Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A Boyd variant? On a '63 425......

Fascinating...

This seems to be a true Boyd--what I can see of it under that curved cover, look like bent wire, and it has the proper paper-clip arm and arm fastening hardware.

The engine-turned filler plate under the guard and the handmade curved tailpiece cover, though, point toward this as having been an owner-modification or possibly a prototype test-fit. Nice work.

Thanks, everyone! That Boyd sure looks to be an odd contraption indeed. And the "S" vibrato was used on lots of '60's Japanese guitars. I had the same unit on my first electric, a St. George, bought new in '64, probably made by Kawai or Teisco. Awful vibrato--mine woud go out of tune if you looked at it sideways! I had no idea until recently that those were used on Rickenbackers.

Whoa! This a a cool thread! The Boyd handle is cool-sort of Art Deco and Space Age all-in-one!

Thanks for showing your BARC brunch guests the mistakenly named Boyd-ish units this past weekend on the Ricks you're restoring, Paul.

Apologies for waking up this necro thread but I just got a Boyd vibe and I'm trying to work out if it's complete. Does anyone on the forum actually own one to compare notes?

This is my 425 with boyd, but I am missing the arm and cover darn it

Completed ebay listing for the 450 restored by PW: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-45 ... 7675.l2557

libratune wrote:Completed ebay listing for the 450 restored by PW: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-45 ... 7675.l2557

s-l1600.jpg

If there's anything specific anyone wants photos of on that particular guitar, I should probably be able to post something this weekend - assuming the Pony Express is running on time.

Larry Ball wrote:This is my 425 with boyd, but I am missing the arm and cover darn it

that's not a Boyd, that's a Burns vibrato

Here is quite possibly the 3rd left handed Rickenbacker ever made. It's a February 1963 450. With the "Boyd" vibrato or whatever the proper knock off version name is. Enclosed are photos of the orginal owner as well with the guitar.