust for it, so the necks had to come off. Titebond gives a stronger bond than the surrounding wood, so you don't really need anything stronger.

---

I totally agree with using Titebond. I had a whole bottle of it, but left it with my parents when I moved. Wished I would've brought that

That's life!