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Topic: Pictures of pre-war Rickenbacher B8 |
Mike Bonnice
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 14 Dec 2011 8:15 pm |
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In another thread in this forum, I was encouraged to share photos of my pre-war Rickenbacher B8 eight string bakelite. Here they are. Some notes of interest:
- It's evident that the B8 is a B6 with more stuff crammed in to the same space. The nut is the same width as a B6, the peg head is the same size, the magnets and the bobbin are the same size, the strings are closer together.
- The bridge screws on, it is not molded into the bakelite. It appears that either the original bridge is ground off the bakelite after a B6 body is molded, or the mold tool was reworked to fill in the bridge cavity.
- A crack developed between all eight of the holes that the strings go through. You can see one photo before the crack and one after. The crack happened when I was cleaning the instrument. After I bought it on eBay, I stripped everything and washed the body in warm soapy water. I rinsed the body and the crack appeared; I assume it was a thermal shock, I wasn't even thinking about matching the temperature of the rinse water to the wash water! When the crack appeared, I almost had a heart attack. After regaining my composure, I took the body to a guitar repair shop and they stabilized the crack with superglue or some sort of miracle goo. Every time I look at the guitar I expect the crack to grow and the strings to fall out.
- I ground the strings electrically by attaching a wire from the bridge to the pickup mount. It reduces hum when I put my hands on the strings.
- At the moment, the magnets are from my B6 while the B8's magnets are at the plating shop being re-chromed. Some of the pictures are of one set of magnets and some are of the other.
- There has been some rework or repair of the nut near the middle strings, I can't tell what the reason was.
- I'm extremely fortunate that all the tuners are perfect. The shafts are straight and the buttons are firm and usable. I expect that the buttons will crumble any day now. Does anyone have a suggestion where to get chrome buttons that I can glue on when the day arrives (StewMac doesn't seem to have chrome)?
- The chicken head volume knob is sweet. It's so easy to change volume mid-song by bumping it one way or the other because I don't need to twist or roll a knob. I just need to be careful that its normal position is one that I don't bump by accident.
My tuning is (low to high) Bb C E G A C E G. My strings at the moment are (low to high) 46w 42w 32w 26w 20p 18p 17p 17p. The weird gauges at the high end are due to volume imbalance and I'm trying to compensate for low output on the high strings by increasing the gauge.
I really like playing this instrument, but it has its limitations. I love how fat it sounds on the lower frets (playing in D or F, for instance). But, I don't like the sound above the 17th fret as the strings sound stiff and shallow (I don't think my B6 has that same sound character). Probably the pickup imbalance has me placing the pickup too close to the strings.
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Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Posted 15 Dec 2011 1:18 am
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| Bitchin! |
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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 15 Dec 2011 1:38 am
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Mike, I find it hard to believe the wash caused the crack. Bakelite is pretty tough. The crack may have been diguised. I know that seems unlikely, but its not hard with Bakelite. My B6 had been dropped on a hard floor when I got it. There was a chip out of one back edge and a crack between two of the holes. The problem has never deteriorated. But lets say one day the whole end falls off your guitar. That would just give you a chance to glue it properly with keying and some high quality epoxy.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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Mike Bonnice
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 15 Dec 2011 5:43 am
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Regarding the crack, there's another that doesn't quite appear in the photos. It starts at the screw hole for the bridge that is on the high-string side and it heads toward the corner of the pickup cavity. It formed after I had the big crack filled. It wasn't visible at first, as seen in the second photo (taken before I washed the body)
To fix it I used a milling tool in my Dremel MotoTool and removed the crack all the way as deep as it went (perhaps a centimeter). I put some liquid super glue in the bottom of the groove, then I filled the groove with black epoxy from StewMac. This patch is visible in the fifth photo, it's the smudge underneath the grounding wire.
By the way, the bakelite can take a polish. At first I used polishing rouge and a soft polishing wheel on the Dremel, but it left rouge in the crack. I used some number 2000 sand paper and wet-sanded the repaired areas and the finish looks fine. |
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Mike Bonnice
From:
Arizona, USA
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Posted 15 Dec 2011 6:31 am
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Regarding the crack, there's another that doesn't quite appear in the photos. It starts at the screw hole for the bridge that is on the high-string side and it heads toward the corner of the pickup cavity. It formed after I had the big crack filled. It wasn't visible at first, as seen in the second photo (taken before I washed the body)
To fix it I used a milling tool in my Dremel MotoTool and removed the crack all the way as deep as it went (perhaps a centimeter). I put some liquid super glue in the bottom of the groove, then I filled the groove with black epoxy from StewMac. This patch is visible in the fifth photo, it's the smudge underneath the grounding wire.
By the way, the bakelite can take a polish. At first I used polishing rouge and a soft polishing wheel on the Dremel, but it left rouge in the crack. I used some number 2000 sand paper and wet-sanded the repaired areas and the finish looks fine. |
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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 15 Dec 2011 1:32 pm
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Brasso is also a good bakelite polish as it is mildly abrasive.
_________________
Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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