Telenator

The original Fender Wide Range Humbuckers read 10.6k so if someone is trying to sell you something reading in the 7.5k range, you can bet your life it's a re-issue pickup.

Yup, same problem.

I hope you guys realize that the RickenRocker photos did not have the pole pieces Photoshopped out. I got a good laugh out of that one! I took the photos at two different times. Once with the Antiquity Firebird p'ups (no pole pieces) and then later with the Gibson mini-humbuckers. Anyway, many compliments to some real fine builds. Skelf's awesome bass almost had me but then I saw the inlay work on Marcovis' LP and had to give him my vote. As you can tell by my RickenRocker build, I like guitars that take the original and go one better. In fact, that LP project has inspired me to do one of my own with a 25 1/2" scale. I have never gotten along well with Les Pauls because I don't like the shorter scale. Good luck to all. I'm honored just to be in your company!

Agreed Tonemonkey. I always found that using a stylus with a shape similar to the size of the cutting bit works best. Then again, the photos are just for display purposes.

Blasphemy? You dun gone all the way to sacrilege! LOL! Nice piece. Not sure I could even tune that pup! 6 strings about all I can handle.

Very cool. It sort of resembles the "Dupli-carver" of the late 70's/early 80's era. Lots of nice work to be done with that piece of gear!

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing that SG project. I have been very tempted to build an SG style guitar that had a nice hefty body to counterbalance the long neck. I love the shape but find them difficult to play because the neck always wants to fall to the floor. I have a hard enough time playing as it is without trying to hold the neck up in position too!

LOL! The guys on their forums got pretty heated about my 360 style guitar. I was in the same boat as you though. I called RIC too and they chuckled at the blasphemous thought of a 360 with an adult sized neck.

Don't try to solve all of your problems in advance. Make yourself available for your opportunities. If you try to envision the entire guitar and every little step along the way, the project will seem impossible, too complicated, beyond your ability, and just plain too risky to even start. Make a drawing. Make a template. Cut some rough blanks to size. Buy a truss rod. Anything! Just take that first step to break out of this willy nilly mode. Once you begin the project, everything will become clear and take focus. Just take it in small pieces. If you're not familiar with doing your own set-ups on your guitars, it would be a big advantage to learn that now. This will help you in untold ways during the build process and of course finally getting your new guitar to play and sound right. It's not that hard if you go slowly, take one step at a time and keep your focus by not getting ahead of yourself. We look forward to great things from you even on your first attempt!

Has anyone from Rickenbacker questioned your choice of body shape? The people on the Ric forums can be a militant bunch.

Here's my "RickenRocker" This is a little piece I whipped up out of frustration at not being about to buy a Rickenbacker 360 with the features I wanted. The wood is Black Walnut and Maple. The Black Walnut was torn out of a rural family cabin 50 years ago and has sat in a shed ever since. The wood was actually used as stair treads in the cabin! A travesty! This guitar features a 25 1/2" scale length with a Fender style "string through" Hipshots bridge. The peg head is thinner than a Ric and tilted back 1 extra degree because of the height of the tuners. The fret board inlay is of the same black walnut and it a modified Ric-style inlay. I feel that the curve added to the inlay better suits the design of the guitar. I maintained the 1/16 radius at the points to be respectful to the original. The binding is of the same maple used for the neck. The pickups are out of a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. I originally had Seymour Duncan Antiquity Firebird pickups in the guitar but they didn't get the tone I was hoping for. The control layout is very simplified ( volume, tone, 3 way switch) as I am a gigging musician and the 6 knobs on a Ric 360 are just too much for me to deal with on stage.

What a great idea for that bass. Beautiful work. If it sounds half as good as it looks, you've got a real winner on your hands! orqmorq, your avatar is one of my favorite albums of all time. The guitar solo in "Theme for an Imaginery Western" is one of the all time greatest solos ever!

I built the guitar below with a 1" thick, quarternsawn piece of mahogany and topped it with a bookmatched piece of 5/8" maple. It absolutely screams in the Les Paul tradition. Many mahogany guitars I play seem to sound nice and warm but often lack the complex highs associated with adding a maple cap. For what it's worth, I tend to like maple caps for rock guitars, and solid mahogany for blues, swing and cleaner tones.

Very cool project. Love the headstock inlay!

Thank you! The folks at Rickenbacker and their forums are in a real twist over this guitar. Some folks like yourself understand why I built this. Others are all bent on snitching that "someone made a fake!" as they run off to prove their self importance. I am very impressed with the caliber of work on this forum and the quality of the people who participate. I'm glad I stumbled across this place! Great forum!

It would be worth going to NAMM just to play that guitar!

The maple cateye binding was done on a "3 axis machine." My dad plotted the shape in Auto Cad and then cut the piece from a single solid piece of maple. I'm glad too. The maple binding was very difficult on the rest of the body. It kept cracking. Now I know better, that I should split the wood first so it follows it's own natural grain structure, then cut my binding strips along the same orientation. This way I won't be fighting the grain. Thanks for the kind words guys! I appreciate it.

Beautiful work! I love a cherry sunburst. How's it sound?

LOL! I'll tell you in a year or two if it's an issue!

The neck heel is shaped the way it is because I wanted this to be a tribute to one of my favorite guitar shapes. I tried to keep much of the original styling in tact in this project while at the same time getting the playability and sound I wanted. The neck heel is so close to the end of the neck, you really don't feel it even when you're playing way up there.

Very cool guitar! I almost bought a banana yellow one back in the early 80's! Love the walnut!

Beautiful work! I have never tried a fretboard like that. Some day!

Hi all! This is my first post here and I gotta tell ya, you folks do some beautiful work! I stumbled on this place by accident while reading something on a Telecaster forum. I started building guitars in 1982 for Richelieu Electrics in Bridgeport CT which later became Black Rock Guitars, and soon after succumbed to management and financial woes. Since then I have continued building guitars strictly for myself as I just can't part with them once they're finished. Besides, I already ruined photography for myself by doing it as a career. I don't want that to happen with wood working! My latest project guitar was inspired by a lifelong desire to own a Rickenbacker 360 that I could actually play. To me, the 360 body shape is one of the coolest looking guitars of all time. Classic, yet rockin! I got serious about it sometime last year and called Rickenbacker to see if they would custom build one for me with a wider neck and taller fretwire. They were polite, but flatly said "no, we sell all the 360's we can build just the way they are and have no interest in taking any custom orders." After spending a little time on the Ric forums, I let them convince me that I must be mentally defective for wanting a 360 with an adult size neck so, I took a chance and bought a brand new one. One year later, I still hated the neck and decided to build my own with a few improvements and modifications that would best suit my playing style. The guitar pictured below boasts the following alterations to make it better suited to my taste. 1) 25 1/2" scale length on a 22 fret neck. 2) Modified inlay. The Ric triangles are cool, but the straight angle really works against the other shapes on the guitar. I kept the same 1/16" point radius but put a curve on the angle side of the inlay. This curve is repeated in shapes throughout the guitar and in my humble opinion enhances the beauty of the guitar. 3) I made the neck 1 11/16" wide at the nut and 2 3/16" wide at the heel with a pronounced volute behind the headstock. This adds style and strength to the weakest part of a guitar neck. 4) The headstock angle is increased from 6 degrees to 7 degrees for a little better string seating in the nut and because the tuning pegs are a bit high on the stock model. 5) The fretboard is much closer to the body allowing the use of a "string though" style bridge and a better ergonomic feel. The tall neck and bridge on a 360 make the guitar rock excessively during aggressive playing. 6) Maple binding. Plastic binding is cool, but wood binding is better! 7) The body is chambered, but only 1/4" deep. This is to avoid having a HUGE slab of tone deadening glue across the width of the body. 8) The tone chamber behind the bridge, typically found on Rics has been omitted in an effort to get a punchier sound. It works! 9) The controls consist of 1 volume, 1 tone and a 3 way toggle. Simple, effective, easy to use. I find the 6 knobs on a 360 to be very confusing and cumbersome when I'm gigging. I love simplicity! 10) The extended neck block on this guitar goes much further into the body than a 360 to help give the guitar a more cutting presence. and the list goes on! Anyway, it took me 7 months to build and it is rapidly becoming my #1 gigging guitar! Here's a couple pages of "build photos." Enjoy! http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1665109