original colour?

[ozover50]

Ewer people are all nutz!!

[jps]

Ewer people are all nutz!!

What? Were you expecting something more like this?

[ozover50]

Huh?

[cjj]

That's a pitcher Aitch...

Or, actually, a picture of a pitcher...

[ozover50]

Hmm...... must be 'dumb down' day over here...... went straight over my head!!

[beatlefreak]

Looking at your avatar, you must mean under your head.

[ozover50]

Not having such a great day today, Kris..... there's every change it went straight through and I didn't feel a thing!!

[casinoman]

Alright folks, you asked for pics, so here they are. First of all I want to point out that when opening the thread I did not have any indication for a refin. I just wanted to make sure as jetglo is quite rare on an instrument of that age. However, what I noticed about my guitar was that on some areas you could feel a slight "seam" between the binding and the finished areas of the guitar. So I went to check with my 350SH which has the same combination of ceckered binding and jetglo finish, and although it's only half the age of the 360F, I found that the transition from binding to the finish is very much the same: the binding appears to be slightly recessed, maybe a result of shrinking or the manufacturing process (taping of the binding when applying the finish or alike). And no, the 350SH is definitely not a refin .

So together with my observations from taking the pictures today I am now quite sure that the guitar carries its original finish. There are no traces of another colour, there is a small visible crack at the end of the slash soundhole (which seems to be common on this particular model from what I have heard from other owners), and you can tell from hardly visible lines in the finish where the separate pieces of wood have been glued together (see area between the pickups parallel to the strings and area around the tailpiece bracket). When comparing the areas behind the TRC and the pick-guard of the 360F with the 350H, they do look very much alike (pattern of traces of the spray paint, small line of no paint at the edge of the truss rod cavity, etc.). But I certainly would be interested in your opinion. Thanks, Michael

[casinoman]

more pics:

[jps]

Nice!

I do think the nut is a replacement, however.

[beatlefreak]

I think the finish is original.

[clementc3]

Regarding the transition from binding to finish and being able to feel the transition, see this thread on that very question (I don't know if the thread link will work):

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=378850&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=381+binding+86kubicki

or try

http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... +86kubicki

The binding is not masked off for the final finish application; instead, the finish is sprayed on and then scraped off of the binding by hand with a blade, thus the perceptible height difference.

I think someone on the forum recently posted a link to photos from a Rickenbacker factory visit that showed a worker scraping the oversprayed finish off of the binding with the caption, "Shaky hands need not apply". I can't find that thread, though.

[casinoman]

@ Jeffrey: you are right, the nut has been replaced (hence the white colour), but I still have the original one

[jps]

Good that you kept the original nut. is there a reason it was replaced?

[jingle_jangle]

There's a possibility it was originally MG, although if it is a refin, it's decades old.

Look at the photo of the jackplate and jack wiring. There are areas of the black finish that look like they lifted off when the plate was removed at some time in the past. When this happens, it's an indication of poor adhesion between the topcoat and the substrate, often because the substrate was glossy and the topcoat stuck better to the chrome than to the previous finish.

If the previous finish was MG and was not scuffed well to provide a mechanical bond with the "new" JG finish, the JG could adhere to high-pressure areas like the corners of the jackplate, where the screws concentrate pressure. Another typical example of this can be seen on plexi TRCs of '60s vintage, where finish is often swapped one way or the other, due to the pressure of the screws.

That crack could have been the reason that it was painted black--a crack shows on MG, but if it's filled and resprayed black, it will not be too obvious for a few months at least.

I'd have to have this one in hand to tell for sure, however.