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Topic: Glare From A Ric Frypan |
Norman Markowitz
From:
Santa Cruz, California
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 4:35 am |
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I have a friend that has a Ric Frypan, that has difficulty in playing the instrument in gigs because of the glare from the highly polished neck of the guitar.
Has anybody else had this problem. and have you found ways to reduce the glare? |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 7:59 am
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| turn it over! |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 1:36 pm
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| Stick on a thin sheet of frosted plastic of some type? Using rubber cement shouldn't cause any damage. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 3:10 pm
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| I prefer easy-cheesey... put electrician's tape on all except 3,5,7,12... you get the picture. If you do it nicely it might even look decent. |
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Andre Nizzari
From:
Bronx, NY
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 6:20 pm
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sunglasses 
_________________
Blues in a doggy bag, is what I got to eat! |
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 14 Jul 2012 10:51 pm
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| Please, no electrician's tape, rubber cement or other adhesives! There are already too many old steels damaged by this sort of thing. I have a Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian that I use regularly for gigs. Its nickel body is far more reflective than a frying pan, and there definitely occasions when stage lights can cause serious flare-out. Nothing that can't usually be fixed by moving the instrument or changing my body position a little, though. Tell your friend to do the same! It's really no harder to see the fretboard of a frying pan clearly in high light than a bakelite in low, and not always being able to see the fretboard well is a great inducement to develop muscle memory. There can be other, uh, theatric benefits to a mirrored instrument, too. I played a honky-tonk show in a red satin shirt a few months ago. A friend in the audience said that when a red spot hit the guitar, the shirt and the crimson light reflected on my face made me look positively satanic! |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2012 4:12 am
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| Ian McLatchie wrote: |
| Please, no electrician's tape, rubber cement or other adhesives! There are already too many old steels damaged by this sort of thing! |
Imagining damage does not equal damage. There is no way electricians tape will hurt a metal finish, it's designed to protect metal connections. |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2012 12:32 pm
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"There is no way electricians tape will hurt a metal finish, "
Same with rubber cement from an office supply store. Peels right off. And it would only take a couple of dabs. I'm not suggesting covering the fretboard with it! Just a dab'll do ya. |
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Carl Mesrobian
From:
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 16 Jul 2012 4:15 pm
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Polarized glasses or some kind of music rack in front of the guitar. Is it a jealous glare when you look at other guitars 
_________________
--carl
"The better it gets, the fewer of us know it." Ray Brown |
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Eric Gross
From:
Perkasie PA, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2012 8:03 am
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Probably the simplest solution is to send me the guitar, problem solved!  |
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Norman Markowitz
From:
Santa Cruz, California
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Posted 17 Jul 2012 3:57 pm
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| How about having the whole guitar, or just the neck anodized? Would that change the tone of the guitar or affect it's value? |
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Carl Mesrobian
From:
Salem, Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 17 Jul 2012 4:22 pm
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I think anodizing will affect its value, kind of like buffing up that silver dollar collection that would have been worth more if left alone.
How about just letting it get a little dusty and dirty? Sounds dumb, I know, but it is sort of an accepted part of vintage instruments, and it can easily be removed. IMO, whatever mods one does to valuable items should be reversible.
...or send it to Eric...No, to me!
_________________
--carl
"The better it gets, the fewer of us know it." Ray Brown |
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Norman Markowitz
From:
Santa Cruz, California
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Posted 17 Jul 2012 5:50 pm
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| Isn't the value in the sound and being able to play it? How do you think it might affect the sound? |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 18 Jul 2012 4:56 am
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The only Ricky frypans that I ever saw that were very shiny ... We're One's where the original lacquer coating or wrinkled paint were removed ... Then wet shaded and buffed ... Ala Bill Creller. 
Collectors would have already de-valued it some ... For the removal of the original coating ... That's just what they do.
As for anodizing ... I visited an anodizer and brought one of my cast aluminum steels. He couldn't guarantee a " spot free" job because I used A356 which contains Silicon ...
I don't know the exact alloy Ricky's are ...
It wouldn't alter the sound enough to be audible ... I would guess ... But it would diminish the resale ... .
If it really is an immediate problem ... wipe the neck with alittle Mother's Al/Mag Polish on a cotton cloth .... Let it dry and don't wipe it off ... Until after the show ...
Just a little will put a non-reflective haze over it. Repeat whenever stage lights are an issue. Just keep it off the strings.
Long term ... stop polishing it ... And in awhile it will develop a dull, gray-ish aluminum oxide coating (anodizing develops a heavy aluminum oxide coating that will accept dyes) ..
Till then ... I like the sunglass option |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 18 Jul 2012 6:50 am
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I've had a similar experience with my National Tricone. If the light hits it just right, you're blind. I found that moving away from the lighting (or playing in the shade if you're outdoors) cured 90% of my problems.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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