Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

The short-scale model that changed history

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libratune
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Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by libratune »

Each of these guitars has its own particular story, told in various places including posts on this forum.

Now all three are together. Presenting the Polynesian, V109 and V87 . . .
325001.JPG
Lucky day in Ohio for the photos, no snow on the ground and a bit of sunshine.

Lucky day for me, too. I didn't set out to find these guitars, they kind of found me.
Last edited by libratune on Sat Mar 23, 2013 8:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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deaconblues
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Re: Three's a Charm

Post by deaconblues »

No words.... :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Re: Three's a Charm

Post by deaconblues »

Interesting treble horn on the Polynesian. Looks longer compared to the others.
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opticnerve
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by opticnerve »

Astounding Ron! :mrgreen:
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jps
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by jps »

opticnerve wrote:Astounding Ron! :mrgreen:
What makes Ron astounding? :mrgreen:
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by glen_l »

Good to see V109 safe and in good company. Congrats on a truly amazing trio Ron!
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leftybass
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by leftybass »

glen_l wrote:Good to see V109 safe and in good company. Congrats on a truly amazing trio Ron!
+1. Ron, you are maintaining quite an arsenal these days... :D Congrats and I love that pic.
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collin
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by collin »

Congrats Ron! What a trio. :shock:
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opticnerve
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by opticnerve »

jps wrote:
opticnerve wrote:Astounding Ron! :mrgreen:
What makes Ron astounding? :mrgreen:
Let me count the ways! Lol!
JakeK
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by JakeK »

collin wrote:Congrats Ron! What a trio. :shock:
+1, they do look nice.
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electrofaro
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by electrofaro »

Great trio! Was there any specific reasoning in the elongated body of the V87?
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by libratune »

Electrostring wrote:Great trio! Was there any specific reasoning in the elongated body of the V87?
On the V87, here's some info I put together from sources I consider reliable: "This is one of three “Longbody” Capri prototypes produced by Rickenbacker during the R&D stages of the Capri concept in late 1957. This guitar features a short-scale neck on an elongated semi-hollow body, which is made of several pieces of figured wood laminated together “butcher-block” style. Its unusual length required a short “extension” piece to complete the bass horn. The production 325 guitars that followed had a body that was shorter by about 1.5 to 2.0 inches."

As to the specific reasoning behind the elongated body? I can only guess that they were trying to get the overall length of this short-scale guitar to match the length of the then standard-scale guitars. Or maybe it was just an experiment!

Glen might have more insight on this if he cares to chime in.
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electrofaro
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by electrofaro »

Thanks for those bits of info, Ron :D The V87 would be round without the horns, or that's what it looks like to me at least.

The Polynesian is the guitar from the Smith book that got a 3rd PU added? Here I go again with me questions :oops:
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libratune
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Re: Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by libratune »

Electrostring wrote:Thanks for those bits of info, Ron :D The V87 would be round without the horns, or that's what it looks like to me at least.

The Polynesian is the guitar from the Smith book that got a 3rd PU added? Here I go again with me questions :oops:
No problem with the questions!

The unusual length of the V87 body required a short “extension” piece to complete the bass horn.

The Polynesian was initially issued with two PUs and the middle PU was later added at the factory, acccording to the Smith book, p. 147.
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Three's Company: Polynesian, V109, V87

Post by 8mileshigher »

On the V109 and the V87, are those Oven Knobs the Black w/silver or Brown w/gold Oven Knobs ??
They look Black in the picture but the pickguards are gold.....
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