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This is not necessarily a problem I’m looking to solve, more just curiosity. I’ve had a Ric 4003 in for some work and the owner pointed out these weird marks in the finish:



They appear to be deep under the top coats, and they look almost as if someone took an airbrush full of dye and randomly sprayed trails over the body early on in the finishing process, before clear coats. There are some darker large patches of discolouration too. I’ll get better pics when I’m in the shop tomorrow.

Owner says he’s owned the bass for 30 years but these marks only appeared in the past decade. They’re on the front too. I doubt there’s any fix for this other than a refin, and we aren’t planning to do anything about them, I’m just curious.

Anyone seen anything like this before?

Yes.... But I have no explanation for you, Josh.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks Chris, was it also a Ric that you encountered this on?

I've seen it on older guitars of several brands. No idea of the cause, or of a possible solution. Since it's not critical, I leave it alone.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Yes, I don’t propose to open that can of worms either!






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It's a head scratcher, for sure.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Rickenbacker's are frequently visited late at night by alien beings stoned on Starbucks and their mission on planet earth is to mess with Rickenbacker guitars....

Dave hates Riks and I do too. We have one client that we kept raising his price for us to work on his two until he went elsewhere. The elsewhere he went hates Riks too so they raised their prices (we know them) and he sold the guitars and got g*bsons instead.

This same client bought Rik's aftermarket 12 string bridge that looks like I made it in my basement while high. It had scratches all over it and cost him $200...

So with all this offered I think it's because Rik in my opinion does not always display the best of quality and QC in their products, again in my opinion and experience with them.

Yes they are iconic as many guitars are, Fender, g*bson, Martin etc. and because of Petty, the Beatles and others but I'm not a fan for quality reasons that that opens up the possibility that who knows how the wood was prepped for finish or what it was exposed to prior to finishing. If it's under the finish it likely is a factory issue.

Question at any time in this guitar's life was it exposed to a high RH environment? It almost looks like a fungus infestation or the remnants of same from another day long ago, maybe even when it was a tree.

Hesh, I’m not a Ric fan either. Had a brand new 4003 in last month. The owner had to import it privately as Ric no longer has a distributor here. So he knew he’d have no local warranty support and imagine his joy when he opened the box to find finish delaminating in several spots. Definitely finish failure, not shipping damage. General fit and finish was otherwise average and the neck was a club but somehow rubbery as heck. A bear to setup.

That was one of the new poly finished instruments, this current one is one of the older “conversion varnish” finishes. Man is it soft. You could ding it with a stern glance. Neck is a nicer profile though.

Chuckling here because it seems that new production sucks as bad as the old production Welcome to Riks but I feel for your client, that sucks and they were likely bummed out over it all.

They are not cheap either, and paying thousands for this kind of crap is BS.

You know their 12's are strung different, the courses than anyone else too so Rik is a stranger to convention and went their own way and I think lost their way in the process.

I joke with people that they have two truss rods so that there is a possibility that one will work

My first "name" bass was a Rick, and the first "big" music store I worked for was a Rick dealer. This was the late 70's of course. Haven't worked on one in a long time, and haven't seen any new ones the last 20 years so I can't speak to their new stuff. I liked their 12 strings a lot, despite their penchant for weird hardware - that can be changed.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the brand that has nothing to do with the Beatles, the Byrds, or Tom Petty. I like their designs (especially the Roger Rossmeisl years), their sound, and the way they play. And I liked the 2 truss rods, I can get the necks straighter on the treble side, with more relief on the bass. Plus - they are easy to replace. You don't have to yank the fingerboard.

Rickenbacker is essentially a boutique maker now, and that's cool with me. As for the flexy necks... a long piece of wood will bend quicker, which I why I espouse bolt-on necks. Shorter therefore stiffer. Pretty sure that's what YOU guys tell the girls, right?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

They’re definitely attractively designed, I’ll give them that. And other than the weirdness going on underneath, the iconic “fireglo” burst on this bass is very nice.

This is an OLF first and I'm falling out of my chair.

OK Chris I will go lightly on my dislike of Riks just for you in the future.

Ever restring a Rik 12?

Reserve an hour to do it

You also have to tie/lock off the treble strings if they are 9's they will slip the posts.

If I ever build a Rick 12 string, I'll use locking tuners just in case...

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince