1959 Rickenbacker hollow-body stereo guitar

[chattersley]

In 1969 I bought a hollow-body stereo 6-string Ric from a pawn shop. It was a 1959 model, I was told, a yellow-sunburst model with two pickups and a two-piece pickguard. It was refinished in the '70s with a dark maple sealant and played through the decade. It had an amazing sound, played through a Fender Concert tube-type amp back then (I worked at the Fillmore East in NYC). This guitar has been laying up since then, basically, but now I've been trying to find out more about it. I plugged in the serial number to the Ric finder -- 2R061 -- and got squat, really, other than the fact that late '50s guitars cannot be interpreted by the decoder. Yes, it's a two-pickup model, stereo hollow body, but . . . Anybody know anything else about it, like model number, value, etc.? My 13-year-old is a budding musician and I'm going to buy him something else so he can't use this baby. Maybe I should sell this and buy him a guitar more advanced than the Squier he's been using for the past couple of years.

[sloop_john_b]

Welcome, Craig! With some photos, we'll be able to tell for sure what it is. If that isn't an option, can you describe the shape of the body? Does it have binding? Triangle or dot inlays?

[8mileshigh]

I had 2R079 which was a 365 Capri

[octagon]

Here is a 1959 360 Capri that sold on Ebay for $6495

[leftybass]

If it has a dual jackplate with Rick-O-Sound it is more than likely a 1960 model, for this was the year ROS was introduced, IIRC.....

[leftybass]

Here is a 1959 360 Capri that sold on Ebay for $6495

This guitar was probably a 365 with the Kauffman removed, for I see a roller bridge in the pics.......nice guitar regardless.....

[ken_j]

Here is a 1959 360 Capri that sold on Ebay for $6495

This guitar was probably a 365 with the Kauffman removed, for I see a roller bridge in the pics.......nice guitar regardless.....

That guitar was discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=384749. It was in need of a neck reset.

[chattersley]

I'm flabbergasted. You guys are on top of this forum. I'm amazed at the quick (and ardent) responses. I see I came to the right place... I'm going to try to attach some lo-res pictures I've taken of the Ric. The first shows its front, standing before my other treasure from the era -- #00037 Twin Reverb amp, which I just had recapped and refurbished. It's from 1960 or 1961 and was once the house amp at the Armadillo World Headquarters here, played by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn. (Yes, I worked at the 'Dillo, too, and bought the amp at the auction at its demise, in 1980.) The second pic shows the original case, sans handle, plus a piece of the original beatup pickguard, which I replaced in the '70s when it was refinished. The case is pretty beatup on the outside too, with a cartoon Wiley Coyote on one side and Foghorn Leghorn on the other (though they're both in pretty good shape). The third shows the body itself, with a tailpiece like none of those I saw at the Ric website. It's labeled "Ac'cent," if that means anything. Note the two missing control knobs. I had the guitar recently set up at Tonecraft, THE place in Austin for guitar and tube-amplifier repair (I had the Twin done there too). I've also included a picture of the back and a closeup of the bridge and pickup... This looks a LOT like the 360 Capri you were discussing before, but with a different tailpiece. And this one's a stereo. The site sez I can't post any more pix, though I've also got one of the two jacks, slightly out of focus due to my amateurism, and a closeup of the bridge. Anyway, you guys are amazing. I can't say how impressed I am with this site. Ciao.

[rick_ovic]

Craig, you have a 1960 365 Capri, equipped with the Ac'cent vibrato, which many of us love.

The bridge is a replacement - a Gibson style tune-o-matic. You have one missing "cooker" or "oven" knob and the toggle tip for your three way switch.

As far as value is concerned, the modifications and non-original finish detract from the guitar's value. In original condition it would be worth somewhere between $6000-$8000. It's a prime candidate for a full restoration, the kind regularly carried out by our own Paul Wilczyinski. I'd suggest that your guitar would fetch between $3000-$4000 if it was up for sale in it's current state. The recent economic downturn has meant prices have been a little rubbery of late!

It's still a very nice guitar. Thanks for posting your photos and for joining the Forum. You'll find that we're only to keen to provide advice and to help our with any restoration queries. Welcome aboard!

PS Check out Paul's section of the Forum entitled "Reflections of a Curmudgeon". Oh, and you're able to load up to three photos in any one post. If you want to post further pictures, add them to additional posts.

[paologregorio]

I have one of those amps (1963 Brown Face Twin). Wish I had a guitar like that as well!

[jingle_jangle]

Couldn't resist posting this after Darren's benediction...

I've got a '60 Capri, as well, which was in somewhat better condition when I got it. It was originally FG, but someone had stripped it to bare maple (badly---they had sanded through the plywood back in a few places, to the cross-ply underneath, and the binding was razor-thin in a couple of places, too...) and lacquered it, which did preserve it. Otherwise it was 100% complete and very playable. I probably would not have touched it had it been presenting in its original FG. It came to me from RRF consultant and good buddy John Williams, who I owe a debt of gratitude to.

I spent about 4 months doing a ground-up restoration with a few added touches to personalize it.

I'll post one photo, and one link to the rest, showing the resto and finished guitar. Apologies to those who've seen it already!

BTW, the password for the photobucket album is rick46812



http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v693/ ... storation/

[jimk]

I really like that color scheme, Paul. Every time I see photos of that guitar I think to myself "Someday I want to find a Rick that needs a rehab job and make it the JimK Limited Edition (of 1). It's finish would look just about like that Capri of yours."

JimK

[libratune]

It's baaaack . . . except now it's a 1960 365 Capri: http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-1960-Ricken ... 2a0db95edd

[jingle_jangle]

I thought this one looked familiar when I saw it on Ebay...

The owner posted twice over two years ago and has been silent since.

It's a good candidate for a restoration, being of sound mind and body. It's also a good example of a well-meaning amateur refinish that destroyed the originality and killed resale value, too. The terrible, unappealing s**tbrindle brown finish is the result of somebody using a penetrating wood stain on bare maple, after the original finish was stripped back to bare wood. Lots of players did this in the '70s, judging from the number of Fender solid bodies I've sen with just this sort of misguided "updating" having been done.

Rickenbacker factory finishes are not stained, they're tinted after the wood has been sealed. It's the only way to assure consistent, vibrant bursts, and is how most manufacturers address finishing. Some companies (PRS and some Asian manufacturers) will use a stain on exotically-figured maple to create colors not seen on wood in nature, but this is for the sake of evenness of shade and depth of color. This can be accomplished just as dramatically using tints over sealer.

It will be interesting to see what this Capri ends up selling (or not) for.