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 3907 times

Glueglo….

[henry5]

IMG_5736.jpeg (247.3 KiB) Viewed 3907 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.

[berth]

I think I bought binding for the new bodywings of my '68 over here. Maybe ask them if it is the right size?

[teeder]

I think I bought binding for the new bodywings of my '68 over here. Maybe ask them if it is the right size?

I bought some from there before, also.
Nice stuff.

I don't think there is any way to prevent the old binding from going bad once it starts.

[henry5]

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. BTW, those basses aren’t mine!

I’ve seen the Winfield stuff before; wasn’t there some issue with shipping celluloid binding?

Also, even if you did replace the binding, given that the reaction has normally spread into the wood already, isn’t there a possibility that it could still re-occur, even with new binding/glue, due to it being affected by the previous reaction?

One thing I’ve noticed, I’ve never seen this on an instrument that has spent most of its life in the UK, which seems strange. Has anyone read the section on Rickenbacker 101?

https://www.rickenbacker101.com/p/whats ... th-glueglo

[berth]

Has anyone read the section on Rickenbacker 101?

https://www.rickenbacker101.com/p/whats ... th-glueglo

Not really, I skipped to this one after one or two alineas: https://www.rickenbacker101.com/p/short ... ueglo-460s .

[henry5]

I’d already read that.