Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi there! New to the forums. Lots of helpful info on here.

Got my hands on a used 2017 4003W yesterday and I am in love. Dream bass.

Anyways it was perfect upon inspection with the exception of some light brown colored...substance(?) on the binding. It almost looks like glue?

I briefly considered taking a magic eraser to it but decided against it until I looked around. Haven't seen any forum threads regarding something similar. I also don't want to mar the walnut around it.

Should I just leave it alone? I guess I am being nutty since everything else is immaculate

Appreciate any feedback.

I believe that's finish separating/bubbling, right?

My 4003's binding is covered with that stuff, mostly in the areas around the various dings it's suffered.

Does all the rest of the binding have an amber oil tinge, or is it bright white? I don't think that's finish bubbling, haven't seen that on the walnut models. Looks more like some maybe some of the oil finish lapped onto the binding? I've never gotten a close look at a W model, but I assume they oiled it right over the binding. If not, they had to have either scraped it or masked it. If you want it back to brilliant white binding, you'll have to scrape or sand that schmutz off, and sand/buff the binding back to shiny.

Thanks for the input.

All the rest of it seems to be bright white, just this area. My first impression was that it was something on top of the binding, you can feel it when you run your thumb over it.

My yellow room lighting is probably not helping but its just those darker areas.

My bet is a little slop of the oil/wood sealer. You could try masking off the wood and sand the affected binding with some fine sandpaper such as 600-grit wet-or-dry paper (don't wet it though).