[gibsonbass76]

Hello, I have a '76 gibson ripper I put together that consists of:

The body and neck bought with bridge off ebay,
a seymour duncan custom shop pickup (with all the paperwork),
schaller bm tuners new from warmoth,
hand made pickguard(not great looking)

the body has lines in the finish and the bass has not been properly grounded because when it was wired the tech couldnt get the post to come up to install a new ground wire.

Whats the best thing to do with this? Part it out or sell it as whole on ebay?

[fidopunk]

Easiest way to get rid of it is to get my girlfriend to buy it for me... I'll start talking to her.

[eb2]

It depends on your motivation. If you would like to move it out of your life in one fell swoop, and recoup your investment, then sell it as is, with a full description. Honesty is the best policy, and if you are selling it as a project that is pretty much done except for some fine tuning then a lot of people would be glad to take it. An original or quality replacement pickguard is easy enough, and getting a ground wire to the stud insert is kids stuff for any tech. Finish buffing is easy too.

If you want to take the chance of making a bit more money you could part it out, but some stuff moves faster than others.

Good luck!

[gibsonbass76]

the tech I had work on it seemed competent, but he said he needed a special tool to get the stud pulled out, he ordered it but I never returned because it is an hour drive away. The lines in the finish are in the clear coat, but you can't feel them so I don't think I can buff them out. Is there any way to ground it by inserting a wire into the hole with some sort of tool? I had a pickguard made by wdmusic, and it was perfect except the holes that mount the pickguard to the body didn't line up. Also the tech used pots that won't take the original style ripper knobs, there not solidshaft pots like emg, there just too big to fit the knobs. This is my frustration and why I never felt very happy with the bass.

[eb2]

Lets go one by one -

A "good" tech should have a stud puller or been doing it long enough to remember how to make one. The stud puller can be ordered from Stew-Mac, and it is a special tool to some degree. But you can head to the nearest hardware store and make one for about $5 or less. You need a bolt that screws into the stud, and there are a couple of methods - stacking washers or a socket wrench socket act as braces. Here is one illustrated for you:
http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthr ... ling+Studs

I like to get a paint stirring stick from the hardware store, and drill a hole big enough for the stud to come up through, but wide enough to keep whatever your spacer is from mashing the finish or wood around it. The wood absorbs the pressure, and is junky enough that it will mush without marking the guitar. The ground wire then must go through the hole from the control cavity and sit under the stud insert. Using too thin a wire can shear it off when the stud insert goes back in, and you want a bit of it in there for contact, but not too much that it wont seat in all the way. It is a simple job, but definitely a pain in the ass. To reinstall a drill press can shove it in or you can use a dead blow hammer.

The finish sounds like a brush job if it has lines - no? It needs several wet sand passes to be flattened. You can do it with a brush, but not a good way to do it as it demands loads more elbow grease in what is already a labor-intensive step. This is something that - if you wanted to keep it - I would pay to have done or strip it down and start over.

Rippers used regular speed knobs, so Stew Mac or All Parts can hook you up with good pots. Just get SG guitar pots (not the long thread) or you could try to pinch in the split shafts that are there to see if you can fit the knobs on. They do widen and pinch in by design to fit different knobs, so it could be they are spread a bit too much.

[gibsonbass76]

Thanks for all the information! I think I'm doing the peg tonight! If not, I now know how to do it, would the ground wire then go from the peg to the tone pot or the volume pot?

[gibsonbass76]

Thank you! The ground is fixed, and the knobs are on. The lines in the finish are only part of the finish problems so I'm just going to chalk them up to character. I'm happier with it so I might just keep it thanks to you.

[fidopunk]

Nuts...

[eb2]

We all get lines when we get as old as your Ripper - fugedaboutit.

Good karma, fidopunk. There is one out there for you. Patience...

[anyfour]

Glad to see you got it all fixed up and are happy with it. It's a shame when little minor things keep us from loving our instruments.