Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all, I've got a '63 4000 reserved for purchase for the next couple of days while I check out some info... Here's the scoop:

- original horseshoe
- has the horseshoe in a position between where the bridge and neck pickups are, forward of the standard bridge pickup placement - but it's original placement
- original pickguard
- original bridge (in case)
- does NOT have extra under-the pickguard routing for a 2nd pickup
- neck in great shape - fast & small
- truss rods in good shape
- replaced tuners
- body has been stripped and finished with an oil rub (YUCK!!!!)
- block added under the bridge and Bad*ss added

In short, it plays and sounds amazing but I hate the oil rubbed finish - it looks dirty... Here's my question, understanding that I would have to finish it with a solid colour because the stain in the wood has probably sunk in too far to be sanded out (wouldn't want to mess with the body):

With the oil rubbed finish, is there a way to treat the body so that it can be refinished and will hold paint?

If any of you know if this is possible please provide as much info as possible. Pretty please and THANKS!

Dave

Got this advice on another forum... Anyone here had any experience with it?

"Sand it very well and fix any dings now while you can.

Then give it 2 or 3 coats of Zinnser's Bulls Eye SealCoat-which is a 2 lb cut de-waxed shellac. Sand with 320 grit and finish with the solid colour of your choice.

It takes far too long to try to teach an entire subject to someone via posts on a forum. But a good book about finishing and refinishing and study it. Then practice on scrap wood until you have it down."

Think it'll work? Hoping it will!

Just out of curiosity, what color do you want to finish it? Sounds like a really cool piece.

I agree that shellac--which is alcohol-based--makes a good sealer on difficult pieces. I'd try it (I have used a shellac-based white-colored sealer called B.I.N. for a decade) and if the first coat dries hard in the usual time, then you're OK to put on a second and then scuff.

You can put any type of paint finish over this, but if you're considering a solid color, I'd use a light gray polyester primer like Evercoat. This goes on well over shellac and, once cured, gives you an inert shell which sands smooth and provides a nice and very stable base for solid colors.

Be sure to do any chip repair and/or crack/screw hole filling before attempting either of these steps. The primer will fill smaller imperfections and once sanded smooth disguises them completely.

Oh, incidentally, there's another white sealer called "Kilz" which comes in similar packaging to B.I.N. DON'T use "Kilz". It's enamel-based and quite unstable under guitar finishes--it's made for oil and latex house paint, to hide graffiti.

Would it look like this perhaps, if original..??

sloop_john_b wrote:Just out of curiosity, what color do you want to finish it? Sounds like a really cool piece.

Really wanted an original Fire-Glo but that would be impossible. Honestly, I hadn't gotten that far yet... I was thinking that Jet-Glo might be more time period specific... But then again, I also really like Steve Wood's Blue Boy and "Aqua (?)" V63s... I guess I'm just trying to find out if it's even possible right now before I decide what colour I'd go... Sorry, didn't really answer your question...

If I may make a suggestion...

leftybass wrote:Would it look like this perhaps, if original..??

624000b.jpg

Isn't that a late '50s? But yes, the pickup placement is exactly like that. Except that it has a white plastic pickguard and no filled screw holes so I'm betting it's original. Well, that and the fact that it also has the early/mid '60s 4001 bridge, not the one in the photo.

I'm still torn! Although, I'm starting to think that I'm going to go through with it since it seems that I will be able to put a solid finish on it! And Paul W's input is just about the icing on the cake! THANKS!

sloop_john_b wrote:If I may make a suggestion...

JKjimreevesconn.jpg

Nice, just like Steve Wood's V63's colour... The one I've been drooling over for a couple of years... Uh-oh!

basse wrote:Isn't that a late '50s? But yes, the pickup placement is exactly like that. Except that it has a white plastic pickguard and no filled screw holes so I'm betting it's original. Well, that and the fact that it also has the early/mid '60s 4001 bridge, not the one in the photo.

The bass in the pic is from 1962, and has the thinner body we find on later basses, not late-50's style.

A serial number would also tell a good bit perhaps....pics, too, when you can manage to take some....

Photos here... viewtopic.php?f=2&t=391233