Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Greetings Esteemed Colleagues,

I have been cleaning my good old 1988 Rickenbacher 350 maple glo finish with checkering on the body(specially on the neck area, will try to get some photo, that is *IF* I can take it at an angle to show the "checkering" (of what used to be)of the finishing. What do I use -furniture cleaners? car wax? with good old elbow grease?....I do not want to do refinishing, it might take the "mojo" off the guitar, any advise? any one?? Thank you kindly in advance for any bits of advise, and/or help to further prevent the effect of getting "old"(guitar) and I think(finishing) it might peel off and I will have to reconsider(yukes, I hate to do it, even mentioning that...word) refininshing.

Gavin: Great post and welcome to The Rickenbacker Forum. This thread has been moved from guitars to Reflections Of A Curmudgeon so that our finish expert can best enlighten you and the rest of us.

Gavin, I can't help with the guitar, but perhaps I can offer a few terms that will clarify your problem to others. I think you are talking about "checking" of the finish. That's the proper word to use. This means fine cracks in the finish due (usually) to variations in temperature and/or humidity which causes the wood to swell and shrink, cracking the relatively inflexible finish. Your term "checkering" can be confusing among Rick enthusiasts because of the "checkerboard" binding found on many Rick guitars and some basses. Just wanted to clarify.