How long should I wait?

[elysrand]

Bear in mind that RIC has a warranty at risk, and in the case of checking or abuse a reputation to live up to in ensuring that their consumer customer is "over-protected" rather than underprotected, I would imagine. Their recommendation of 48 hours, I am sure, is meant to be worst-worst-case, say in taking a guitar at a very dry 10 degrees F and suddenly taking it into an 85 degree very humid room. In the majority of circumstances, 24 hours is more than enough, or 8 hours, or 4 hours. It is not a hard and fast requirement in all cases (or even very many) to wait 48 hours, period.

I have never had a problem with any RIck finish checking, simply because I took the guitar from a 35 degree F car into a 75 degree F auditorium, especially when it is not humid in the auditorium or club. I just open the case, flap the case lid up and down a few times, close the lid, and take it our 15 minutes later. Never a problem, or a single check in the finish.