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1975 Ripper restoration


neepheid

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I thought you might like to see a restoration job I recently completed with one of my friends. It started one day when I saw this poorly Ripper body/neck on eBay:

 

01_front_all.jpg

02_front_body.jpg

05_back_body.jpg

 

I felt sorry for it so I snagged it and vowed to bring Ripper s/n 574623 back to life.

 

Scrubbing began right away.

 

07_neck_scrub.jpg

01_front_all.jpg

03_back_all.jpg

 

Continues on next post...

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Because I was quite taken with the subtle grain patterns of the alder body, I hoped to do some kind of translucent finish. I even went to the trouble of mocking that up to see what it might look like:

 

red_mockup.jpg

 

However, that would not happen if I couldn't sort the various dings and chips in the body in a transparent way. So I tried to steam them out with the damp cloth/soldering iron and it went surprisingly well. Game on.

 

01_dings_top.jpg

02_dings_lower_horn.jpg

 

03_nodings_top.jpg

04_nodings_lower_horn.jpg

 

On the back at the bottom of the lower horn was a rather nasty gash, split wood and all sorts. I made a paste from wood glue and the sawdust I had accumulated from the sanding and filled it. It turned out kinda dark but it made for a solid repair and it's at the back so the trans finish was still on.

 

repair.jpg

 

So, got it all sanded down.

 

05_all_120grit.jpg

 

Continues on next post...

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Parts procurement was a pain. Being a 1975 Ripper, there were some tricky to find parts to find (or fudge around). Managed to snag the period correct weird tuners, but I couldn't find one of the original rotary switches so I gave up and found a modern replacement:

 

666-83-large.jpg

 

Of course, the pinout is completely different to the originals, so I had to trace each combination and make a conversion table for my new switch. Took that opportunity to decide to replace out of phase wiring with the option to use the neck pickup only. This resulted in these scribbles:

 

switch_wiring.jpg

 

And the parts slowly started to arrive:

 

01_all.jpg

 

I gave up waiting for pickups to appear, so I took a deep breath and shelled out for a set of Seymour Duncan Ripper replacements. I got a choke coil made by Curtis Novak.

 

Continued on next post...

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With a pickguard sorted (a 5 ply BWBWB one - I don't like the look of single ply pickguards) I got to work on wiring. How to mount the choke coil? The 1975 Ripper would have had a metal bracket soldered onto the side of the pot casing. A later Ripper has some kind of bracket through which the pot is screwed. I decided to try to mimic the latter model. I started with a PC blanking plate:

 

01_blanking_plate.jpg

 

After some cutting, bending, drilling and filing I came up with this:

 

02_bracket.jpg

 

Goes under the pot like a washer thus:

 

03_mounted1.jpg

 

Choke then attaches to it like this:

 

01_choke_mounted.jpg

 

I wired up everything bar the pickups and the bridge wire:

 

wired_up.jpg

 

Continued on next post...

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Over to my good friend Rich Lewis for the things I would probably mess up ;) I had decided to try for a deep, dark cherry red like an EB back in the day.

 

Final surface prep:

 

Ripper-02_zps94e2a3b3.jpg

 

Clear sealer coats:

 

Ripper-05_zps9ba38508.jpg

Ripper-04_zpsbd374ebc.jpg

 

Red!

 

Ripper-07_zps5c7b3215.jpg

Ripper-09_zps1a1c69e8.jpg

 

Mellowing:

 

Ripper-10_zps46c23d8f.jpg

Ripper-11_zps90ea0159.jpg

 

Continued on next post...

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Final assembly. One of the things we had to creatively get around was the top of body string ferrules. To my mind they looked awfully like boot eyelets. So that's exactly what we used:

 

eyelets.jpg

 

The truss rod cover is not a genuine one from back in the day - I found a close up picture of an original one, tidied it up and kept only the text then sent that to one of those "your signature on a truss rod cover" type places. It came out OK, fine at a distance but there's something "not quite right" about it close up. If a real one comes up in decent nick which the seller isn't asking a king's ransom for then I might snag it.

 

All together for the first time in who knows how long?

 

01_all.jpg

02_head.jpg

03_back_all.jpg

04_all_angle1.jpg

05_body.jpg

06_back_angle.jpg

 

It's fantastic. Sounds amazing, feels great to play (nice and light being an alder bodied one) and looks gorgeous. I played it at a gig last weekend. Rich was in the audience, which was a nice moment for him, seeing and hearing the results of all his hard work in the context it was designed for. He's probably biased, but he told me after "sell all your other basses, you only need that one" ;)

 

I do have a bridge cover for it, but I can't palm mute worth a hell with it on as I'm sure many people found out so it's off for now (and probably always unless it's being taken somewhere for show)

 

Super pleased with how it turned out, better than I dared hope. Couple of things for the future - it's due a final buff/wax once the nitro hardens properly in a few weeks. I mistakenly used linear pots for the mid/tone controls and while it works, all the adjustment is concentrated in the last 20% or so of the pot wiper. The originals used audio taper pots for these controls, so they'll be getting replaced at some point. Also the most difficult of all the parts continues to elude me - the rotary switch plate dial, the Mallory 374. They occasionally pop up on eBay, but always for ludicrous prices which I refuse to pay! There seems to be no modern replacements numbered 1-4 either (can find a 1-5 easily). Only a very minor cosmetic detail but it'll be the cherry on top of an already very delicious cake so I'm not super fussed about it.

 

Ripper s/n 574623, I salute you!

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All together for the first time in who knows how long?

 

01_all.jpg

02_head.jpg

03_back_all.jpg

04_all_angle1.jpg

05_body.jpg

06_back_angle.jpg

 

It's fantastic. Sounds amazing, feels great to play (nice and light being an alder bodied one) and looks gorgeous. I played it at a gig last weekend. Rich was in the audience, which was a nice moment for him, seeing and hearing the results of all his hard work in the context it was designed for. He's probably biased, but he told me after "sell all your other basses, you only need that one" ;)

 

I do have a bridge cover for it, but I can't palm mute worth a hell with it on as I'm sure many people found out so it's off for now (and probably always unless it's being taken somewhere for show)

 

Super pleased with how it turned out, better than I dared hope. Couple of things for the future - it's due a final buff/wax once the nitro hardens properly in a few weeks. I mistakenly used linear pots for the mid/tone controls and while it works, all the adjustment is concentrated in the last 20% or so of the pot wiper. The originals used audio taper pots for these controls, so they'll be getting replaced at some point. Also the most difficult of all the parts continues to elude me - the rotary switch plate dial, the Mallory 374. They occasionally pop up on eBay, but always for ludicrous prices which I refuse to pay! There seems to be no modern replacements numbered 1-4 either (can find a 1-5 easily). Only a very minor cosmetic detail but it'll be the cherry on top of an already very delicious cake so I'm not super fussed about it.

 

Ripper s/n 574623, I salute you!

 

Great job! Those old rippers are great basses. With mine I also do not have the original wiring. VEry Cool solution for the choke too. Congrats!

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Absolutely beautiful restoration! msp_thumbup.gif

 

Possibly some good news for you - I happen to have a Mallory 374 switch plate off my '72 EB3-L. It's in fair condition, with some tiny scratches through to the aluminum, the numbered area of the plate is in very good shape though, and you may be able to restore it. There are a couple of pictures of it here http://forum.gibson....b3-l-swamp-rat/ , but they don't show the plate very well (it's in much better condition than it appears). I've modded the electronics, and went with a toggle switch and a p/p tone pot for the choke. I'll never sell the Rat or go back to the rotary, so I don't need the plate.

 

Here's the deal: PM me your address and I'll send it to you. If you can't use it, just send it back (I wouldn't like to see it on eBay...) msp_biggrin.gif

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Absolutely beautiful restoration! msp_thumbup.gif

 

Possibly some good news for you - I happen to have a Mallory 374 switch plate off my '72 EB3-L. It's in fair condition, with some tiny scratches through to the aluminum, the numbered area of the plate is in very good shape though, and you may be able to restore it. There are a couple of pictures of it here http://forum.gibson....b3-l-swamp-rat/ , but they don't show the plate very well (it's in much better condition than it appears). I've modded the electronics, and went with a toggle switch and a p/p tone pot for the choke. I'll never sell the Rat or go back to the rotary, so I don't need the plate.

 

Here's the deal: PM me your address and I'll send it to you. If you can't use it, just send it back (I wouldn't like to see it on eBay...) msp_biggrin.gif

 

Wow, that's really kind of you! That would be amazing. I absolutely agree, if it's no good I will return it. I'll send you a PM the now. Thanks :)

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  • 1 month later...

I finally have a dial plate. It was a little scuffed and scraped, so I did my best to tidy it up (and took my sweet time doing it). The lacquer isn't 100% flat across the numbers due to cowardice (fear of sanding too deep and mucking the numbers up) but it looks good from a distance. My most warm and sincere thanks to our very own Kelvinator who kindly provided the most elusive of parts, you've really put the cherry on top of the cake!

 

DSC_0274.JPG

 

DSC_0277.JPG

 

Happy days! In other, invisible news - I rewired the bass with log taper pots for the mid/tone controls instead of the linear ones I had in and they seem better now. Not going back in there again unless something goes wrong! ;)

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I finally have a dial plate. It was a little scuffed and scraped, so I did my best to tidy it up (and took my sweet time doing it). The lacquer isn't 100% flat across the numbers due to cowardice (fear of sanding too deep and mucking the numbers up) but it looks good from a distance. My most warm and sincere thanks to our very own Kelvinator who kindly provided the most elusive of parts, you've really put the cherry on top of the cake!

 

DSC_0274.JPG

 

DSC_0277.JPG

 

Happy days! In other, invisible news - I rewired the bass with log taper pots for the mid/tone controls instead of the linear ones I had in and they seem better now. Not going back in there again unless something goes wrong! ;)

 

Nice job on the switch plate! msp_thumbup.gif I'm glad it ended up on such a beautiful bass.msp_biggrin.gif

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