Winter 2018 Build Off - 4004CTM

ctmullins

ctmullins

Still fueled by beer and coconut
Gold Supporting Member
Apr 18, 2008
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MS Gulf Coast
Disclosures
I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
#1
It's Walnut Day!!!

I'll be building a Ric 4004-inspired four-string. I've always liked the 400x shape, and always wanted one in my stable, but haven't gotten around to it until now. With the recent issue of the 4003W and 4003SW, there is a clear precedent too. :)

This will be based on the 4004, with 4003S-style contours (so not quite as much roundover as a real 4004).

Neck-thru - Walnut multi-lam with maple accents (either five or seven piece)
Fretboard - 33" scale Pau Ferro (from LMII)
Body wings - 1" thick walnut with 0.25" thick quilt maple top
Finish - probably Tru-Oil
Electronics - Rickenbacker HB1 pickups, passive, Vol/Tone/Switch, mono
Hardware - something of good quality

WW_0122.jpg


:hyper:
 
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#12
Well, even though Thursday was Walnut Day, I had to work. Friday too. Saturday was prep day for Christmas, and Sunday and Monday were consumed with family. So I’m a bit late out of the gate here. But my Christmas present to myself this year is the entire week off. And today I got to breathe the sweet smell of freshly-cut walnut once again. Ahhhhh...

Laminates cut and laid out, with clamps and glue at the ready. And, since my wife does have to work today (poor dear), I get to use the kitchen island.

4004_0128.jpg


Three strips of one-inch thick walnut, accented with two 0.25” maple strips. Nothing fancy, but then Ricks were never exactly fancy, just elegantly functional.

Glued, with scrap maple as cauls. Didn’t even need all of the clamps!

4004_0129.jpg


I really hope this neck-thru goes more smoothly than my last. My last was my first, and I thought it was kind of a pain in the arse. I’m hoping this build will be easier.
 
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#16
Out of the clamps and surfaced, and marked for tapering. Plenty of length to work with.

4004_0131.jpg


Going with the slimmer specs in the Ric world: 42mm nut width and 50mm string spacing at the bridge. Probably gonna re-use a Hipshot A bridge from another build (that I hate).
 
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#18
Got the neck tapered and surfaced, where it counts anyway. I don’t have a jointer, so I did this with my trim router and a bearing bit, along with a nice long straightedge. It was very tedious...

I usually do tilt-back headstocks, and have always done so with scarf joints. But for this build, I’m trying to keep reasonably close to the techniques used by the Ric factory, which means cutting the headstock angle right out of the 1.5” thick neck blank. I’ve seen @mapleglo do this a number of times, with a nice router jig that she made. I decided to do a janky version of that, cutting rails out of scrap plywood, after calculating and marking the right angle.

4004_0134.jpg


Clamped them to the neck blank, clamped everything down to the workbench, and began the routing.

4004_0135.jpg


Did the inverse on the obverse; didn’t take any pics of that.

Routed the truss rod channel (just one double-action rod from LMII, so a deviation from the Ric formula).

4004_0132.jpg


Tapered the fingerboard and glued it on, again using scrap maple as cauls.

4004_0133.jpg


Hopefully tomorrow I can start on the body wings!
 
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#19
The "straight-edge with a router" technique always serves me well. Since I don't have a table saw capable of a taper cut sled-jig thingee, that's really the only way I could imagine it.
Looking good! Keep up that fine work.
 
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