Glueglo - how to fix?

[henry5]

Hi all,
As some will know, I have a special love for the very early ‘70s pre-skunk, small headstock/walnut wings 4001. My main bass, my favourite Ric (and indeed bass) that I’ve ever played, is pre-skunk Feb ‘72. To me, they sound different than the skunk stripe basses, even allowing for variations from bass to bass.

However whenever I look at getting another from that era, they almost exclusively seem to be suffering from the dreaded Glueglo, with disintegrating binding. Is there a way of fixing this? I’m guessing you could replace the binding, but I’d be worried about it happening again. Does anyone know if this is a legitimate issue? Is there a way of stabilising it?

Also, is it possible to replace the binding without completely stripping the guitar? And does anyone know what the correct binding would be, size-wise, for that era?

Thanks!

[henry5]

I guess the answer to that is no.

Where is everybody these days? Genuine question…

[kennyhowes]

Glueglo = disintegrating binding?

Can someone catch me up on this term and what it entails?

[henry5]

IMG_5832.jpeg (390.82 KiB) Viewed 63 times

Glueglo….

[henry5]

IMG_5736.jpeg (247.3 KiB) Viewed 63 times

And this is what can happen to the binding…

[henry5]

From discussions on here it seems to have been related to a particular mix (or lack of mix!) of acetone used to glue the binding at the factory over a certain period of time.

[berth]

Paint it black.

[henry5]

Hi Berth, how are you doing? Long time no speak!

Yeah, being serious for a moment, it’s not the discoloration that’s the issue for me, it’s the disintegrating binding, and the possibility of it disintegrating even further.