Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Late to this thread; my 2005/2007 MID 620/12 is metallic.

Do the current ones coming out of the factory still have the sparkly finish?

Like Alans 620, and as seen in the photo posted way back in this thread, my 2002 330/12 has a very pronounced metallic finish! I'm quite interested to see results from flash photography under stage lights to see the effects this finish produces!

Give it six weks or so and it will happen, Greg!

Might even give it six "weeks" as well Aitch!
But you are quite correct,as the get together at the jamtin with Brian Medway and all the Aussies, was what i was alluding to! I'll see you next Sunday at Darrens place. I'll be re-united with my long lost 360, as will you be with yours !

I know the ones previously had the sparkle in the finish, at least the ones that I saw in around 2005, but I have not seen any midnight blue guitars in person lately. Do the current ones coming out of the factory still have the sparkly finish? Most pics with sparkle in the finish seem to be from earlier in the decade. How about the current ones?

There is a pearlescent pigment in all the MID blues since roughly 1985, as far as I have been able to determine.

Apparently there was a period in the early-mid '80s when the MID was a solid (non-metallic or pearlescent) color. Otherwise, MID could be considered a "metallic" or "pearlescent" finish, depending upon the formula used in any particular era.

4005 wrote:I know the ones previously had the sparkle in the finish, at least the ones that I saw in around 2005, but I have not seen any midnight blue guitars in person lately. Do the current ones coming out of the factory still have the sparkly finish? Most pics with sparkle in the finish seem to be from earlier in the decade. How about the current ones?

The current 2007 MID, although darker, does have the "slightly-metallic" gleam and sparkle in the finish. It is finer and more subdued, granted, than the strikingly-metallic electric-blue shade of MID from 2005 or so, but the metallic sparkle is still there

Yeah, the sparkle in mine is a fine metallic, not a pearlescent. Pearlescent blue would look pretty damn good, though.

Not metallic, Alan. There was too much trouble with metallic particles remaining in the air and migrating onto surfaces, where air drafts would disturb them and cause them to settle onto new JG finishes. Even doing the MID guitars last thing on Fridays and waiting all weekend for the metallic to settle, doing major cleanup of metallic particles in the meantime, failed to remedy the situation, and a number of JG instruments had to be resprayed. At that point, pearls began to be used, as the particles don't "float" or migrate.

Here is a pic of the '05 620/6 I picked up recently. The pic's don't do it justice...it's a thing of beauty. I added silver pickguards from pickguardian.com and some vintage type knobs.

Very sweet, Mark...and the wood of the fretboard lends just the right touch of color warmth to keep things from looking too icy...

WOW, that's BEAUTIFUL!

And welcome to the Forum, Mark!

I really like that silver pickguard against that blue! I'm tempted to buy a couple of those to try on the AFG 660 I have coming, but I have to see the gold pickguard against that amber in person first.

Silver guards against AFG will look a bit odd, IMO...unless the AFG is one of the not-so-amber ones. Gold looks super against a more ambered AFG.

And I have seen a fair amount of variation in the AFG finish.