RC-4 build

[stan]

what an absolute stunner! Grant that is an amazing job

[gavinturner]

Amazing job Grant. Rickenbacker himself would have been proud! A beautiful job in every detail. Definitely a work of art.

cheers,
Gav.

[neverwas]

Thanks very much everyone. Maybe should call this a Ricken-ender, Rick shape with Fender-type colouring and pups? Or not.
To complete the diary, the pickups used are an Entwistle JBXN neck pup used in the bridge position - for pole spacing, although its still a little wide - and wired with reverse polarity and 250k pots and .047 cap and a Fender Fideli'tron with 500k pots and .022 cap. The tone for the humbucker may need a different cap as it doesn't make a lot of difference, might sound better thru a bass amp. There is a 'modified' wiring diagram for it using 250k pots and a .068 cap, maybe this would work better.
Some more pics






There are some marks in the finish I wasn't sure if there was enough thickness of the naughty oil to sand them out, will get more marks from use.
Thanks again

Grant

[Nickosaurus]

Be prepared for t-oil to mark easily mate. My strat's covered in little marks here and there. It's not exactly a tough finish but it will wear very nicely if you're into the 'used and abused' look.

What's the deal with the nut in the vice? Looks like it has a very heavy taper

[neverwas]

Just the angle of the pic.

[Janitor]

Nice job, man!
I'm making a similar build with the RC-4 kit and the Allparts tail piece. However, the scale length seems to be a bit weird with the Allparts Ricky Style tail piece.
If I place the tail piece about 5 millimeters from the back of the body, the measurement form the bridge to the 12th fret is 426mm, whereas the measurement from the nut to the 12th fret is 431,5mm. So there's a 5,5mm (1/4") difference.
What scale measurements did you get with your build? Would be nice to get the right place for the tail piece before I bring out the router...

[neverwas]

Thanks Janitor.
I see in your own build diary you have already gone ahead and routed the recess for the bridge. Apologies for the slow reply.
To answer your question, the nut to 12th fret about the same as yours, 431mm.
12th to peak of G string saddle is 431mm and peak of E string saddle is 439mm.
Just quickly clipped on the tuner and when fretted at the 12th the notes are slightly sharp, but I haven't done the intonation again after adjusting the height of the nut and the truss rod.
The closest point of the tailpiece to the edge of the body on mine is about 3mm, but more important to go by scale length than the gap at the end of the tailpiece, as long as it's not hanging off the end .
Hopefully you can make some sense out of that.

Grant

[Janitor]

Thanks for the reply, neverwas.
Yea, I was too anxious to get the tailpiece in place
I made the cavity for it, left the tailpiece about 5mm from the end of the body and I moved the neck about 6mm forward. That way the measurements are now 431 and 341, so it was a relatively easy adjustment.