Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My 620 Desert Gold has a very small nick on the top edge. Actually it's not through to the wood, so I guess you would call it more of a dent.
I showed it to my luthier who has never seen a Ric metallic finish before and he is worried that the finish on the guitar looks 'thinner' than the usual finish found on other Ricks.
Is it safe for him to drop a bit of CV into the dent and smooth it in, or is there a risk of damaging the finish around the dent?

Really hard to photograph this as it hardly shows, but here goes...

I thought you said it was very small - My Lord, that's huge! (and arrow shaped!)

beatlefreak wrote:I thought you said it was very small - My Lord, that's huge! (and arrow shaped!)

Yep, those darn rickenbacker finishes with the arrow checking!

Good one, Kris!!!

Problem sorted.

Thanks for all the help and advice.

For some reason this thread has me thinking of a gold burst finish. Is that possible? What would it look like? Would it go from white to gold? yellow to gold?orange?brown?

Any burst color is possible, as long as the paint colors exist.

Whether they would look good, is the REAL issue.

I believe that bursts look best when done in "see-through" (translucent/transparent) colors. Some folks are really fond of bursts done in solids, metallics, or a combination of these, either with each other, or with a translucent/transparent color in the center, showing the wood grain. A good example of this would be the odd Japanese Greenburst/Redburst finishes of the '60s. Burns did these as well in the UK, and in the USA, Danelectro were known for their solid bursts, especially the copper/white combination, which has become sort of a trademark. These all look dreadful to me. They did then, and they do now, although I'd entertain a Dano Copperburst for nostalgia's sake. I do own a silverburst Longhorn reissue...

Question: If you let the wood show through in the center, why obscure the edges with an opaque color that hides the grain? (As in the case of a transparent-to-solid burst)If the grain is so beautiful (and, to me, grain is, nearly always...) then why confuse the viewer's eyes with a metallic or pearl on the outer edges of a transparent center section?

I think that people typically confuse "unusual" or "striking" with "good" or "desirable", in their minds. It's a common issue, and has to do with the way we, as individuals, absorb our visual environment as kids, and how we link our perceptions to our language. "Different" is not necessarily "good" or "desirable"; it's merely "different". There's another judgement call that still needs making, after "different" registers, and it should be made by the eyes and guts.

My own guts tell me that any sort of solid or metallic burst looks dreadful. White-to-gold looks like the Dano burst, and to me that looks cheap, and like somebody is trying to hide something. In Dan's case, it was the construction of the guitar; Masonite faces and poplar edges. No grain, and tough to glamorize the transition from awful brown Masonite to poplar--a wood which often has an odd greenish cast, and seldom has an exciting grain pattern...why do this to a nice wood guitar? Yellow to gold? OMG, it's one of the worst combos I could imagine, ever. Orange- and brown-to-gold are the two more of the worst...IMO let's stay away entirely from solid and metallic bursts and also from those colors in combination with translucent/transparent colors where bursts are concerned.

Remember--just 'cause it's different, that don't make it good.