This will be my first experience with professionally cleaning up a bakelite and would appreciate any precautions anyone might provide. The Rick is in pretty darn good shape but could use a careful clean-up of some pretty stout body oil residue. I am particularly interested in what type of mild soap (?) has proven to make a safe cleaning solution that will not get into the bakelite (and fear the likes of Simple Green or Dawn would); And am supposing that a bakelite is better protected by the oils it has absorbed and accumulated, than cleaning one up too thoroughly.

I am also supposing that I will leave the original tuners off and store them when I remove them for a tune-up, ...and using better replacements for playing rather than subjecting the originals to any more wear. The originals are in pretty good shape, but one shaft bent, a screw missing and a bit loose in need of a bit of lithium (hmmmmm ...maybe me too!). I would appreciate any suggestions for temporary drop-in tuners and a thin gasket material to use between them and the bakelite to protect the bakelite. I simply don't know what materials might interact negatively with bakelite, although I am guessing that thin teflon or electronic gasket stock would be safe.

I would appreciate any other info regarding cleaning this Steel up and best preserving it as a player rather than pickling / storage.

Thank You,
Aloha,
Denny T~

[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 28 July 2004 at 08:29 PM.]

I have found Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish to work great for cleaning the bakelite as well as the chrome parts on the guitar. You can get it for $3.99 at Wal-Mat.

As for the tuners, I assume these are the six individual keys with the metal 7 sided buttons. I have yet to find a set of replacement tuners which will "drop right in" to a Bakelite. Many come close but the usual problem is the string post is a little larger diameter on the new tuners and the bakelite will need to be filed to get them to fit in the hole. The mounting holes on the tuners can be slotted a little bit to get the screws to fit without drilling new holes in the bakelite. The Martin butterbean vintage tuners seem to fit the best but the new Grover Statites will also work and are a little less expensive. The string post on both are long enough but the bakelite will need to be filed which means the originals will not go back in later.

Sorry, I just looked at the picture and saw the tuners have already been replaced with these strips. It looks like it had the six individual keys originally and as usual, they fell apart and were replaced with these. I would still replace them with a new set of Martin Butterbean keys if this is in fact the case. At least you will have a better chance of keeping it in tune and they look really cool. Nice guitar by the way.

Harry

[This message was edited by Harry Sheppard on 28 July 2004 at 09:17 PM.]

But ... the fillers used (reportedly walnut shell powder) may react unfavorably with a caustic cleaner (stong alkaline soap or any ammonia based product).

I've had success bringing back a glossy sheen to my B6s using rouges for plastic and canton flannel buffing wheels.

Blue or White Rouge

Fine and Ultra Fine White
Plastic Rouge.

Scratches can be sanded down using a progression of wet/dry sand paper (320 grit up to 1200 grit) ... then buffed with the above.

------------------

HorseshoeMagnets

Enjoy your Ric!

Aloha,

Bob

[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 29 July 2004 at 02:54 PM.]

After my excitement settled down and IQ came back up to about 50, ...I wiped the drool off my arms, removed my slippers, opened mouth wide, inserted my foot and duct-taped it into place. My excitement and presumptuous intentions overtook my brain; The tuners are obviously not original (duhhhh ... drool) and someone has already done a changeout; And it looks like they redrilled the tuner strip mounting holes to match / use a few of the existing screw holes ...and didn't drill the headstock; I'll take a closer look at it soon. Thank You for the specific tuners suggestions.

All that "body oil" turned out to be some rather stout waxy substance someone had put on it in the past; A faint but distinct earthy / clay-like (not rubbing compound) / waxy familiar odor I remember smelling around my dad's and grandfather's shops many years ago but just can't recall / identify; I think it might be a bees wax product. After reading Rick's "inert" mention, ....and after fingering the "wax" and examining the bakelite inside one of the dry treble bout stash compartments for awhile; I used a linen rag that's been dedicated to wiping a light plastic-safe oil I've used safely on old plastics for a long time ...which shined the body and chrome right up quickly with little effort. The body is in very good condition with very few marks. It easily cleaned / shined up so well and the marks are so light that I see no immediate need to do any buffing ....although Rick's info will go into the case's assessory compartment and my database. That plastics website is great Rick ... kid in a candy store! Thank You.

Yes, ...I'm gun-shy with using caustics ...even strong soaps... on old materials I'm not familiar with. A history of kicking myself in the butt has had an accumulative educational effect.

The volume pot appears to have been changed out; It's not a bakelite but a metal casing. It's a nice and clean Stackpole, although it's code is perplexing. The name Stackpole is spelled out / stamped on the back flat surface, under that is 3-67 and under that is 270-142. Hmmmm; ...assuming those 6 numbers are pot codes, Stackpole's code is 304 not 270 (270 is Qualm-Nichols' speaker code). Maybe I didn't have enough light to see another code on the side surface. There seemed to be some very small and faint characters stamped in the side under the solder ears ...much smaller and lighter-stamped than any pot code I remember ever seeing ...which I disregarded until I couldn't make sense of the "coding" conspicuously and well stamped on the back of the pot.

Buttoned it back up and put on a new set of strings. Religious experience ensued. Holy Cow ...and Geezuss what an incredible sounding and playing Steel ! ! ! ! ! ! Ran out of time and had to put it away after about an hour of ecstasy. Pickup output was very hot, and very well balanced, ...a freight train of tone, ....so no immediate need for Dr.'s Aeillo & Lollar.

Now the "heart-breaker" is that my plate is way too full to be able to spend time with the B6 sitting right over there in it's case waiting to be fondled.