Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

could i have my 330 body and neck bound without it being refinished?

Some people can, with perhaps just a finish touch up; it depends on who does the job.

Depends on the color, too.

And depends upon the color, too. I advise against it, though. I must not be the right guy for the job...

You see: Except on MG guitars and basses, there is color to rout through in creating the rabbet for the binding. This is tricky--anything but a perfectly-straight and chip-free rout edge will require refinishing, and a simple touchup often is not enough. Due to the variations in wood hardness and grain, Rick paint and CV formulas, and other factors which lead paint and CV to age, it's not possible to predict how the wood and the paint finish are going to react when hit with a chunk of sharp carbide spinning at 15,000 RPM or so.

My response to people who want this done is, "I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything." It would be folly for me to say anything else.

i think i will leave my 330 bbr alone

I think that's wise, Jerry.

hjarnett wrote:could i have my 330 body and neck bound without it being refinished?

You can if you have the binding PAINTED ON, like this guy did:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-330-si ... dZViewItem

A 330 refinished Sea (Foam?) Green with white binding painted on.

hjarnett wrote:i think i will leave my 330 bbr alone

Good choice, Jerry.

libratune wrote:

hjarnett wrote:could i have my 330 body and neck bound without it being refinished?

You can if you have the binding PAINTED ON, like this guy did:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rickenbacker-330-si ... dZViewItem

A 330 refinished Sea (Foam?) Green with white binding painted on.

Well, except for the fact that binding was originally intended to protect the edges of guitars from nicks and chips in the wood, and the "binding" on this one is about 1/8" thick and looks clumsy, it would make sense.

Why do people do something reasonably well in practice, and then get one detail 100% wrong?

This "paint the binding on" thing is fairly common with Gretsch guys, mostly having to do with trimming their "F" holes. And, true to form, they typically don't bother to measure actual binding, and end up way on the thick side, which, as it does on this Rick, looks cartoonish.

I've got a confession to make: I once did a paint-on binding job on one of my unbound Gretsches, back in '04, after I saw some posts of Gretsches that others had done...





The "binding" on this one is white paint, and the black "purfling" was done with a Rapidograph pen. All in all, it's easier to use real binding. And, since that 330 was a refinish job, and in a bright, opaque color to boot, adding binding would have been czarnina.*

*duck soup

Quack!!!

wow paul the binding on that gretsch looks like the real thing

hjarnett wrote:wow paul the binding on that gretsch looks like the real thing

The binding is real, it is the guitar that's a fake!

Now every photo scene looks like a potential album cover to me, this one being no exception:

Looks even stranger in proper proportion: