Rickenbacker 330w Finish!

[manta]

Mine looks similar to yours, you can see a bit of glue at the neck/body joint. It isn't awful so I don't have a problem with it. It plays and sounds great. I didn't have the F-hole problem and the frets are fine. It is finished nicely. I also looked at my 2002 380PZ and the glue can be seen there at the neck/body joint too, although I see even less. I am not sure what you would want RIC to do except maybe sand down the glue? Both play great, so I am not worrying too much about a dab of glue. It is wood on wood so I am not sure how you have them cover it up. Any wood people out there?

[Quadrophenia]

Mine looks similar to yours, you can see a bit of glue at the neck/body joint. It isn't awful so I don't have a problem with it. It plays and sounds great. I didn't have the F-hole problem and the frets are fine. It is finished nicely. I also looked at my 2002 380PZ and the glue can be seen there at the neck/body joint too, although I see even less. I am not sure what you would want RIC to do except maybe sand down the glue? Both play great, so I am not worrying too much about a dab of glue. It is wood on wood so I am not sure how you have them cover it up. Any wood people out there?

Thanks!

Anyway, it was not just the glue, but also the sharp frets. I don't expect to much for a guitar, but I was not sure about the finish. That's why I opened an account over here.

The good thing is that my supplier, and the Rickenbacker customer service agreed with the facts that this was not the way a expensive guitar should look like!

I will keep you all updated, but first I'm Ric-less for a few weeks

[jps]

...also the sharp frets

Climatic conditions are most likely the cause of that (metal does not contract/expand nearly as much as wood does). This is quite common for lots of brands of fretted instruments; get a good repair tech/luthier to file and dress the fret ends and you will be good to go.

[Hotzenplotz]

...also the sharp frets

Climatic conditions are most likely the cause of that (metal does not contract/expand nearly as much as wood does). This is quite common for lots of brands of fretted instruments; get a good repair tech/luthier to file and dress the fret ends and you will be good to go.

How are these necks treated? Oiled, varnished or without a treatment?
Varnished necks can stand a dry enviroment for a longer time than oiled ones. Untreated wood dries the fastest.

@Mark: Do You live in an area with low humidity? Were the frets this way from the beginning?

As far as I can judge from the third pic at least one fret seems to have a lift at the treble side, also. This could be done when reshaping the frets, too.

[manta]

Sascha,

These are like the 380s and are treated with oil. According to Mr. Hall when they first came out, these (W series) need less work due to the way they are now finished than the 380 Lagunas. You had to take an old pair of nylons and lightly apply tung oil to the 380s to keep the wood fresh and the sheen on the walnut and unvarnished maple neck. The new W series is also treated with tung oil but Mr. Hall says owners shouldn't see the need to do the tung job as often. I live in a high humidity environment even with the air con so I really don't seem to have much trouble with the wood here on my W series and the frets, in fact the entire neck, is amazing playable. Very fast.

Must just be something that slipped by QC with Mark.

Manta

[Hotzenplotz]

Very interesting details!

[fstrat76]

Sascha,

These are like the 380s and are treated with oil. According to Mr. Hall when they first came out, these (W series) need less work due to the way they are now finished than the 380 Lagunas. You had to take an old pair of nylons and lightly apply tung oil to the 380s to keep the wood fresh and the sheen on the walnut and unvarnished maple neck. The new W series is also treated with tung oil but Mr. Hall says owners shouldn't see the need to do the tung job as often. I live in a high humidity environment even with the air con so I really don't seem to have much trouble with the wood here on my W series and the frets, in fact the entire neck, is amazing playable. Very fast.

Must just be something that slipped by QC with Mark.

Manta

I too am still having issues with my 360W. I put another thread out there at the time I purchased it back in July 2014. Mine came completely unfinished and I had to apply the tung oil myself. I put it away for many months and just brought it out to try with a new amp.

I never looked too closely, but now I notice how terrible the area between the frets is, almost a small curvature to the area, not to mention small un-sanded bumps in the neck, non-straight truss cover and a host of other finish issues.

Because I put this away for awhile I never noticed certain other things:

I can't even tune this guitar because every note on the first three or four frets are sharp. Intonation is spot on. This might indicate a nut issue, but it also might indicate a fret issue.

I put this away and forgot about it but now I need to do something. I'm not really interested in a replacement at this point.

Any suggestions?

[manta]

Michael,

Are you sure it was completely unfinished? I find that hard to believe. It looks like natural wood. Applying more oil may have given the wood a bit more sheen, but I doubt it was completely unfinished. Post some photos of the frets in question please.

[fstrat76]

Michael,

Are you sure it was completely unfinished? I find that hard to believe. It looks like natural wood. Applying more oil may have given the wood a bit more sheen, but I doubt it was completely unfinished. Post some photos of the frets in question please.

Thanks for the reply.

It absolutely came unfinished. Even the wood smelled freshly cut, if that makes sense. I thought that's how it was supposed to come.

I can try posting the original pics of it when it was unfinished, but I doubt you will be able to tell. It would also be hard to get pics of the area between the frets but there is definitely a valley-like appearance at certain frets almost like they were sanded out too much.

Looking closer at the back, even the curvature and binding around the horns is slightly uneven.

It's clearly a disappointing piece, but more unacceptable is the inability to tune it as I mentioned above so it can't even be played.

I need to take action with this so I'm looking for suggestions?

Edit: Spoke with my dealer, I will get in touch with Ric next week. I also attached a pic of the guitar before I picked it up at the store. It's hard to tell, but there is no finish. Interestingly, another issue evident here is the angle of strings from the tailpiece to the bridge.

[manta]

I am not sure what you mean by finish? It is just oiled wood. So it doesn't have anything but the natural shine, smell and feel of walnut.

But that aside, yea, if you can't tune it I'd talk to the deer too.

[jps]

I'd talk to the deer too.

Yeah, that does usually help, in lots of cases.

[manta]

And if the deer has no good advice, then try the guitar dealer!!! (!#%*&! spel chekers)