Refinish old Rickenbacker

[T.Rex]

I have a 1970's Rickenbacker 481 with the worst case of yellowing white finish I have ever seen. It looks more like a light pee color now. Anyway, I've already decided that I want it white-white, regardless of any effect on it's value. I bought it because I like the way it plays and I love the way the 481s looked. Here's my question,

The existing finish, regardless of it's urine-like color, is in excellent condition. Can I just wet sand, fill imperfections, wet sand, color coat and finally clear-coat over the existing finish? Or, do I need to strip the whole guitar first?

Thanks in advance for any tips.  :icon_thumright:

The picture is not my of my guitar, mine is much more yellowed.

 

[Tonar8352]

I would seriously suggest you reconsider repainting a guitar like that. I know it's yours to do what ever you choose but to mess with an intact factory finish on a piece like that should be carefully investigated as to the impact on the value and collectability of it.

 

[T.Rex]

I appreciate the advise, and I fully understand what I am doing/may be doing to it's value. It isn't super valuable anyway, for a well built USA guitar of it's vintage. In the end, I buy them to play, not to collect. And they don't get much cooler looking/playing (IMHO) than these old birds! I've wanted one, a WHITE one, since the late 1970s.

Due to it's top loaded electronics, I can desolder the whole assembly and keep the noisy and odd sounding electronics and pickguard intact somewhere, while loading a new pickguard with some Filtertrons. My plan is to also have a machinist friend fashion some piezo loaded saddles for Graphtech's Acousti-phonic system also.

It's weight, balance, fat neck and 'future' looks may make it my main axe! I just didn't know if there might be a chemical reaction with the old finish or some other reason to need to completely strip it before painting it.

This is my guitar, next to a snow white ESP Eclipse. Yuck!

 

[leo12.]

Thats quite rare & valuble http://www.nstuffmusic.com/p-30793-rickenbacker-481-1976-electric-guitar-vintage.aspx
Body & neck binding a whole lot of work there. :icon_scratch: :icon_scratch: :icon_scratch:
Keep it stock avoid mirrors & play in low lighting. :icon_thumright:

 

[erogenousjones17]

I don't know where I've been, but I've never seen one of those before. Now that I have, I want one. Thanks for that.

I don't know about repainting it either. Embrace the pee colour!

 

[T.Rex]

Thats quite rare & valuble http://www.nstuffmusic.com/p-30793-rickenbacker-481-1976-electric-guitar-vintage.aspx
Body & neck binding a whole lot of work there. :icon_scratch: :icon_scratch: :icon_scratch:
Keep it stock avoid mirrors & play in low lighting. :icon_thumright:

I just bought mine on eBay in November for $1750. Not an insignificant amount of money, but less than I paid for my Jackson Soloist new in 1987. Unfortunately, that's also a very white guitar! Other than the yellowed finish, my 481 is in pristine condition. That dealer is VERY proud at that price. The supply up for auction has steadily been increasing, and prices going down a little. And I've been watching for a long time!

There's a great recent factory tour video from Premier Guitar magazine showing a little lady scraping paint off of binding at the factory.

http://youtu.be/NEuqgZzKxC4

Tedious, but I think I'm up to it! Thanks for you input.

 

[T.Rex]

I don't know where I've been, but I've never seen one of those before. Now that I have, I want one. Thanks for that.

I don't know about repainting it either. Embrace the pee colour!

I am sorry. Obscure and sexy as hell is kind of the general impressions these 481s seem to cultivate! Too cool for pee thinks I!

 

[erogenousjones17]

I don't know why it didn't click before, but Schecter makes something very, very similar:

A cool-looking gitter to be sure, but the one time I played one in a store, I absolutely hated it. Go figure.

 

[T.Rex]

I don't know why it didn't click before, but Schecter makes something very, very similar:

A cool-looking gitter to be sure, but the one time I played one in a store, I absolutely hated it. Go figure.

Yes! I knew the second I first laid eyes on the Schecter Stargazer (I think it's called) a couple of years ago where their inspiration came from. Too bad you didn't like the way it played. I was curious about this guitar myself. I love the way the Rick plays & feels. It has a narrow, flat fingerboard and a fat neck profile, which is almost the opposite of what I usually like. But it has such low action and a kind precision playability that's hard to describe. It's also fairly heavy, while also being the slimmest guitar body I've ever seen.

I just wish it was as white as the "Stargazer"!

 

[JaySwear]

:-\ give it to me? Hate to see that awesome aged white go. But it's yours, do what you want with it! If everybody were afraid to touch vintage guitars the guitar world would have much less to complain about  :icon_biggrin:

 

[leo12.]

I hadn't seen the Ricky tour vid nice one, that Lady has probably been doing binding 30+
years. I like the idea of the Filtertrons & pickguard (a good few Tv fans on this site).
With the new p/ups it might be you new best friend.

 

[T.Rex]

I hadn't seen the Ricky tour vid nice one, that Lady has probably been doing binding 30+
years. I like the idea of the Filtertrons & pickguard (a good few Tv fans on this site).
With the new p/ups it might be you new best friend.

Thanks so much for the encouragement. I actually don't know a whole lot about the TV Jones' pickups, but people seem to really like them, they sound great (on their sample files anyway), they look great and for some reason they just seem to be the obvious choice for this project. Duncans, DiMarzios or EMGs just don't seem right on this one. I'm a big Variax fan, so I'm pretty stoked about it having a Acousti-phone preamp with the piezo saddles also. Not enough room for the bulky Variax electronics under that pickguard, but plenty of room for the tiny Graphtech preamp.

I'm still looking for any and all advice regarding the finish method. Not so much whether to do it or not, I've already kicked those tires. I'm gonna do it. It just seems to me that taking off the perfectly good (albeit, badly yellowed) finish might be an unnecessary step? This is certainly not my area of expertise in any way, but couldn't I just wet sand it, fill any imperfections, fine sand, color coat(s), scrape binding and then clear coat it?

 

[pabloman]

Somebody find me a Stargazer tailpiece. Or make me one. I'll pay top dollar :headbang1:

 

[erogenousjones17]

Fleabay?

 

[leo12.]

I would avoid wet sanding, It has a good chance of getting under the finish & swelling or
cracking around screw holes & possably the binding.
You would want to research what finish is on it. What is compatable with it, is what you
planed to put on it going to react with the original finish etc.
If it was stripped & refinished in Nitro ( for example) you could be on a least a month drying schedule to rub out depending on number of coats.

 

[T.Rex]

I would avoid wet sanding, It has a good chance of getting under the finish & swelling or
cracking around screw holes & possably the binding.
You would want to research what finish is on it. What is compatable with it, is what you
planed to put on ti going to react with the original finish etc.
If it was stripped & refinished in Nitro ( for example) you could be on a least a month drying schedule to rub out depending on number of coats.

Thanks for the tips. I didn't think about moisture getting under the finish. I don't even know where to begin regarding the finish Rickenbacker was using back in 1977. It had the yellowing "chromosome" in it though, I know that!

 

[croquet hoop]

You can always put a coat of shellac to avoid incompatibility issues between finishes. So : sand the paint with 320 grit so that the next coat has something to adhere to. Put a coat of shellac, then a color coat, scrape the binding if you don't want to bury it under the color, and finally clear. That's how I would do it.

 

[Don]

I would assume that since it's a high end guitar from the 70's and has yellowed, the paint it's probably nitrocellulose laquer. Nitro has always been the best type of varnish for musical instruments because it's light and lets the wood resonate, allthough it yellows with time, exspecially if exposed to direct sunlight.
I might say a huge idiocy here, but i believe that the varnish yellows only on it's surface, so if you sand the surface with some extra high grain sandpaper, something higher than 1000, for half a millimiter, you would probably dig up the original color. Then if you sealed it with some clear varnish and wet sand the clear coat, you should be ok.
Again, i'm just a beginner, but maybe it would work... What do you guys think?

 

[Great Ape]

I think you should leave it alone...you stand a good chance of truly messing up that guitar. It sounds a bit like you're itchin' to finish a guitar, so what about buying a Warmoth alder or poplar body and doin' a job on it? You'd gain some valuable knowledge and experience, and possibly a cool new guitar...then,  if you've still got your heart set on it, you can go ahead and ruin--I mean refin(! :icon_jokercolor:!) the Ric...

 

[T.Rex]

I would assume that since it's a high end guitar from the 70's and has yellowed, the paint it's probably nitrocellulose laquer. Nitro has always been the best type of varnish for musical instruments because it's light and lets the wood resonate, allthough it yellows with time, exspecially if exposed to direct sunlight.
I might say a huge idiocy here, but i believe that the varnish yellows only on it's surface, so if you sand the surface with some extra high grain sandpaper, something higher than 1000, for half a millimiter, you would probably dig up the original color. Then if you sealed it with some clear varnish and wet sand the clear coat, you should be ok.
Again, i'm just a beginner, but maybe it would work... What do you guys think?

I kind of had the same thoughts about the yellowing being superficial, and perhaps it could be polished out. Then I took off the pickguard to find the exact same yellow color in the pickup cavities. I think it's a chemical breakdown, and obviously couldn't have been caused by sunlight under there! Thanks for your input though!