Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A couple of weeks ago, I received David Coyle's '68 335 for a re-fret and complete refinish, in Autumnglo. It has had a number of owners before David, and through its years, it has had a LOT of playing time (hence the refret!) and has been refinished twice--both times in black, over the original FG factory finish.

I took some pictures and sent David a brief note. He gave permission to begin, and we began stripping the black paint a few days ago, in order to evaluate the guitar's condition and prior to pulling the frets and resurfacing the fingerboard.

The next post (tomorrow) will contain some picture links on the process so far, along with a brief narrative on the process so far.

I look forward to your spin on this thread Paul.

Lex Luthier is on the job!!!

Looking forward to the posts, Paul.

Don't let David needle you about this!

This should be interesting.
I always like to read detailed stuff on restorations.

David has been a terrific guy to deal with. This guitar presents some typical thorny issues because of its age and (to me) unknown history. For that reason, it will make interesting reading and reference material as more and more of these are resurrected to jangle another day.

Here are some pictures of the guitar when I received it. David had kindly removed all of the hardware, so I got it in a condition which made the body and neck easy to evaluate. It looked pretty good, as his photos indicated. It had been refinished Jetglo at some time in the past, but by someone who was not a dab hand at guitar refinishing. Although it had been done with a spray gun (as opposed to my brush-painted, DYMO-labelled '58 Fenton), it showed a lot of orange peel and had obviously been done with ordinary automotive enamel. So the first order of the day was to take these pictures and begin to strip the paint.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00050.jpg
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We all know that Jetglo hides less than beautiful wood and in the case of an old, much-loved Rickenbacker, who knows what else?
Well, we're about to find out in the next installment!

I always love to see the before, during and after shots of creative people at work. So I eagerly await your updates Paul. Don't forget the shots along the way and the nasties you uncover.

Now we get into the nitty-gritty of stripping the paint and seeing what this instrument has been through in its 37 years of life...

The first thing I discovered is that it had been refinished black no less than twice before. The second time was probably to get the guitar shiny again; the first black refinish was quite old and the paint was thin and dull.

You will also see Bondo on this guitar to correct the highlights and flat areas. It's the pink stuff that you see here and there on the front of the body. There was none on the sides or back.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00093.jpg

This is a closeup of the area just below the cat's-eye sound hole. The small greenish area on the above photo is enlarged here and--it's a restorer's nightmare: an old fiberglass cloth patch done years ago by an amateur to patch a crack in the wooden top of the 335. There is a similarly-cracked area on the top of the cat's-eye. This leads me to believe that the guitar was possibly stepped on accidentally in early life.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00092.jpg

As we get the black off, a whole lot of thick automotive lacquer primer-surfacer (light gray color) comes to light. Somebody had a heavy spray gun hand and relied a bit too much on automotive hack tricks, in my opinion.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00094.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00095.jpg

The neck, fortunately, had been left alone and its conversion varnish was original and intact, except for the usual fingernail wear in the three lowest positions. It will have the frets pulled, then it will be resurfaced, refretted and re-varnished before dressing the frets at the very end of the refinish.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00097.jpg

Here are some closeups of the lower sound hole crack, after the Bondo and fiberglass patch has been removed and the area has begun to be cleaned. After the entire guitar is back to beautiful raw maple, this crack and the one at the top of the sound hole, will both be wedged up to proper level, and the wedges will be glued in place to support the top and to get it flat again in these areas. Then the cracks will be carefully glued and levelled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00106.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00107.jpg

Here you can see the crack at the top of the sound hole--not a usual place for this type of crack to turn up, which leads to my "stepped on" theory...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00108.jpg

As more and more careful hand-sanding of the body takes place, the beautiful striaght-grained maple top comes into view.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00109.jpg

Here's another view of the sound hole, showing the extent of the two cracks. They could be a lot worse. I should be able to coax the edges back together with a minimum of a hairline showing when it's all done.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00110.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00113.jpg

The guitar's beautiful headstock had been heavily covered with gray primer and sprayed black--twice! Now its classic laminated construction sees the light of day for the first time in decades. Note the FG/AG paint in the truss rod cavity!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00111.jpg

The neck is very thin front-to-back and quite flexible. There are no structural issues with the neck or heel area. Both are sound. Since David took the guitar apart and sent me the bare instrument, I have no way of telling how much adjustment was left in the bridge, but judging from the condition of the neck, the joint, and the flatness of the top, the 335 seems to be a player with no structural work needed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00112.jpg

To be continued...

Very cool, Paul. With the two top cracks exposed, will this guitar still be able to be sprayed Autumn-Glo? Also, what about the black in the soundhole? Will that be able to brought back to bare wood? Keep the pics/info coming.

Wow! At what point did you begin to weep, Paul?

Paul you mentioned using wedges to raise the top of the guitar level again. I would imagine the previous repair was done some time back, so will these packers remain after the repair?

Looking forward to the next installment

Good God, Paul. How in the heck do you get bondo stripped off. Aircraft remover?

Very interesting.
I will follow this one through to completion.
Man, this poor guitar must have been as thick as a Gibson fatback with all those layers on it! Did you hear the Ric gasping for air as the layers were coming off, Paul?

Noel