325 w/ Impossible SN

[jsm610]

...along with the repair serial number plate

Scott: would be curious as to what other situations you've seen that resulted in a 'reissued' plate?

[route66guitars]

...along with the repair serial number plate

Scott: would be curious as to what other situations you've seen that resulted in a 'reissued' plate?

In the late 1970s and all through the 1980s we saw instruments which were obviously 1970s bodies/necks and had 1960s parts. After the first couple of times we were offered these instruments we contacted the factory and learned that this was a common ‘repair’ for an instrument sent in for non-warranty repair of a broken neck or body. I have seen cases where the necks were sawed off and routed out and a new neck installed, but this was less common, at least at the time. (One of my best friends sent his lefty 360-12 in for such a repair and received back a new instrument with his old parts installed, so I have seen it firsthand.) In each case that I saw they replaced the original serial number plate with what I have always referred to as a ‘repair’ plate. I never asked what they called it in-house, that’s my term.

In late 1988 I cataloged close to 80 guitars and basses stored in shipping boxes in a locked cage at the factory. These dated from 1956 to 1983, and all were incomplete in some fashion. Nearly all were missing the jack plates. Through 1989 & 1990 67 of these instruments were completed by the factory and sold by us (a few were completed and added to the ‘factory museum’ in John’s office, and a few others weren’t salvageable.) Nearly all of these instruments have serial number plates with month/year approximate date codes, with very high numbers outside of the production count. A few left the factory with plates that had an X as one or both of the letters. I don’t believe that any new plates were stamped and plated, they were simply pulled from inventory.

[glen_l]

It's a beautiful vintage 325fg, that for sure. A straight up and down '66 it is not. The only thing that would firmly establish it as a '66 would have been an untampered wiring loom, a set of 3 matching pickups, and a matching serial number plate. Unfortunately it doesn't have these. The date codes on the pots indicate the 40th week of '66. Making it impossible for this loom to be an early '66, and barely making in to '66 at all, allowing for the normal gap between the manufacture of the pots, and their fitting to a guitar.

The pickups have a mixture of corner screws none of which are correct for '66, indicating pickup replacement of some description. The soldering of the pickups to the loom has been redone, and the flux shows clear reheating in those areas. There is also a section of sleeving on one of the ground connections that is not usually found in Ric looms. Unfortunately this means the loom could just as easily not have originated in this guitar.

A '66 model would normally have flat blade screws on the TRC, but this has Philips head screws. I would agree that 60's Rics tend to have thicker markings inside the cavity. My Feb 66 Ric certainly has a thick black pen marking, and also has a thinner top.

There are always oddities, and random things that happen in production, but how many can you allow, all happening to just one little '66 guitar. It is a beautiful 325, but shows more signs of being a 70's model than a '66 model.

[jsm610]

The pickups have a mixture of corner screws none of which are correct for '66, indicating pickup replacement of some description.

The neck and middle pickups look like others I've seen from that year. Glen: what are the correct corner screws for a '66?

[glen_l]

Corners screws for 60's toasters are a Nickel plated brass machine screw, with small fully round slotted head. Often the nickel has worn away to show the brass.

The neck and middle pickups on the guitar are the more flattened pan head as found on 50's rics, and the 325c58. The bridge pickup has Philips head screws like the re-issues toasters of the 90's.

The knobs would have been silvered topped ones for pretty much any hollow body model Ric made after '64.

Do the bridge saddles have rollers?

[jsm610]

Do the bridge saddles have rollers?

Nope.

[glen_l]

It is sounding more like a 70's model that's had a little conversion work. There may have been a feeling of this amongst bidders in the auction which was reflected in the final price. If that is the case, tt was still a good deal for a 70's soundhole model with fireglo finish in excellent condition. 70's 320's with soundholes are becoming more highly regarded and sought after.

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

I myself think that Scott's explanation of this being a replaced body repair of a 66 Ric is the most likely one.

The only way we will ever know for sure is a response from the company...

[glen_l]

Scott's description of what was happening with original hardware going on to new bodies for non warrenty repairs long after original manufacture date of the guitar was interesting to read. These guitars were given a plate with correctly indicative date letters, but a well out of production range number. What we have in this case is incorrect date codes (compared to the pot codes) and a stamped number very much within production range, but not matching the date codes. Also, the hardware has not been neatly exchanged onto a later body. It is mismatched in a variety of ways. It seems a stretch to say it's a Ric factory exchange.