Help needed for 360!

[BlueMeanies]

Hi guys, i'm a Rickenbacker owner from Italy.
In this days i have the possibility to buy a new Rick from a friend of mine with a very very good price. It's a 1990 Jetglow 360/6.
But it has a problem, a lot of paint crack on fingerboard and one between the neck and the body.
They all are only "paint" cracks and not "wood" cracks and for me is important how it sounds like and not how it looks (it's a rick and it's beautifull also with the cracks). It' sounds good and probably i will buy. What you think about it considering the price?

I'd like to know if you have or know guitars with the same problem and if you know how it could be happened?
And at the end if you think it's "dangerous" to buy this rick also if it sounds good.

Some photos...





Sorry for my english, it's a little bit rusty, or cracked...
Thanks to all

[jimk]

Is the finish actually cracked or merely scratched? It you're happy with the sound of the guitar, and the instrument seems to be structurally sound, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars, buy it!.

Regards,
JimK
P. S. Your English is better than my Italian.

[BlueMeanies]

It's cracked but i don't understand way, does it happen with 20 years old ricks?

Fortunatelly it sounds very good but i'm afraid that in few years i will have only dust in my hands...

Probalby your italian is better than mine

[jps]

Welcome, Valerio!

What you are seeing is finish checking, nothing to worry about.

[BlueMeanies]

Wow, it has a name, and is finish checking dangerous? Is it normal for a rick with 20 years?

Thanks for the information you are the best ricks expert of the web

[jps]

Finish checking happens with many different instrument brands. It is due to drastic changes in environmental conditions like taking a guitar in it's case that has been in your cold car for a while into a warm room and opening the case right away. The extreme difference in temperature can cause the finish to do that type of damage because the finish and the wood expand and contract at different rates.

[jingle_jangle]

I'd like to see a shot of the bridge, personally. I wonder where it is in terms of adjustment...

[BlueMeanies]

As you can see the bridge is ok, but i don't understand a thing, "finish checking" is someting could be happen with temperature changes but it's not a "problem" for the guitar, only an aesthetic problem, isn't it?

[johneek]

I'd like to see a shot of the bridge, personally. I wonder where it is in terms of adjustment...

Paul's point is a good one, and he may be able to see what he's looking for in that last photo, but I'd like to see a close up that shows exactly how much room is left to adjust the bridge.

Welcome Valerio!

[BlueMeanies]

Thanks guys, i trust in you so here you are other photos but i don't understand why you need images of bridge for finish checking on the fingerboard. But i trust in you, you are the experts
Those are old small photo that my friend did

[37012player]

Valerio,

The reason the guys are concerned about looking at the bridge is they are pondering weather the neck has moved relative to the body of the guitar. This could be why the finish is cracking at the joint. If the neck angle has moved, then the bridge is usaualy lowered down to compensate. If the neck angle relative to the body keeps moving, you eventually have the bridge run out of adjustment so that its as low as it will possibly go, and then its time for a dreaded Neck Reset. Neck Resets are expensive as it involves removing the neck from the body...and depending on the method a complete or partial refinish is required. Do a search on Neck Resets within this forum to learn all about this.

Very recent personal experience. I've just come home for Easter from nearly 3 weeks away for work, and returned to find my 360/12 (built 1997) neck/body connection has moved considerably. We had a really hot and dry spell while I was away. The guitars neck first showed finish cracks just like your photos back in 1998, when I first got it. For about 5 years it was fine, and I did not need to adjust it at all. However, I've been constantly adjusting the bridge down to compensate for about the last 5 years now, and now its basically "Game Over" (sniff sob...sniff sniff...). My guitar has had lots of climate changes (English winters, Oz Summers) in its life and plenty of aircraft flights as well, which I'm sure hasn't helped. Based on my experience I'd be very cautious about the JG 360.

Hope this helps,

Simon..........

[paologregorio]

The bridge height adjustment appears a bit low to me. Does anyone else have this impression?

[BlueMeanies]

Thank you so mutch simon, now i undestand why they wants bridge's photos.
Now i'm waiting to see what jingle jangle thinks about it and says to me what i have to do to this guitar. (hey, if you need different kind of photo say to me)
Thanks to all.

[jingle_jangle]

The photos, small as they are, seem to indicate somewhat less than 1/8" left in the adjustment range, which justifies (although just barely) my suspicion that the neck has moved somewhat, and that the cracks could be stress cracks. This amount of shift, however, is not unheard of in a Rick this age.

[BlueMeanies]

Thanks Jingle the diagnosis is perfect...

...but i don't understand what i have to do, and if i have to do something...