Rick's Fine '52

[quote name='The Legoheads' timestamp='1342295316' post='1733035'] The plate is 1/4" thick so I'm hoping to have enough material to incorporate the string guides. I guess it will come down to some gentle use of the cutting wheel and some refining with needle files. It's still quite a chunk of steel so the grinder is gonna see a lot more action to thin it out and shape it. Once the tailpiece is finished, I intend to do a preliminary construction including strings just to check the neck alignment. The fretboard of the 4005 is offset from the front of the body by quite a distance meaning that the bridge also needs to be set high so that the strings clear the frets with zero neck relief. Unfortunately, I may have a little too much offset and using a straight edge from nut to bridge I am barely clearing the frets. It would be nice not to have the bridge at the maximum height adjustment just to achieve this. If my offset is too much I can either skim some material off the rear of the fretboard or shim the neck joint by gluing in a thin veneer along the full length and width of the tenon & mortice joint. My neck and fretboard are currently perfectly matched so I'm not really wanting to take the first option. The second option also requires that I skim off the same amount of material from the back of the neck, from the heel down to the bridge. I'm hoping that the results of the preliminary build show that I have to do neither. [/quote] I can see now that the plate is quite thick, should be fine to form the guides. On mine, the fretboard is also set quite a bit higher than the body, meaning the bridge etc are set quite high also, as you say, to properly align the strings on the neck. I actually played a real 4005 about a year ago, and found it to be very similar. Having been used to playing solid body (Predominantly Fenders) basses all my life, i found the 4005 i made quite odd to play, because despite the fact that it felt fine with the fretting hand, all the way along the neck, i found it weird on my right hand, because as i looked at the strumming position of the right hand, the strings were about 30mm away from the body, so visually it was a bit odd. Something you'd get used to very quickly though, and, reassuringly, something that is also evident on the real 4005's, so don't think something is fundamentally wrong when you first string it up, as I did! Looks amazing anyway, remarkable effort on this, can't wait to see it all painted and strung up, I'm going to be very jealous, as you're doing what I wanted to do with mine, but never had the skills!

I remember reading the classified in Guitarist mag, and also spending many a Saturday holed up in the vintage room of Musical Exchanges in Birmingham, playing all the old gear, that was when 1960 EB2's were £400!! I agree with the OP though, it makes things far quicker. I remember being interested in a 1956 Precision that Vintage & Rare had advertised in Guitarist mag. I phoned up, and they said they'd send some pics. This involved them taking the photo's, having them developed, then posting them! I got them about 3 weeks after the initial phone call. I remember opening the envelope with an excitement you just don't get anymore. Funny enough, I still have those pics in the original envelope with the handwritten covering letter. It was a near mint '56, price.........offers around £2250!! It was obviously deemed too pricey for me at the time, as I didnt buy it! Fool. The web though, has made a wider range of vintage gear available to me....(Edit)....and of course, easier to find the rarer stuff, if there's something specific you're looking for.

How are you forming the string guides underneath the tailpiece, are you welding it on later? Great work again!, it's looking fab.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1342115142' post='1729921'] It was actually a string through I was playing when the bridge saddle collapsed, the trouble with the thin plate saddle is that it only has a few turns of the saddle height adjusting pin in contact with it to spread the pressure, this makes stripped threads more common than something like a billet cut chunk of steel that has dozens of screw thread turns in contact all the way through, if that makes sense? A new saddle or rethread the stripped one up to the next size pin is an easy fix, not so easy during a gig though is it? [/quote] Never heard of that before. Threaded saddle is solid steel, it has two screws holding to a plate, about 4mm in height from the solid saddle, with an long intonation screw passing through the middle of those, I don't really see how it can move, all mine are solid as a rock, and that's from a real '58, to an '82. I have 6 basses with 4 saddle BBOT's, and they are all the same, solid, just can't see where it would move, or how it could break. never heard of it until now. Maybe a cheap repro bridge from China made from monkey metal for £3 including shipping, but not a real one, surely?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1342114847' post='1729911'] Not his white Jazz with the blocks? Really nice bloke is Neil, I presume he told you about our secret little geek meets then? You have let the cat out of the bag now that not only do I have some (very few) real friends I also know some with very nice basses and my judgements are mostly made on playing the actual things rather than reading what other people have said about them! [/quote] Actually he did mention the geek meets! .

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1342113622' post='1729874'] Haha, how come you met him!? (and what a lovely Sadowsky, thats how a Fender should be ) [/quote] Funny, he said the Sadowsky was a good Fender copy, but it wasn't a Fender, probably why he has the Sadowsky up for sale, and bought a Fender off me! He took my '55 Relic, although he nearly had to cut my arms off before I'd let go of it! Lovely guy, we also work in similar circles, and have many common acquaintances , small world!

I would suggest if its falling apart, you ain't doing it right! (BTW, met one of your basschat friends earlier today, Neil, has a Sadowsky, we were talking about you....all good things of course!!)

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1342002477' post='1727678'] What I'm trying to say is that the BBOT is an outdated design from 50+ years ago, which Leo never used on any of his later creations (he went for a hi mass one). Fender still use this outdated concept because the market will not let them move onto a [b]better[/b] design! Part of the beauty of the original fender design is that is easy to upgrade if you want. So, if you don't like the bridge it's very simple to bolt on a new one, it's easy to change pick-ups (unlike a rick, alembic, warwick, etc thru this partly down to design and partly due to popularity creating a market for aftermarket upgraded parts)....... [/quote] I think the term [i]better[/i] is very subjective in this thread, and not a given, as implied. If it works perfectly, and you have the sound you want, why would you change any component on an instrument?

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1341995018' post='1727474'] This.... Personally, I don't know why some people insist on seeing design faults or outdated components as evidence of an instrument's superiority - it's like Harley Davidson riders in the motorcycle world! [/quote] I'm actually yet to hear anyone claim that a design fault is evidence of an instruments superiority, especially when talking about fenders, why would someone claim that? Having said that, if you're talking about BBOT bridges, then it clearly isnt a design issue, as they still make fenders with them, and as I've said, I've never experienced a single problem with them. If you're talkinga bout the nut access location, then yes, not the best design as i raised earlier, but it also doesnt make it superior. I think I'm struggling to see your point in the context of this thread, which is probably me, missing something.

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1341957303' post='1727159'] Transition was '74, my '74 has the 3 bolts, bullet trussrod at headstock, pearl inlays and white binding.... but still has the notch out of the scratchplate like the 4 bolt necks with the adjuster at the heel of the neck. [/quote] Didnt they have a small hole for tilt adjustment though, in the neckplate?