RARE SLAB-BODIED 1961 RICKENBACKER 450

We’ve done a dozen or more Rickenbacker 425s and 450s over the last decade and a half, but none was as rough as the one you see here. Note the handmade black acrylic pickguard and the chopped up body bottom, along with the output jack that was mounted to a piece of aluminum strap, which in turn was screwed to the body, not quite concealing the chunk which was taken out of the body with a hammer blow or three…

Job #1, of course, was to strip the body of hardware and paint and assess its condition. The paint job was several coats of rattle-can black enamel, touched up at least three different times in its long life. The back had been sanded with rough sandpaper and brush-painted with floor varnish. There were lots of extra holes drilled in the body, and some very primitive gouging was done in the body to enlarge various cavities, for what reason will remain a mystery.

In a typical well-meaning gesture, the inside of the body cavities were covered in stainless steel gutter repair tape, and the output jack, which was attached to the aforementioned aluminum strapping, was wrapped with a dozen turns of black vinyl electrical tape.

As can be seen, the general condition of this guitar was deplorable, even ignoring the odd combination of modifications and finish attempts. The wiring harness had been redone with cheap vinyl wire and many of the solder joints were loose or cold-soldered, though all original pots and switch were present and in good condition.

We stripped the instrument back to bare maple, routed out the hacked-up bottom bout cleanly, and fitted a maple block into place to fill the cavity left by the routing. We left much of the crude hacking in place, as it did not compromise strength and was covered by the pickguard. The neck was de-fretted, and the fretboard re-crowned and leveled. New vintage frets were installed.

Our usual comprehensive finishing regimen followed. Although for some reason, we had assumed that the owner would elect to refinish this instrument in original Fireglo or Mapleglo with a gold-anodized pickguard and stamped aluminum truss rod cover, he surprised us by requesting a refinish in pearlescent Turquoise, to match a double-bound 360 that we had previously restored for him. He also asked for a gold plastic pickguard and truss rod cover, instead of the aluminum option. We were too glad to oblige, topping the finish off with several coats of IR-baked polyurethane clear coat. A Winfield bridge cover was stripped of its chrome, etched, and painted gold to match the pickguard. New bridge and output jack were fitted. Original tuners had been replaced by Grover Classics some years back, and although they were nasty as presented, they cleaned up very well in an ultrasonic bath, and were then hand-polished. New knobs and strap pegs top off this comprehensive restoration.