Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

COOL pic, Nick!

Cool pic, cool guitar, and cool Curmudge treatment Nick.

...Dean

Well, I don't have a Rickenbacker yet, but I'm going to clean up my Strat and Gretsch Country Gent with this stuff in the near future .

Paul, you mentioned that this stuff works well on chrome, but Country Gents have that gold plated nickel chrome or whatever it is, so I take it that's a no-no?

The gold on Gretsches--and other guitars, too--is microscopically thin. A soft damp flannel is all I'd use on these.

If you get any perspiration on a Gretsch's gold plating wipe it off immediately as above. If you don't, the gold will be gone within months.

Thank you sir, much appreciated. This morning was the first I'd ever heard/read about your Scratch-X/Zymol technique, and I spent a good hour looking at a few threads here. It's all great information, and the pictures people are posting just blow me away.

Thanks again! I'm going to pick up all the necessary ingredients tomorrow.

better buy some Zymol stock...

I was hesitant on using Paul’s treatment on a 30+ year old (Az Blue) finish.

No problems. Except for the 4 hours it took me to do it.

Good thing it was way to hot to go out today.

Looks killer, Dave!

The only cautions I would make concerning older instruments are as follows:

Any cracking or checking in the older finish stands a good chance of filling with Scratch-X or wax and becoming more obvious. So, don't load up the finish in this case...work the materials well into the cloth so that little of the liquid stuff is transferred onto the guitar. Let it stay in the cloth, where it can work just as well.

Second, if your guitar or bass is a matte or oiled finish, don't use this treatment. For matte factory finishes, I'd recommend Kleenmaster "Brillianize" to remove fingerprints and protect the surface.

For oiled finishes, Watco's Danish Oil Finish is my favorite. It's a blend of oils and dryers that is a one-step way to restore the depth while simultaneously protecting.

For French polished finishes, you're on your own. Standard practice is to re-polish using shellac and a pad, but this is a skilled operation that should be left to a finisher. There is nothing in either Scratch-X or Zymol which would harm a French-polished surface, though.

If you have a '29 Gibson mandolin or a '48 Martin or some other really valuable antique, I'd contact the manufacturer for help. My conscience would bother me if I didn't offer this advice!

This reminded me that I have to go to the auto parts store today. I've used Zymol wax, how well does their leather conditioner work? Will it darken a light gray leather interior?

Just did my '78 4001 JetGlo, which was already almost mint. Now, well, words don't describe it! And I never would have found this treatment were it not for you folks here. thanks Paul!

My first treatment took me about 4 hours too, Dave.... and it was only a single neck job!

I'm down to about 2 hours these days.

Anyone treated a Mapleglo finish yet?

It's next on my to-do list. As soon as I finish cutting the nut for it.

Leather treatments, if they're going to do any good, must penetrate the leather. In doing so, they will darken it. My old RR had Connolly hides, and I religiously used Connolly Hide treatment, which is pure lanolin with some stabilizers...The car had medium gray leather and it was a shade darker when I finished doing it the first time.

Most conditioners will warn against using them on very light leathers for this reason.

Leftybass - look for my pics and posts from April 27th for MG treatment.