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Well, after 5 months of mostly sitting around in the basement, my first restoration project is complete. I have to give props to all the guys here that helped me from painting around bindings, to lacquer schedules, to buffing arbor setup, to proper use of hide glue for repairing cracks.

As you'll see in the pics, the main reason I had to change the color was to cover up the damage left behind by Dr. Frankenstein from a previous neck reset. This time it was done without the help of bolts, and lucky for me jetglo black was a standard color in 1966.

I also have to give credit to StewMac for all the supplies I received from them. This entire job was done using their rattle cans of lacquer along with their buffing arbor and compounds. I can't say enough good things about how easy it was to use their compounds to get a great looking finish. BTW this was my first lacquer job ever. I also must say that the garage worked great for a spray booth. I always thought I needed a big fancy spray booth to get good results, but I wouldn't hesitate at all to spray more guitars out there.

Wonderful job!!!!!

(Using Hesh's system of # of )

How did you extend the fret board?  Did you have to replace it?

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

That is just an amazing recovery.  Wonderful job.   

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

[QUOTE=WaldenWorx]

How did you extend the fret board?  Did you have to replace it?

[/QUOTE]

It looks more like the pickup was moved up towards the neck (notice it's position in relation to the pickguard before and after).

Beautiful finish job, btw.  I love natural finishes and bursts, but black is a major weak spot for me - love it.

[QUOTE=WaldenWorx] How did you extend the fret board?  Did you have to replace it?

[/QUOTE]

Actually, I was lucky and didn't need to extend the fretboard. The original "artist" moved the neck pickup back about 1 inch to make room for his modification. Once I removed the bolts, I reset and glued the neck, moved the pickup forward to its original location against the end of the neck, and then had to patch all the damage left behind from the extra routing and holes he put in the guitar. It's really hard to explain what a hack job the first guy did.

Err, wait... is that a whole new pickguard?

[QUOTE=csmonty] Err, wait... is that a whole new pickguard?
[/QUOTE]

Good eye, actually, only the top portion of the pickguard is new since the old original was cut up to make room for the pickup after it was moved back. Luckily this is one of the parts Rickenbacker still sells. They will not sell a truss rod cover or the "R" for the bridge support (to cut down on forgeries).

That second picture is what tipped me off.  The pickguard looks a little hacked up there, then nice, perfect, and pearly white in the bottom pics. 

But again, awesome job!

The case looks like an original Rick box.  Great finish job.

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Wow, that's quite a change. Looks fantastic, bet you're feeling pretty good about yourself right about now, justifiably too. Beautifully done

Great job John !
I really like the old red sunburst Ricks. but your black
paint job looks fantastic! Good job repairing Frankensteens
hack-work! Do you have any pics of the neck when you had
it apart?? I'm interested in the neck joint.

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Cool

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

An iconic guitar back to it's former glory, well it's new glory. Great job.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

The Transformation is really nice John.

Enjoy this fine guitar and the fact you did it.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Fantastic job John!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Aww man.... I liked the bolts. Why'd you get rid of them?



Nice looking job...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Great job!

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Brad
Avon, OH

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Aww man.... I liked the bolts. Why'd you get rid of them?



Nice looking job...[/QUOTE]

I didn't get rid of them, I still have them on my workbench. I'm wondering what I should do with them? This entire project takes the bolt-on neck to an entire new level. Anybody else using a bolt-on method like the one in the pic?