Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A few weeks back, I was contacted by Forum member David Blair, who had a pristine 325V63 with some finish problems. It seems his guitar had had some repairs done to the heel at one time in the past, and the touchup job, though glossy enough, was pretty obvious.

Davis asked my advice on whether to try to blend the touchup, or whether to do a complete refinish. I asked him to send the guitar so I could have a look, and then advised a refinish.

The heel area had one substantial nick, and from my inspection I could see that the neck-to-body joint in the heel area had cracked and had been repaired, but the touch up had cracked and creeped again, besides having been done ON TOP of the conversion varnish and over the repair's glue joint, which had bubbled a bit.

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

The gloss didn't match and in strong light, the black paint which was used (nitrocellulose) was grayer than the factory black. The coversion varnish had not been sanded to remove the gloss and to improve adhesion, so the blend zone had a strange black overlay stripe at the joint.

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

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

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/neckblendsanded2.jpg

In addition, there were at least a half-dozen minor flaws in the factory paint job (JG is a ***** to do in a production situation!) which we agreed I would take care of.

There were some areas where some fuzz or lint had landed in the varnish coat when it was wet. One was just south of the jack plate, and another was on the back near the center.

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

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

There was also a pretty substantial sag in the varnish which hadn't been sanded completely flat, and resulted in some distorted highlights in the lower bout edge.

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

Remember: RIC's finishing department is the bottleneck in the production of these beautiful instruments, and I'm sure things get to be a bit pressured from time to time. Anyway, it's flat now, but it took 20 minutes of careful flattening--something that can't always be done on an assembly-line basis.

I disassembled the guitar, unsoldering the pickup wired at the pots, and masked the fretboard since it did not need another couple of coats of paint! I discovered an interesting factory adaptation, done post-finishing with a drum sander in a handheld die grinder or perhaps a drill press. This was done to accommodate the pots in final assembly.

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

The guitar was very carefully wet-sanded with #600 paper, using my favorite detail block, made of very dense EDPM foam rubber. This block has just enough give to minimize wear on the paper, and is stiff enough to yield a very flat surface. Contrary to what many people believe, a super-hard and super-flat block should only be used to take down high spots on very fine surfaces and is not the best for this sort of work.

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

Edges were done last, without a block and very carefully. The aim in a refin such as this is not to break through the varnish if possible. Anytime the varnish coat is breached, special care must be taken with subsequent paint coats--especially color coats--to avoid "ringing" wherever the varnish/color coat interface occurs.

You will see in the photos that the upper horn had an incompletely-flattened imperfection, and right next to it was a small dig from the power buffing wheel, which manifests itaelf as a ripple on the edge of the horn. The areas between the horns and the neck are especially tricky to buff without digging and rippling.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/horndefects2.jpg

There were a few minor chips in the varnish from normal use; these sanded out easily. One was smack dab in the crest of the headstock, another by the tuner for the "D" string; another was in the vibrato area on the front of the guitar.

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

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/headchip2.jpg

There was some glue on the fretboard surface from the previous repair. Seems that the heel repair had been done with epoxy.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/fretbdglu2.jpg

Prior to painting the surface must be repeatedly treated with a commercial wax and grease remover. The stuff shown in this photo is DuPont's version.

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

The next photo shows one of the reasons why a refin is a tricky proposition for the finisher--the simple application of the wax and grease remover has softened the nitro in the repaired area, and it has dried with a gloss. Extreme caution is indicated in this area when the new coats of JG are applied. Once this multi-layer area has stabilized and shrunk for a few days, it is safe to clearcoat.

Here's the guitar in its case, flipped over to show what the surface looks like ready to apply color coats.

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

Wow! Being totally incompetent in your project I just look at it and get a headache. Tedious? Unusual the horn imperfection, any clue how this came about, Paul? To add, please bear with the novice and clueless.

Paul, all I can say is WOW! Your attention to every little imperfection is unbelievable. Based on all the info and pics you have presented it is obvious that no stone is unturned during your inspection of the guitar. I truly am greatful for your expertise in bringing the ol' 325V63 back to pristine condition. Fantastic work my friend, I look forward to your next update!

David, thanks. A good motto:

"Attention to Imperfection"(!)

Stan: There are two horn imprefections. One was caused by a piece of debris (fuzz) settling into the conversion varnish. This was sanded down in the hand sanding/polishing operations and polished into a bump without having been taken down completely flat.

The imperfection on the edge of the horn I think is from the ege of the buffing wheel cutting a bit too much and disturbing the highlight.

I point this stuff not to demean or in any way impugn RIC's own attention to detail or QC. Remember, this is still a largely handbuilt, and completely hand-finished, guitar, sold at a popular price. These minor imperfections would be virtually unnoticeable to the naked eye, except that we all know that JG magnifies this sort of stuff. And, when I'm refinishing a guitar, I have more time to get it right--it's only one item, not an assembly line thing.

Look at it this way:

If RIC spent $700.00 to build David's guitar, then the paint and buffing operations probably carried a burden of less that $200.00 in order for the guitar to hit its profit margin. David is paying substantially more than that for a refinish with fewer steps, so I can afford to be crazy-picky. Crazy-picky is an unrealistic stance for a series manufacturer.

Even Rolls-Royces are built to a price since WWII!

The Whizz rides again! Wonderful stuff, Paul. So you'd do a refin on a Roller, would you??

I understand completely, Paul. In a perfect world, as they say.
My 360V has a small blem (not much bigger than an eraser head) on the neck, very near the nut. The surface is still smooth, but it is of slight discoloration. My luthier and I agreed it was just a minor imperfection, but it takes nothing away from the fact it is a wonderful Rick!

Paul: This is most impressive work. For me the lesson here is not that practice makes perfect, rather, "perfect practice makes perfect." Now, if I could just apply the same principle to my Rickenbacker playing.

Let me chime in Paul. Great detail and explanation on the refinish this project. Please post the end result for all to see.

Note: The recent repair, restoration and building posts here has made this the "King Of All Sites." I know we have all said it before but the content of knowledge and expertise on Rickresource is incredible and unmatched anywhere and the tone of posts and replys are always respectful.

The 325V63 has been packed off to David Blair, covered in a diaper, restrung, and tested. I had to work on the selector switch a bit; while I was playing it, it occasionally would short out on the neck and center pickups (which are wired together on this model). Now it's fine.

Below are some shots of the JG being resprayed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00537.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00538.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00539.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00541.jpg

Here's my PPG mixing bank, where I can computer mix and match-by-eye just about any color. Basic body shop technology. JG (black), however, is a no-brainer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00544.jpg

This is the clearcoat I use. It is highly toxic and has twice the VOC of Rickenbacker's conversion varnish, but is incredibly glossy, transparent and durable. $245.00 a gallon! It took about $6.00 worth to coat David's guitar:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00542.jpg

Following clearcoating (not shown--I'll show it on the 335 restoration thread), the guitar was wet sanded with #1000, 1500, and 2000 grits and power-buffed. Then I hand-buffed it to remove swirl marks. A couple of areas needed to be sanded more than once to get them absolutely flat before final buffing.

The guitar has three coats of wax (Zymol, what else?) It looks like a black mirror.

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

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/reflections2.jpg

I assembled it, resoldered the pickup wires to the switch and pots, re-installed the bridge ground wire, and strung it up and tested it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00548.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00549.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00550.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v693/jingle_jangle/DSC00558.jpg

David, I hope you enjoy your 325, because I surely enjoyed working on it!

Looks fantastic, Paul. Hopefully David will send you a gold star, but where would you like the elephant stamp??

Another example of true craftsmanship.

Good stuff. I love this forum. It's #1 in my books.

I'm a minimum 4 or 5 visit-a-day junkie, Brian!! When I'm at work it's always in the background.

Paul: 11 out of 10!

Gorgeous!!!!!