Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I noticed over the weekend that the finish on my 4003's neck appears to be lifting a little where it meets the 18th and 19th. frets. It's not in the center of the frets, but where the finish meets the edge of the frets. There don't appear to be any breaks in the finish that I can see or feel, just a lightened color as the finish isn't right down on the fretboard as it should be.

Should I be concerned about this?

My v63 is suffering from the same, and in my case the clear epoxy has came away, it's not a massive amount, but it's there and I'd like to get it halted, or rectified.

Yeah, it's not bad, but the finish (or whatever Ric calls it, I don't recall right now) is definitely not down tight at the edges of a few frets.

I'd hate to take it back to the dealer, he graciously replaced my first 4003 (with some neck problems) at no expense to me a year or so ago. Might be the best alternative though. I play it enough, I'd really miss it if it were out for repair.

I sent my 4003 to RIC for warranty work (several inlays were cracking) and the turnaround was only a few weeks. Plus they fixed several nicks/scratches on the Midnight Blue finish as a bonus.....I was very happy with the repairs/service. I am just assuming that it is still covered under warranty since you mention that your 1st one had a problem a year ago. You can deal with RIC directly on warranty issues.

this happens all too often.

there's a thread in which JH addresses this, can't remember where it was tho

I did a search and couldn't find anything. Maybe I should take it back to the dealer for some warranty work (it's still under warranty).

That was probably the thread I posted ,but I can't find it either!

It was titled 'Do these frets look normal'.

After getting my 4003 in February, I noticed under certain light that there was what appeared t be separation of the finish around some of the frets.

It wasn't that bad ,but I was a bit concerned and John Hall said it was due to moisture causing the sealer at the edges of the frets beneath the finish to turn whitish and that when the climate changed it would return to normal.

My worry was that the finish would crack at the edges of the frets, but this isn't the case.....It is far less noticeable than it was.

I had posted some pics in my original post,but they are gone from the server where they were uploaded....I don't think I have any pics from that time.

Ah! my 2002 4003 i got from mike parks was brand new......but of course was made 2 years ago. It had the same problem, white marks around the frets. Did it start chipping? The answer is yes and now on certain frets i have green oxide build up where the fret meets the finish. I clean it up - it returns. Solution: i dont worry about it

Well, the climate is definitely changing here in western NY, so I'm gonna give it a few weeks and see what happens. We had a really damp humid summer, but things dry out pretty good in November, so I'll watch it and see. I'll chime in again with a progress report.

Rickenbacker sprays the finish on their guitars after the frets are done which is really why this happens. I suppose it's unavoidable given that the fingerboards are bound, but on my unbound 3000's, I've pulled all of the frets, refinished the neck and had them re-fretted in that order. The fretboard looks like a mirror without the usual finish rise at the fret or cloudiness that happens in damp weather.

All the new Ricks I've had have had the same problem, and it hasn't gone away.

Both of my new ricks have it . . I assumed it was normal.

My 96 doesn't have it, my 92 does ... maybe this is something we should address to John Hall, and Rickenbacker service in general ... thoughts ?

Well, it probably wouldn't hurt. That finish looks like it could survive a hurricane, so I was surprised to see it lifting off the fret board.

How would we approach the Ric service folks?