Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

In the thread "Curious About My 330" Miguel and myself commented that the inner edge of our soundhole cutaways is black. But it's a very haphazard application of black that doesn't seem to go with the overall quality or finish of the rest of the guitar.

Infact, in one place on my guitar, it looks like it's even a little too thick.

Now, Johns MG doesn't have this, so I'm starting this thread to canvas opinion. Is your soundhole's inner edge painted/stained black and, if so, what's it look like?

As I said, mine is haphazard (it doesn't uniformly go to the edges of the soundhole all around, for one example), and I'm just curious if this is common across the range, or perhaps Miguel and I have guitars that were worked on by work experience kids or something, and are the exception rather than the rule?!?

I had a 330 MG, the sound hole was not painted black. I have a 360v64 that has a black painted sound hole. The paint is uniform, but the actual routed soundhole is a bit rough, I don't think they spend much time sanding the wood there after it's routed.

I just got a 2002 330 Burgundyglo. (It's gorgeous!) It has the black around the edge of the the f-hole, too (that sounds naughty!). It doesn't look sloppy, though it's definitely not "finished" looking.

I am far, far from knowledgeable on this subject, but here's my guess...that inside edge is the "cut" edge (against the grain), and kind of rough. Perhaps that area, due to it's location (and the fact that it's against the grain), doesn't facilitate finishing, so they leave it rough and slap some black on it, almost like that stuff you put on fruit tree limb stumps after you prune them.

Anyway, since this seems to be normal for 330s and I assume Rickenbacker knows what they're doing, que sera sera!

My FG 330 has the inside routed edge painted black. It seems very neatly done.

If I were to choose, I would rather have that edge painted. Since it is routed against the grain, the paint might act somewhat as a sealer for the pours. Is there any sealer/stain prep work done at the factory? Or is that just for the oil finishes?

Or is there sealer/stain work done to oil finishes?
Just wondering.

So it sounds like it's a completely normal thing (unless you have a MG it seems), but unfortunately Miguel and I just got guitars that some klutz applied the black to, rather than someone competant.

Bruce wrote:

"... I have a 360v64 that has a black painted sound hole ..."

Although I was of the opinion that all 360s had bound sound holes, I found that my 1993 370/12v64 has a black-painted soundhole as well, at least that what it appears to be in this picture:




I'll try to dig it out of the closet and confirm this. All other 360s I have (or have had) have white binding around the sound hole (MG, TUR, and FG).

My 1997PT also has a black-painted f-hole:



ALthough the cut itself is a little rough, the coloration is uniform.

That's some beautiful wood grain on the 370 there, Gary.

On the 1997PT, it looks like some Fireglo peeking through on the left hand side of the F hole. Or is that just flash?

Flash, or just some dust!

All 360/12v64s have a black-edged soundhole. Modern 360/12s and 370/12s have a bound soundhole.

I think the paint job looks a little goofy sometimes on the edge of the soundhole because they are painting the end-grain of the wood. It tends to soak up whatever is applied to it, and will turn out darker and often less uniform than the top grain.

I just realized that there is no "overspray" inside the soundhole. I'm wondering how they paint the assembled body without getting some paint inside the guitar. My guess would be that they have a block of wood/plastic/metal carved to the appropriate shape of the soundhole that would take up that space during spraying. Am I close with this guess?

There's pictures of the painting process on the Ric site...

Masking tape on some, balloons on others. Guess you could blow up a condom in a pinch!

Thank god the one I just ordered is a solid body model. Like most of us I'd love to own a little bit of rick history. . . just not *that* kind