cleaning sticker mark

tomersg · Post by **tomersg** » Mon May 07, 2012 4:14 pm

Dear forum friends i have a question if i may

an old owner of my jetglo stupidly attached a stupid sticker on it.
i dont know which and i dont care. i received the bass without it.
but the sticker leave behind a circle mark.

its not really sticking out but can seen in some light and angel of view.

i pictured it for example with flash. it cant be seen without flash.

i tried to clean it with dunlop guitar polish and dunlop carnauba cream but no results.

any advice to remove this mark without any damage?
no pressure here, i can live with this mark but if there a way to to get rid of it, ill be happy.

and another question: how to make the back of the neck lees sticky? its gets sticky after some time of playing no matter how i clean it.

thanks

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon May 07, 2012 5:13 pm

Can't see anything in those photos, but I know what you're talking about.

This "sticker plateau" is a swelling of the conversion varnish topcoat from the plasticizer in the sticker adhesive, substrate (if it's a vinyl sticker) or both. The plasticizer migrates into the varnish and causes it to swell.

My advice: live with it for awhile. The swelling mat go down as the plasticizer sublimates into the atmosphere. If, after six months or so you notice no difference, then I'd advise wet-sanding the area gently with a hard plastic sanding block and some #1500 or #2000 wet or dry sandpaper. This will render it absolputely flat, and then you can carefully polish the area with somep olishing compound, followed by wax to protect it.

Dirk · Post by **Dirk** » Mon May 07, 2012 8:34 pm

Goo Gone, works wonders with sticky residue. Also a more nasty solution would be naptha.
Dirk

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon May 07, 2012 11:22 pm

Dirk, it's not the residue we're talking about here, but rather the swelling that happens from leaving a sticker on conversion varnish for an extended length of time...

Dirk · Post by **Dirk** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:17 am

Sorry about that then, just trying to be helpful.
I've never seen that phenomenon myself with stickers, interesting.
Dirk

LB75 · Post by **LB75** » Tue May 08, 2012 10:35 am

Even if you can get it flat you may still be able to see it because that sticker protected the area from light. Any fading that happened due to exposure to light didn't happen under the sticker. I see this all the time detailing cars.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Tue May 08, 2012 12:39 pm

Absolutely correct, Don. It depends upon two things: The age of the bass, and the length of time the sticker has been on the bass. If it's an older ('80s or earlier) bass, and the sticker was on for some time--months or even years, you might see the shadow, as older CV does amber with time and exposure to UV light. On JG instruments this has the effect of making the finish appear olive green to a greater or lesser degree. Peeling off the sticker on this finish would leave a black or blacker shadow.

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Tue May 08, 2012 1:37 pm

I hope the sticker wasn't on there so long that the exposed conversion varnish reacted to UV over time, while the "stickered" portion of the top did not, resulting in a permanent two-tone.

tomersg · Post by **tomersg** » Tue May 08, 2012 7:44 pm

thanks for the answers.
the bass is from 1991.
i own it two months.
i dont know how much time the sticker was there. i received the bass clean and without it.
i thinks i leave it like this.
i think the process is too much complex for me.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Tue May 08, 2012 8:00 pm

Good decision!

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Tue May 08, 2012 8:56 pm

There should be a special punishment corner in the Afterlife for those who have defaced Rickenbackers with stickers.

That nice 480 I picked up last summer came with several stickers on it.....

and I'm still trying to polish that haze off the finish.

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:14 pm

8mileshigher wrote:There should be a special punishment corner in the Afterlife for those who have defaced Rickenbackers with stickers.

Does this include Will Lee?

http://vimeo.com/11237479

kiramdear · Post by **kiramdear** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:25 pm

8mileshigher wrote:There should be a special punishment corner in the Afterlife for those who have defaced Rickenbackers with stickers.

Even this guy?

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:28 pm

kiramdear wrote:
8mileshigher wrote:There should be a special punishment corner in the Afterlife for those who have defaced Rickenbackers with stickers.

Even this guy?

Well, that's nothing compared to what he did to the rest of the bass!

jdawe · Post by **jdawe** » Tue May 08, 2012 9:38 pm

8mileshigher wrote:There should be a special punishment corner in the Afterlife for those who have defaced Rickenbackers with stickers.

Peter Buck gets an exemption, of course.

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum