Ricky 4001 Bass: Unboxing & Mock Build

Got a cool birthday present in the mail today - a spanking new RC-4 kit from Pitbull Guitars. I've been coveting one of these bad boys ever since the day Adam & co. announced they were stocking them, and I'm very happy to say that I'm finally in possession of one.

Unboxing the kit from Pitbull Guitars.

As usual, the kit itself arrived from Pitbull in great shape. The three piece body sports some nice grain, has no dents and while there's a couple of tiny glue marks on the front face, it's nothing a little Goof-off and some elbow grease won't fix. There's also a small knot up on the top horn, and while this won't be a hassle if I choose a solid colour, it may resist stain if I go that way.

Three piece basswood body has some killer grain happening.

The cavity and neck routes all look great, and the neck pocket fit is good and tight. The neck itself is nice and straight, and the grain on the rosewood fretboard looks amazing! All in all I'm very happy with the fit and finish from Pitbull.

The grain on the rosewood fretboard is also really awesome.

The mock build went together reasonably painlessly, with only the location of the bridge still giving me a few headaches. This time around the Stewmac fret position calculator was of minimal help because of the non-standard bridge type on this kit. I think in the end I'll take a guess at the position given the bridge's similarity to the standard Fender bass bridge.

Mock build without the bridge is just a neck.

Ever since I planned the Stone Roses Tribute build based on a Pitbull Guitars RC-1, what I *really* wanted to do was a bass. It was Manny's Rickenbacker 4005 that was the original inspiration for the tribute build, so yes - a 4001 Pollocked bass is something I've dreamt about for some time.

Mani's Pollocked Rickenbacker 4005.

Thing is, now that I see this kit and the amazing grain on the body, I'm very conflicted. Should I really cover all that lovely grain up with paint? I've always loved the 4001 Fireglo and blue burst models and would kill to own one, so the idea of doing a burst on this kit is very appealing to me.

A Blue-burst Rickenbacker 4001. A Beauty to Behold.

What a hard choice! It's something I will ponder in the days to come. I may well try the blue burst at first, with the Pollock as a good fallback option if I don't like the result. Hmm, choices...

Ash Stratocaster: None More Blue!

With Acrylic Ink confirmed as a worthy successor for blue Colortone dye, I decided to continue my experiements with blue Stamp Pad Ink. Stamp Pad Ink has been used successfully on a number of blue guitars out there in the forums, and the results have all looked amazing. I headed out today to my local Officeworks and returned to the man-cave with an $8 bottle of blue. The results? Well, nothing short of spectacular. Take a look for yourself..

Stamp Pad Ink: None More Blue!

Yep, you're eyes aren't playing tricks. Here I have applied the ink (and some Colortone black) to a test piece of pine. Man, this blue ink is *so* blue, and a brilliant blue at that! One might say it's none more blue (sic). It just leaps off the wood while soaking nicely into the grain at the same time. It looks nothing short of amazing. I reckon that if I grain fill with ebony Timbermate and colour with this stuff, I'll have one stunning Stratocaster on my hands. What do you guys out there on the interweb think?

Postscript 27/2/2015
Ok, so I've just been informed by Dingobass, the resident luthier over at Pitbull Guitars, that unfortunately the pigment in this kind of ink is not colourfast! That means that it will gradually fade over time and end up looking grey and shitty. Bummer! Well, at least I found out sooner rather than later. Looks like it's back to the experiments. Thanks DB!

Ash Stratocaster: Acrylic Ink for Colour?

Getting blue wood stain to look nice is a veritable pain in the arse. Here in the man-cave I've got a bottle of the concentrated Colortone blue, and even *it* looks like crap when applied to actual wood. Readers may remember my experiment with blue Colortone on the Surf Monster Telecaster a few months back. The problem seems to be that when the natural colour of the wood and the blue dye mix, the results are dark and drab, and some wood grain just refuses to take the colour. The conclusion I've reached is that unless you are adding the dye directly to spray on lacquer, just forget going blue - you just aren't going to get the pleasing result that you are after.

The trouble is - I like blue guitars; especially those with a nice black burst. For the Ash Stratocaster build, I would dearly love to get a nice, deep blue finish. Thankfully, I may have found the answer in the form of Acrylic Ink. Stan Burt on the Build Your Own Guitar Forum recently experimented with purple acrylic ink for his Les Paul build, and the results were quite startling. While the pigment didn't soak in as much as with traditional wood dyes, the resulting finish was vibrant and looked amazing. So here, maybe was the answer to the blue finish conundrum.

With this in mind, I headed to my local art supplier and sourced some acrylic ink - in Cerulian (light) Blue, Turquoise (dark) Blue and Black in the hopes of creating a nice blue/black burst for the Stratocaster.

Three shades of Liquitex Acrylic Ink to attempt a blue burst.

For my first attempt at a burst, I mixed the ink 50/50 with water (so that it didn't dry too quickly) and set to work with some cotton cloths attempting to create a burst on a piece of scrap pine. The results were pretty good. Despite the pigment somewhat hiding the wood grain, the colours were vibrant and the inks mixed well.

First pass of ink (diluted 50%) and attempted burst.

Once the first pass was dry, I made a second pass using the same 50/50 mix. The result is much better, with the colours filling out, and merging nicely to form the burst. The grain is certainly being occluded a little by the pigment, but for the Ash Stratocaster I plan to fill the grain with a dark Tibermate (probably ebony) so that it should stand out nicely under the blue.

Second ink pass (still diluted). Colour is deeper and much more even.

To be honest, I'm very pleased with the results I've managed to achieve. The burst could do with more black but it's getting there. Maybe one more pass will be enough. I'm also interested in trying a burst without adding water to the ink. If I work quickly on pre-moistened wood ,there should be enough liquid to allow the colours to blend together. I'll keep you posted how my experiments are proceeding!