What would you guys suggest for cleaning up a 32 year old RIC pickguard? I've got alot of wood polish and lemon oil here and nothing to clean plastic. Some local yocal told me toothpaste of all things would work for cleaning but not polishing. What say you?
Cole
Shinin' up the 'ole pickguard
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loverickbass
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jingle_jangle
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Cole: there are a couple of ways to accomplish this.
Short answer: NOVUS # 2 or Meguiar's Plastic polish. NOVUS is available at a plastics store and I've also seen it a Kragen. Meguiar's is available at Kragen.
Long Answer:
DO NOT use lemon oil, fretboard conditioner, or anything with solvent in it on an acrylic pickguard. Everytime you see a nice old Rick with cracks radiating out from one of the switches or pots, or the corner by a screw broken off, there's a possibility that, besides age, there might have been some solvent unknowingly applied.
When Rick pickguards are made, they are routed with a high-speed carbide cutter. Rick used to use pin routers, but now it's all CNC. Yours is not CNC, which also means that the guy who router it undoubtedly fed it around the pattern at a varying speed. At any rate, there are microscopic fissures left in the edge of the acrylic after both routing and drilling operations. These are points of stress in the acrylic. Solvent penetrates these cracks and opens and extends them, within seconds.
If you have a spare piece of acrylic or a trashed Rick pickguard, dip it in denatured alcohol for a few seconds and closely inspect the edge. You'll be amazed at what you see. Lots of cracks! This is also true of the solvents found in neck conditioners and some waxes (Johnson's Pride is one).
OK, so what do you use? Your toothy friend was not far off! Toothpaste is a nice polish. It contains a very fine abrasive that works well on soft plastics like the celluloid found in many pickguards. Acrylic will usually take something more aggressive.
In my shop, I use a 6" soft muslin buffing wheel rotating at about 1000rpm (don't want to melt or burn the plastic by heating it too much!), and some fine plastic polishing rouge, which is blue in color. This'll take anything short of a deep scratch out.
Short answer: NOVUS # 2 or Meguiar's Plastic polish. NOVUS is available at a plastics store and I've also seen it a Kragen. Meguiar's is available at Kragen.
Long Answer:
DO NOT use lemon oil, fretboard conditioner, or anything with solvent in it on an acrylic pickguard. Everytime you see a nice old Rick with cracks radiating out from one of the switches or pots, or the corner by a screw broken off, there's a possibility that, besides age, there might have been some solvent unknowingly applied.
When Rick pickguards are made, they are routed with a high-speed carbide cutter. Rick used to use pin routers, but now it's all CNC. Yours is not CNC, which also means that the guy who router it undoubtedly fed it around the pattern at a varying speed. At any rate, there are microscopic fissures left in the edge of the acrylic after both routing and drilling operations. These are points of stress in the acrylic. Solvent penetrates these cracks and opens and extends them, within seconds.
If you have a spare piece of acrylic or a trashed Rick pickguard, dip it in denatured alcohol for a few seconds and closely inspect the edge. You'll be amazed at what you see. Lots of cracks! This is also true of the solvents found in neck conditioners and some waxes (Johnson's Pride is one).
OK, so what do you use? Your toothy friend was not far off! Toothpaste is a nice polish. It contains a very fine abrasive that works well on soft plastics like the celluloid found in many pickguards. Acrylic will usually take something more aggressive.
In my shop, I use a 6" soft muslin buffing wheel rotating at about 1000rpm (don't want to melt or burn the plastic by heating it too much!), and some fine plastic polishing rouge, which is blue in color. This'll take anything short of a deep scratch out.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
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― Kurt Vonnegut
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loverickbass
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