Rickenbacker refin

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prowla said:

Seziertisch said:

prowla said:

Seziertisch said:

prowla said:

Well, I think Ric finishes are the best on the market, so they must be getting something right.

@Seziertisch Are you looking to do it yourself or have someone do it for you?

@prowla It will be somebody else.

@ICBM I think the change over came in 2010, so there should be a few of the newer ones doing the rounds

Check out Harry White on Facebook.

What’s his business name?

I don't know if he has a business name; his avatar is a pic of him playing a Ric...

Cheers, will see if I can find him

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@GoldenEraGuitars @rexter @lamf68 ;

I know all of you are also considered to be on the High Council of Guitar Refinishers in these parts. Any experience with Ricks? Considering a refin of body, neck and headstock, fretboard was stripped a few years as part of a refret.

Thanks again.

GoldenEraGuitars

@Seziertisch we’re working on one now actually. It’s certainly a niche brand to have in our possession. Tbh, the stripping and refinish process doesn’t differ massively from brand to brand. For me, it’s simply about finding the best way to remove the existing finish without compromising the wood. After that it’s business as usual..

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GoldenEraGuitars said:

@Seziertisch we’re working on one now actually. It’s certainly a niche brand to have in our possession. Tbh, the stripping and refinish process doesn’t differ massively from brand to brand. For me, it’s simply about finding the best way to remove the existing finish without compromising the wood. After that it’s business as usual..

Nice, what colour are you going for?

 I have all aluminium scratchplates on mine. A chap in Cork made them for me and I now have a 5-way Strat selector switch and 3 pickups (370 style), so I’m thinking a metallic blue of some sort could be good.

GoldenEraGuitars

Seziertisch said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

@Seziertisch we’re working on one now actually. It’s certainly a niche brand to have in our possession. Tbh, the stripping and refinish process doesn’t differ massively from brand to brand. For me, it’s simply about finding the best way to remove the existing finish without compromising the wood. After that it’s business as usual..

Nice, what colour are you going for?

 I have all aluminium scratchplates on mine. A chap in Cork made them for me and I now have a 5-way Strat selector switch and 3 pickups (370 style), so I’m thinking a metallic blue of some sort could be good.

We’re not 100% yet, tbh it could end up being a nitro overspray rather than a refinish. 

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GoldenEraGuitars said: We’re not 100% yet, tbh it could end up being a nitro overspray rather than a refinish. 

What would prompt you to not go for a full strip and refinish in this case? Thanks 

GoldenEraGuitars

Seziertisch said:

GoldenEraGuitars said: We’re not 100% yet, tbh it could end up being a nitro overspray rather than a refinish. 

What would prompt you to not go for a full strip and refinish in this case? Thanks 

On this particular guitar we have to see what the customer wants first but I suspect he will opt for going over the original finish with some nitro so that we can craze check it. 

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GoldenEraGuitars said:

Seziertisch said:

GoldenEraGuitars said: We’re not 100% yet, tbh it could end up being a nitro overspray rather than a refinish. 

What would prompt you to not go for a full strip and refinish in this case? Thanks 

On this particular guitar we have to see what the customer wants first but I suspect he will opt for going over the original finish with some nitro so that we can craze check it. 

Would that not result in quite a heavy finish?

GoldenEraGuitars

Seziertisch said:

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Seziertisch said:

GoldenEraGuitars said: We’re not 100% yet, tbh it could end up being a nitro overspray rather than a refinish. 

What would prompt you to not go for a full strip and refinish in this case? Thanks 

On this particular guitar we have to see what the customer wants first but I suspect he will opt for going over the original finish with some nitro so that we can craze check it. 

Would that not result in quite a heavy finish?

Not based on what we’ll put on it. I can’t speak for what’s on the guitar just as we haven’t looked at it properly. The thickest part of Nitro on a urethane finish would be the urethane. Assuming that the guitar is sprayed I urethane of course 

lamf68

Seziertisch said:

@GoldenEraGuitars @rexter @lamf68 ;

I know all of you are also considered to be on the High Council of Guitar Refinishers in these parts. Any experience with Ricks? Considering a refin of body, neck and headstock, fretboard was stripped a few years as part of a refret.

Thanks again.

My initial thoughts are leave well alone. I've stripped a couple of Rics in the past and it's a long old job, heat has to be gentle to get the finish off to ensure the integrity of the guitar and no chemicals would touch them. They also have that nuclear proof coating underneath(the two I finished did anyway). Very time consuming and tedious. As Scott says above, maybe it's worth just blowing over the current finish with nitro if it's just colour change you're after!

GoldenEraGuitars

@lamf68 ive got a Chinese casino here for a full refinish. I’ll bet you wish you were doing that instead of me  

lamf68

GoldenEraGuitars said:

@lamf68 ive got a Chinese casino here for a full refinish. I’ll bet you wish you were doing that instead of me  

Been there mate, early summer, unbelievable amount of sanding discs used removing the shit off it. Two before and a few after pics...

GoldenEraGuitars

Looks the nuts! I think I started to remove a little of the old urethane with a blade but I never got any further with it. I suspect it’ll be a January job with lots coffee and cursing involved. One thing there’s plenty of here is sanding discs. Based on what I’ve seen the finish on this guitar is ridiculously thick. 

lamf68

GoldenEraGuitars said:

Looks the nuts! I think I started to remove a little of the old urethane with a blade but I never got any further with it. I suspect it’ll be a January job with lots coffee and cursing involved. One thing there’s plenty of here is sanding discs. Based on what I’ve seen the finish on this guitar is ridiculously thick. 

Without wanting to hijack the initial thread, the casino I had was incredibly thick, was seriously fearful of altering the profile of the body, like taking curves off and potentially sanding through the laminate. At least with a Ric coming from a solid block there's no fear of that.

Seziertisch

Thanks for all the great info on refinishing. A great resource for the community. I looked on the Rick Forum and the consensus seems to be that Jasco Premium is the stripper to use. Not sure if it’s available on this side of the pond. Apparently, it works in minutes.

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@GoldenEraGuitars @lamf68

What is the appeal of refinishing Chinese Casino’s?

They don’t cost that much in the first place and the stripping/refin job is quite a major/relatively expensive undertaking.

ICBM

Seziertisch said:

@GoldenEraGuitars @lamf68

What is the appeal of refinishing Chinese Casino’s?

They don’t cost that much in the first place and the stripping/refin job is quite a major/relatively expensive undertaking.

I have to say that while it's impressive work, I'm puzzled too - all that time and effort to turn a Chinese sunburst Casino into... a Chinese sunburst Casino.

GoldenEraGuitars

What I’ve come to realise over time spent doing this work is that the actual value of a guitar means precious little to the owner. Buying a casino and having it refinished may be the only way of getting a desired look without getting a custom build made.

Over the last 6-7 months we have refinished a truck load of Mexican strats. Why? Mainly sentimental reasons. And it’s easy to turn a £300-400 used guitar into a work of art for less than the CS will do it for.

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ICBM said:

Seziertisch said:

@GoldenEraGuitars @lamf68

What is the appeal of refinishing Chinese Casino’s?

They don’t cost that much in the first place and the stripping/refin job is quite a major/relatively expensive undertaking.

I have to say that while it's impressive work, I'm puzzled too - all that time and effort to turn a Chinese sunburst Casino into... a Chinese sunburst Casino.

I spoke with a friend who bought a nitro refinished Chinese Casino off EBay about 12 years ago. He said that the word on the street amongst Casino enthusiasts is that owing to the construction of the Casino (the fully laminated hollow body) there isn’t a massive difference fundamentally between vintage or new - upgrading finish and pickups makes a big difference. Also the Elitist models are also not nitro so there isn’t an off the shelf solution available 

lamf68

ICBM said:

Seziertisch said:

@GoldenEraGuitars @lamf68

What is the appeal of refinishing Chinese Casino’s?

They don’t cost that much in the first place and the stripping/refin job is quite a major/relatively expensive undertaking.

I have to say that while it's impressive work, I'm puzzled too - all that time and effort to turn a Chinese sunburst Casino into... a Chinese sunburst Casino.

Surely you can see the difference in the "Off the shelf" repulsive burst to the one I sent back, also the back of the original was burst and the customer wanted it brown. I understand that it sometimes seems a pointless task, a bit like polishing a turd, but this guitar had everything changed out, wiring,pots,pickups,tuners, the guitar had sentimental value to the owner he just didn't like the finish.