Rickenbacker guitar misting.

[Thejohnofladies]

Other examples of a similar problem.

http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum/viewt ... 2cd043c74e

Back in 2006/07 my band was making plenty of money on weekends and I was totally obsessed with Rickenbackers, so I was spending my band earnings on new Rics. Some of these were almost never played in the intervening years. Today I got them all out one by one and to my horror I found that the finish on five of them has become sticky/tacky. What makes it more heartbreaking is that some are "colour of the year" guitars.

What I'm hoping for is that this has become some kind of known-issue in the meantime and I can get advice about how to avoid it on the as-yet unaffected guitars, and maybe even get some advice on how to reverse the damage on the others.

Pictures of mine.

https://imgur.com/a/LnyLfOb

I left mine alone for perhaps 2-3 months in its case. When I opened it up, there was this film all over it. You can see it clearly in the right picture. But it didn't stop at the paint. This film was everywhere. Imagine a baby with sticky hands and no fingerprints managed to squeeze their skin onto every surface, every crevice, etc. This stuff took 30 minutes to remove satisfactorily with the special rag they send as part of the case.

The case itself, like my bass rick case, smelled heavily of some kind of product when first arriving. The bass case has run out of that smell, and I play it frequently enough that this doesn't happen. It almost smells like the same as the rickenbacker rags that come with the case. Whether they treat both the rags and the case, I don't know.

It might not even be this 'special treatment' that comes supposedly with their rags.

https://www.samash.com/rickenbacker-970 ... -r97001xxx

>Make your Rickenbacker look good as new with this special treated cloth. Safe for any guitar's finish.

So far, what I have done is contain rickenbacker cloths in ziplock bags. When I do that, the smell stays on them forever. It might be that this treatment can travel through the air and rest on other surfaces. As the rick plastic bags come only with a staple to keep it closed, it might give off gaseous amounts of this treatment into the case where it can hang around unless aired out.

I've kept the guitar out of the case for now, and after that thorough wiping, the misty, sticky appearance hasn't returned.

In the pictures you may be able to see this mist on the metal parts as well, posts, etc. I preserved it on the headstock for the sake of inquiry.

Is anyone more sure of what it is? Isn't it odd that a guitar left in a case 3 months would develop this 'film' across its entire body, wood, metal, and plastic parts alike?

[jdogric12]

Where did it ship from (dealer's location)? How long between its manufacture date and the purchase date? Where are you located geographically, a humid area? Where did you leave it 3months, a basement or another area of the house? What's the humidity you keep them at?

I don't think there is any significant "treatment" to those cloths... they're just the right kind of cotton, unadulterated by any harmful dyes or soaps or anything. Sam Ash's copy writers are probably encouraged to make everything sound as enticing as possible. Maybe RIC describes them this way too, I don't know, and the site's down so I can't see.

The "Rick-O-Smell" we all know and love is the glue that holds the lining to the case. Kind of a vanilla scent, quite pleasant, and I imagine with a strong enough dose could enhance your Saturday night. Or Tuesday, your choice really.

A few people did report some hazy finish issues in the late 00's, but they were not as widespread as the old MID bleeding issue. Yours almost looks like the buffing compound wasn't properly removed maybe? Don't know. Suppose it could be some kind of latent offgassing. Not my area of expertise by a long shot. But that it hasn't returned since your 30-minute session means you're probably in the clear. No pun intended.