Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wooly: I have had very good luck with the Meguiar line of polishes. A careful and gentle rubbing followed by a good hand buffing has worked for me when removing surface scratches. Perhaps you could send in a photo so that we could see the extent of the imprint.

I have never known crushed pile to eat into the finish of an instrument. Very interesting. It is obvious that more intense work is required. You may want to look into wet sanding.

Wet sanding, indeed, Peter. I had a Guild Starfire 12 back in the late 60s that had an "imprint" in the back of the neck in the finish, right under where the neck cradled near the accessory compartment.I wouldn't go heavier than using #400 - #600, then to #1000, then like Meguiars #5. Don't use too much elbow grease.

The same thing happened to my '89 330 RD/WHT.

Kenny: Was there something different about the crushed material or did your instrument fit too tightly in the case?

Assuming that the "crushed pile" of which we speak is an acrylic, could it be that the acrylic is producing gasses of some kind that are responsible for this "etching" of the finish?

I say "etching" 'cause it kinda sounds like "etching" to me.

Signed,
Mr. Hypothesis

I think you just like to say "etching." :>)

My guitar fit as it should in its original case; I think it had more to do with the climate (I lived in Florida), and possibly the red paint itself.

An enlightning sidenote: The dealer who sold me the guitar (in '89) suggested that i take out the foam pickup pads and replace them with rubber grommets, ala '60s Rics, to add some, er, old school flavor. I dutifully did this, only to find that, after a year or so, the rubber of the grommets chemically (?) ate the red paint down to the wood. It's the weirdest thing. (I have since replaced the pads.)

So maybe it's something about the red. Who knows.

There's a few thousand shots of this guitar on my website (see profile).

Just an opinion on this; as I once worked in a shop that did upholstery, I can tell you Some fabrics are occassionally sprayed on the back with an aerosol adhesive before positioning them for installation, and perhaps this is involved here; off gassing from under the lining of the case, and any residual off gassing of recently made new finished guitars.

Is it the RED colour?...my 91 360 has the same problem. The red colour has also "bled" into the neck binding at the first few frets area.