Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

That's a great looking guitar Sheena. The pickguard is a bit over the top though. I love the colour.

I have to agree - Nice color, but funky pickguard.

Hmmm now what was the reason I was playing this guitar? I can't remember what my goal was... Oh, hey, yeah here it is, written on my pickguard! In rhyme! What says "Soulful" better than a rhyming pickguard?

Too bad it's printed upside down from playing position, because when I forget my goal I have to stop playing and take off the guitar so I can read my rhyming pickguard. But maybe since it rhymes it will help me remember while I'm playing, so my audience can know my goal too. Bono thought of everything with this one. Nice.

Mayne I'll redo my Fender Jag's guard to read:

"My Turf is Surf"

Whaddya think?

I think you're ready for a signature edition, Paul!

Actually, my girlfriend was reading over my shoulder as I typed and she said "I thought your goal was to be less snarky." Ouch!

Thanks for the suggestions about the fingerboard/frets Paul. I wet sanded the body and neck today, so more clear will go on it sometime this week. After another wet sand, I'll un mask the fingerboard and drop fill the places that need a bit of CV, and on to the wash coats. I could just leave the fingerboard alone except for the drop fill since it has good frets and clear on it already, but I think it will look better with a fresh application of clear. A little fretwork won't hurt me....it will just take longer.

That's the attitude, Greg!

BTW, it's not necessary to wet-sand in between coats of CV--dry-sanding goes much quicker. I use #220 open coat Aloxite (aluminum oxide) paper. Be careful not to sand through... the color coats are very thin and you'll hit bare wood if you go too far.

Hi Paul. Yes even though I've refinished several guitars and finished several new ones too that I made myself, I sometimes accidently sand through like I did this weekend. I was wet sanding with 320 after the first four coats of clear and sanded through the color on a spot on the edge of the body, and another on the neck. My airbrush came in handy though and its all ready for more clear tomorrow. So you're suggesting to dry sand instead of wet sand between the clear coat applications too? I would think you would get a smoother and better looking finish by wet sanding in between clear coats.

Sounds to me like you have a very thin coat of clear, Greg. I build up a deep coat of catalyzed clear and then go at it with #220, dry. Another few coats, more 220 dry, and then two or three wash coats in quick succession. Wet-sand 1000, wet sand 2000, wet sand 4000, buff. I end up with .007-.010" of total thickness, paint and clear. Everytime you add more coats of clear, you're dry -sanding half or more away.

Paul, I had 4 coats of clear on, but I sanded too aggressively I think. I only went through on some edges, so I just need to be more careful. Hopefully I'll be spraying more clear on tomorrow and I'll go easier on the scuff sanding until I get more clear applications on it.

Here's that "green" Gretsch Super Axe I mentioned:

In other light (sunlight) I SWEAR that the color appears green. This is the weirdest guitar color-wise I've ever seen. Brown under regular artificial light, green/brown under flourescent light, and a forrest green in the sunlight!

The fret marker inlays are the "dice" style but I looked carefully and there are no dots or other marking that would indicate the fret number. Too bad, that would have been a nice touch.

This guitar has obviously been rewired (to a standard LP-type setup) and doesn't contain the original phaser and compressor.

This was the fate of many of them. Apparently the electronics were not exactly paragons of reliability...