An unusual request, a water damaged guitar.  The chap had a burst pipe in his house that pretty well flooded the place.  Luckily the Ric wasn’t soaked but you can see where the damp has got to it.  Actually extreme dryness can cause more damage to a guitar than damp can!

The frets are a little worn around the top so I’ll sort those out while I’m at it.

The only way to sort out worn frets is to level them all, take them all down to a common level.  So, take the strings off, level the fretboard, tape up the fretboard to protect it while working and file all the fret tops together.  They are not too bad so I don’t need to take too much off.

Once they are levelled off, re-shape the top of each fret.  One down 23 to go!

Once the tops are rounded off I use finer and finer grades of micro-mesh cloth to re-polish them one by one…

The headstock and machine heads needed a good cleanup.  I couldn’t quite get at them properly so took them off to clean them up.

The pick-guard was also grubby so I took the top one off as well as the knobs to clean.

I’m not sure what the damp has done so I took the pickguard off to clean the pots and switch.

Likewise I couldn’t quite get to the gap between the neck pickup and the neck so I took it off to clean around it.

While the bridge was off I gave it a good polish, along with the tailpiece and bridge cover.

Time to put it all back together, having given the body a good clean and polish

Setting up a Rickenbacker is also a little more complicated as they have two truss-rods.  You can get a slightly different set on either side of the neck.  A slight twist with a little less set on the treble side than the bass.

The damp seems to have got to the bridge, each of the saddles needed just a little lubrication to get it to move and get the intonation set properly.

There we go, another job done, as good as new!

You’ve got to love a Rickenbacker, I’d just love to add one of these to my collection.  Perhaps if I don’t ring the owner He’ll forget I’ve got it?

I doubt it, never mind.

A word or two from the owner:

“Sorry George but it was definitely wishful thinking too hope I’d forget about my Rickenbacker! You ve taken my water damaged Rick and made it look and sound brand new. Absolutely delighted with the service you ve provided. I can t recommend your work highly enough. If anyone reading this is thinking of getting their prized guitar serviced or repaired then don t hesitate to go to George. I can guarantee he will work his magic on it.  Thanks once again”