Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'm sure a retailer or distributor can sell off stuff they have in stock that's less than perfect, so called "scratch and dent" stuff. Perhaps they mean that it's their own "B" stock...

I agree. Most likely these got damaged in shipping to the UK and it is cheaper for Rosetti to sell them off at a large discount to a dealer than to send them back for an exchange. Or, something to this effect.

Aha.

Aha

"Take on Me"

Interesting! What was this attached to?

Interesting! What was this attached to?

Custom guitar returned to the factory... I'm guessing.

Just a guess, but those cases appear to be damaged as opposed to "2nds" or "B stock". To me , factory "2nds" or "B stock" are typically manufacturing defects that may not effect function or playability but would prevent them from being sold at full price. Me thinks that the seller is just trying to not take a complete loss on those cases and at a hefty price at that. I don't believe that Rickenbacker would ship anything in that condition.

This tag would have been from instruments used during sales calls by independent reps some years ago. Rather than return sales samples to the factory, the reps were authorized to sell them to dealers when they were done with them. These would have left the factory in perfectly good condition- maybe even handpicked since they were going on display- but were subject to normal wear and tear of transportation, handling, and demonstration on the road.

My 1974 - 360 also has a "second" marking on the back of the headstock. I had a conversation with John Hall years ago (on a USENET News forum of all places!) and he told me the same thing which he said in an earlier post. Since I bought it used in ~1994 or so, I'm not sure if this may have been done by someone due to a minor cosmetic issue (there was/is a quarter-sized finish imperfection on the body) but nothing else about the guitar was problematic at the time. Other than a pickup which ******* out on me recently (which spurred me to acquire some toasters!) - it's been a great guitar - I don't care about how the marking might affect the value because I'm never going to sell it.
-Mike

BTW - I believe this engraving is actually "Segund" not "Second" - which adds to the mystery?

IMO, the vowel is clearly an "o", not a "u".

Of course! My bad - So what could "Segond" mean?

There is probably not much to discuss with that. Could be the C was worn out so they used the G, or the extra part is really just a little chunk of wood that popped out, making the C look like a G, etc etc.