Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all,

I recently bought a 2013 4003 used but in excellent condition. On arrival I inspected it and noticed these faded patches which appear under the lacquer. Initially I thought it was slight condensation from its journey across the UK and wiped it over but the marks remain. These are all visible in daylight and interestingly only occur on the back of the neck and at the lower back of the body. There are some small areas on the lower inside of the upper bout too. The bass plays superbly and has no other issues, it has been well cared for and kept in its original case when not in use. Any ideas or opinions - by the way I found a thread on the forum about a 'green rash' but this looks different to me. Thanks!

Hmm, interesting. This is only on the neck?? Unfortunately, buying anything used means you'll never really know what the prior owner may have done to it. Could be caused by a chemical being used on the neck either on purpose or by accident. if there are others here that are seeing the same thing on their Mapleglo instruments of the same vintage then there maybe something going on with the finish but unfortunately, the ship has sailed on the finish portion of the instruments warranty.

Sepp

It's difficult to really tell from the photo but it looks a little like what happened to the fingerboard of my first CS, which I ordered brand new. When I receive it it was a really, really cold day and I'd had the heating on full blast. At the time I knew nothing about acclimatising an instrument before opening the box/case (it's amazing how many things it's assumed you know) and when I opened it the board kind of clouded over and then went patchy. A luthier I spoke to said I needed to send it back to get the funky areas touched up otherwise they could become an issue, so I sent it back to Rosetti who did the necessary. I'm not saying that's what's wrong with yours though, and I don't know how correct he was, although the fact that Rosetti did what he'd said without prompting suggests he may have been.

Thanks for the input so far - I did have the case in the house for several hours before opening it and there wasn't any extreme temperature changes nor any signs of moisture within the case. The 'condensation' was my initial impression of what I thought I saw and then I thought it may be lacquer bubbling. But it's none of these, I've received and shipped many instruments so I'm always careful to let an instrument settle in so I'm very surprised by this. Obviously I realise there's no guarantee other than the seller's good faith as it was a private sale and the original pictures I saw of the instrument show no signs of the issue other than some slight marks on the back. The seller by the way has been very helpful so far by the way. Attached is the lower back area where another patch appears.

I've had the bass at home out of the case for just over 36 hours now and the patches remain - under certain light they are less visible but they certainly aren't fading. It's very odd that lacquer could be effected in such a way by temperature as suggested - after all there is no bubbling or splitting and the finish itself is smooth as glass. I would expect that the finish of any instrument would be applied to survive normal usage and the inevitable rigours of the road so I wonder if there is another explanation? It's clear that the bass has been well cared for and wiped down thoroughly before putting away. I'd be interested to hear further opinions.

I know the solid colors are UV cured, not lacquer. I'm not going to swear the clear finish on the Mapleglo is UV cured but I'm almost certain it's not lacquer. I'm not a huge fan of the UV cured finishes RIC uses, which is why I went with the oiled walnut on the new "S" bass I put a deposit on.

Sepp

ericash wrote:Thanks for the input so far - I did have the case in the house for several hours before opening it and there wasn't any extreme temperature changes nor any signs of moisture within the case. The 'condensation' was my initial impression of what I thought I saw and then I thought it may be lacquer bubbling. But it's none of these, I've received and shipped many instruments so I'm always careful to let an instrument settle in so I'm very surprised by this. Obviously I realise there's no guarantee other than the seller's good faith as it was a private sale and the original pictures I saw of the instrument show no signs of the issue other than some slight marks on the back. The seller by the way has been very helpful so far by the way.

image.jpg

Attached is the lower back area where another patch appears.

I've had the bass at home out of the case for just over 36 hours now and the patches remain - under certain light they are less visible but they certainly aren't fading. It's very odd that lacquer could be effected in such a way by temperature as suggested - after all there is no bubbling or splitting and the finish itself is smooth as glass. I would expect that the finish of any instrument would be applied to survive normal usage and the inevitable rigours of the road so I wonder if there is another explanation? It's clear that the bass has been well cared for and wiped down thoroughly before putting away. I'd be interested to hear further opinions.

There was no bubbling or splitting on my CS either.

I played a gig on Friday, the patches weren't affected in any way neither fading or becoming more prominent despite the heat and lights. The marks look more like fading to the wood - certainly permanent and a bit of a mystery