370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Modern years of Rickenbacker Guitars from 1984 to the present

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cestlamort
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370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by cestlamort »

New-to-me 370/12. Could it be one of the elusive 370/12 SPC "overrun" guitars? SN: B3 94XX (February 1990)

21 frets, 6 saddle bridge, foam under pickups, old style case. Light fretboard on a thin (and surprisingly comfortable) neck.

Image

Image
Small ding above the R in the logo, some some white missing from logo.

Image

Image

Also some binding hairline cracks on neck; slight binding staining from a stand by the tail.

Coincidentally, I saw Marty Willson-Piper at a tiny club in Seattle last night. He stuck to an acoustic (no Rickenbackers). Excellent in any case.
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casinoman
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by casinoman »

Looks like one of the overruns to me, and the serial number is an indication for that as well since it's so close to the McGuinn run. They did in fact produce a 370/12SPC in the early 90s for the German market, but those had the raised letter TRC and a regular tolex case, and maybe those were available in mapleglo only.
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cestlamort
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by cestlamort »

casinoman wrote:Looks like one of the overruns to me, and the serial number is an indication for that as well since it's so close to the McGuinn run. They did in fact produce a 370/12SPC in the early 90s for the German market, but those had the raised letter TRC and a regular tolex case, and maybe those were available in mapleglo only.
Thanks. It has a plexi TRC, so probably not one of that batch for Germany. (I did buy a beat up 230 Hamburg years ago when I was teaching there -- I referred to it as the 230 Osnabrück).
This one has a regular tolex case, but really close to the size/dimensions of the plastic ones.

I'd assumed from doing some reading here and at the company forum that the McGuinn overruns were "370/12SPC", but I could be wrong on that count.

Any thoughts/input welcome on this one, especially as I put it on our insurance (musical instrument insurance -- homeowners probably won't cover your gear if play outside of the home).
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scotty
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by scotty »

Fabulous guitar great score.
Congrats.
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casinoman
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by casinoman »

"SPC" is used quite generic by RIC for anything that's not standard... Here are some pics of my German batch 370/12SPC from 1991 (sold a few months ago, though)
CIMG0274.jpg
CIMG0279.jpg
CIMG0281.jpg
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cestlamort
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by cestlamort »

Thanks for the info (and that's a beautiful 370/12!)

Would the consensus be that this is an McGuinn overrun?

Strangely, the neck is quite easy to play, despite feeling both thinner and narrower than my 330/12. And it sounds great (even with round-wound strings of unknown origin -- I may actually like rounds better than flats on a 12 string!)
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jdogric12
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Re: 370/12 or 370/12 SPC? (or ?)

Post by jdogric12 »

I owned one exactly like that, JG, light fretboard, 21-fret, toasters, CB. Yes, RM overrun. Sadly mine was damaged, and repaired poorly so it developed a hump in the fret binding around the 7th fret or so on one side.
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