Ok just a working title. First assembly pic of 5 string RC to follow here. Does anyone know where the sanding video can be found?
Printable View
Ok just a working title. First assembly pic of 5 string RC to follow here. Does anyone know where the sanding video can be found?
Lots on youtube mate, this one is Pitbulls... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE40TZ38nmU
5 string Ric? Presume that was a special order and keen to see photos.
By the way, welcome to the forum.
Cheers, Waz
Thanks Chrissyinbkk and wazkelly. Initial pics to follow.
Here you can see a picture of the Pitbull kit on arrival (with packing removed). All bits as requested, really nice wood, very expertly produced. Excellent binding. Nice nice 5 string Rick copy neck. Thanks Adam!
Here you can see how it will look when I get the glue out… once I have carried much rubbing down.
I am doing an RC-4 at the moment. Be careful not to over-sand as some finishes require it "rough". I am finishing body and neck before gluing them together. I think this will be easier.
You seem to have a nice piece of wood there, mine was pretty shit
Hi Stuzl, thank you I am trying to watch a few vids on sanding to get some kind of clue. I have sanded the odd wall, car, cricket bat and 1 wooden floor. Probably be ok ;-0
My RC top is very nice and the binding is good too, however the control cavity is only part cut out, there are some machine marks on the sides and Adam suggested I need to sand down the neck pocket to get the neck in far enough. I guess I might use a dark stain on the back or even paint it. I am hoping to oil the front, however I also need to route the bridge pickup cavity as I have found some repro Rickenbacker pickups. I like the colour you are going for, I hope yours turns out great, I am trying to see what other people have done with the RC kits.
And I think you are right, it makes no sense to immediately glue the neck, it would be sensible in most cases to sand the neck and body separately. Though a Rickenbacker 4001/2 is a solid through neck, so I guess in the factory they must sand with the body and neck together. I don't have much workshop space so keeping them separate will help a bit.
Careful sanding the top. I assume it is a veneer, which will be quite thin and easy to and through.
Didnt know you could get these in a veneer, mines just basswood. Veneer = take care
Hi Viv, Nice kit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivg
Genuine Riccy's are neck through with maple 'wings' glued on. Being such a cumbersome shape finishing one with neck in place would be painful as it increases the risk of runs forming through trying to get coats of finish into all those nooks and crannies. There is a video on You Tube of a Rickenbacker Factory Tour that shows how things are done and definitely easier with machines doing all the hard work. By hand, on a set neck job it is much easier finishing them separately and then maybe some touch ups around the joint if required once glued together.
Cheers, Waz.
Hi Stuz, being a fiver and a maple top it looks like a special custom order as no RC kit comes that way as standard.Quote:
Originally Posted by stuzl873213
Yes, the veneer is really really thin, I don't think it will take much sanding.
The story goes like this. Always wanted a Ric, but every time I looked at one in a shop, I wasn't convinced they were worth the premium being charged. I also wanted a 5 string. They don't make those now, and when they did I understand they just added another string, making the neck a bit tight! I was also watching a lot of the Crimson Guitar videos, watching Ben build some very nice guitars. I decided I wanted to build a copy. Started surfing and found quite a few alternatives, eventually landing on PitBull and noted lots of people saying some very good things about the guitars. I also looked around this forum and saw what you guys were up to. I could see the kit would help me along a lot, save me money and yet let me customise into what I wanted. I emailed Adam and discovered PBG did a maple top and that I could possibly get a 5 string version. Also Adam was really helpful. The bottom line is a Rickenbacker is £2000-£2500. No five string available. I got a couple of quotes, just for comparison, and a 5 string Ric-a-like from a decent luthier would be £3500. If I come out above £600 I will be surprised although of course the cost of 4 weeks of sanding, glueing, soldering and staining needs to be considered! If the price goes up, it will be caused by my own inexperience or over confidence!Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Nice kit Viv. I'm taking a similar attitude to my ES5V kit. Relatively low cost even with upgrades compared to an original Gibbo ES going on local Facebook group for $8k !
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Wow, I like your ES5V! If the Ric5 comes out OK I might try another one, might go for one of those...
I used the same rationale with the 2 Explorers I built.
Hope it all works out as planned.
Good luck with this one. Looking forward to see how you progress.
Nice looking kit Vivg.
On my RCM-4F build I chose to do the neck and body separately as I wanted a different colour on the flame Maple top to the Mahogany body, and there are two places on my build where the two are not separated by binding. To make sure I didn't put colour where glue was needed for the neck I did a correct dry fit of the neck and then pulled the neck out 5mm and made a pencil mark to indicate to me that this was as far as the neck colour should go and the rest was where the glue held the neck into the body...
Hope that helps. Good luck on your build...
Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I spent most of the day trying to not sand the veneer. It is definitely very thin. I think I can see an area where the glue that hods it on is thicker than the veneer!
Marcel, thank you for the hint on the neck I did wonder how to cope with maybe true-oil on the neck and a stain or paint on the body and glue in- between.
Like a number of people have indicated the neck centre line does not quite line up with the body centreline. But I've never thought to look at that on any guitar I have ever bought or played, so I don't think it will worry me too much. I think I can get it to look straight and end up with the bridge on the centre line of the body.
Knowing it was going to be 6-8 weeks before my Ric-5 turned up, I decided to figure out where I could work. Most of the dusty stuff could be done in the garden. I realised I would need a work area, somewhere I can cut, plane or glue bits of wood and leave it knowing no one will interfere. I decided I needed a workbench. Lidl (possibly the most cost effective shop on the planet) provided me with a workmate type fold up bench. £13 and an hours assembly. It's quite acceptable and sturdy enough to route on.
I found a number of people on line making big wood working benches with 4x2" to make 6 foot work benches. Decided to scale it down to 1mx0.6m to fit on top of some racking. This came out really well and with the addition of a low cost vice from Screwfix, I know have a coal cellar with a woodworking bench. Perfect for carefully sanding down veneer.
Good thing you've got some space to work inside. The weather at the moment is pretty changeable. Gone from clear skies + sun to heavy rain + thunder and then back again about three times so far today.
Hi Simon, yeah changeable, hot and sunny or wet and humid or sunny and wet or sunny and humid. Hoping tomorrow will be a good day for sanding. :)
Check your tuners, mine didn't fit properly, one overhangs a bit
Being a fiver and seeing how Stuzl's turned out I second the motion to double check the tuners for fitment once kit arrives.