Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My Fireglo 1993 Plus got knocked off it's stand and it crashed into an amp or my drums. Either way, this is the result:
You can't quite tell from the images but this is between the 2nd & 3rd frets (aka one of the most used parts of the neck). I've read some other postings on here which talk about using nail polish, wet sanding, Zymol, etc to repair dings but most of those seem to involve dings on the body or headstock. Plus many of them involve Jetglo or Mapleglo both of which would be much easier colors to match. Anyway, would this same approach work on the neck? Or do I need to seek professional help?? And, if it truly is a do-it-yourself project is the aforementioned nail polish approach the best method? And, if so, does anybody have a suggestion as to the best brand/color which might come closest to Fireglo?

Thanks in advance!

Dings like this are rarely repaired to the point where they’re undetectable.

Personally a botched repair would bother me far worse than just seeing the ding. Wear on a guitar is part of the charm, each ding tells a story.

I had a very small ding on my FireGlo Ric. Look at the truss rod screw and then look at 10 o'clock, right on the edge of the gully and just below the horizontal tuning peg you can see the repair I made. That spot was dinged and it was left with no color and no gloss finish. Just a bare spot of wood was visible.

I took a red magic marker close to the FireGlo and colored in the bare wood. I then took a black magic marker and mixed in some teeny-tiny dots and lines here and there to make the red more natural. When the color was as close to the FireGlo as I could get it, I then applied a dab of Minwax polyurethane. That poly crowned higher than the finish so when fully dried I sanded it down with a very high grit (2000?) sand paper. I didn't go too crazy on it - it could use another dose of wet sanding - but the end result was pleasing to the eye. The bare ding would always catch my eye when I played the guitar, the repair does not.

Your neck ding is obviously a different case. But if you want to do it, the repair could be done. It would take small applications of poly, a lot of careful sanding...repeat a few times. It will never be perfect, but it could be improved. However, it might be best just to leave guitar as is and the wear on the neck from your fret hand will eventually smooth out the ding's edges.

Thanks for the replies. The story this ding tells is don't let your 13 year old son and his friends in your music room when you're not at home.

But seriously, I guess this is really my question: Is the fact that it's a neck ding more worrisome than a ding on the headstock or body? Will the wear from my fret hand while playing the guitar actually eventually smooth out the edges of the ding (and, if so, how much playing is that gonna take??) or, is it more likely that it will cause even more of the neck paint to chip off?

Nowsa perfect time to lightly sand your neck to make it easier to play (more slippery) and you could hit the hole edges a little harder to smooth them out. Use a damp "heavy duty" green scotch brite pad for kitchen stuff.
I did it on my 4003 bass and the neck is so much easier to slide around on. Thumb doesn't stick to the gloss anymore.
Only catch is the red color of the neck will be a little lighter once sanded.

Quick and easy. Here is a how to:
https://youtu.be/QDOXTGOwoKU

eddiehankins wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:27 pm Will the wear from my fret hand while playing the guitar actually eventually smooth out the edges of the ding (and, if so, how much playing is that gonna take??)

"They" say it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, so how about 10,001 hours, just for the heck of it?

New member here, so a month late on this thread, but I would let a professional do the repair if you haven't done it before. Cost should be minimal and it will look better. After that, invest in a Hamilton hanging stand. Take a LOT to knock it over, or to knock the instrument off.