Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Strictly speaking, not "Rick Outlet" guitars, but these should be officially noted and documented.

These were 10 one-offs, special-ordered as a batch from RIC by one N*** T****, when he saw a number of raw C58 bodies that had been used to prototype the C58 project, lying unused at RIC. They were built into complete instruments, and sold on to various dealers and private parties.

Each was unique in features and trim, and I believe all now reside with private owners. Each is secretly marked as well, and of course RIC kept a record of the serial numbers.

I have a list of each guitar and its features, which Kevin Kuney sent me, which I or Kevin will post later today.

My own is a maple BlueBoy 325/12, with open-backed tuners, trapeze tailpiece, and F-hole:





I pulled it off the wall on Sunday night, for the first playtime in several months, and it was still in tune...

Here it is in the rack at RIC, awaiting its final assembly and setup:



These are beautiful and unusual short-scales and deserve recognition!

jingle_jangle wrote: These are beautiful and unusual short-scales and deserve recognition!

I agree Paul - The Blue Boy finish is lovely...

Congrats on such a beautiful and rare guitar.

I've always loved the MB 325s from this run.

Paul: you sure that's a 12er in that RIC guitar rack?

Half the tuners have been installed, and the holes on the edge of the headstock are still visible...

Aha, thought those holes were the tuning keys!

Related thread:

viewtopic.php?p=433593#p433593

Paul, that is one beautiful guitar ! Did it come with the 12 bridge already ? What about string gauges on a 12 string short scale, as 12 to 52 is the required set on a 6 string, no intonation problems - lower strings on third fret, tension ? Do you have the TI flats on it ?

I believe both of the 12 string models from that batch came with 12 saddle bridges.

I made a "custom" set of T-I flats for my 310/12 by ordering some individual strings and adding them to a set I had. I will check and post what gauges they are. It plays and sounds great!

How are they wired ?

As I recall, most of them had four knobs and I believe they were wired the same as the production 325C58 models. A small number had only two knobs but I'm not sure if they were wired the same as the original late 50's models.

Looks like there is still a Blue Boy 325 with two knobs, f hole, and Accent tailpiece available on Mike Park's site in the "Collectables" section:

http://the-music-connection.com/r508.jpg

xpitt wrote:Paul, that is one beautiful guitar ! Did it come with the 12 bridge already ? What about string gauges on a 12 string short scale, as 12 to 52 is the required set on a 6 string, no intonation problems - lower strings on third fret, tension ? Do you have the TI flats on it ?

It has the RIC 12-saddle bridge, and is wired exactly like a C58. It's got strings made up from a .013-.052 RIC set plus individual strings in the proper gauges to fill out the set. No intonation problems that I can hear, but a strobe tuner might reveal minor discrepancies. The guitar feels quite understressed due to scale length and string tension. It's not a cheese slicer to play.

I used to think it was work to play, as it still has the factory "universal" setup and the nut could use a bit of fine-tuning, but the most recent time I played it, it felt just fine. I've (obviously) never gigged it...

The list of the various instruments (I only have records of 8 of the 10):

1. 325/6 Blue Boy, Maple body, slash sound hole
2. 325/6 Montezuma Brown, Alder body, "F" hole
3. 315/6 FireGlo

4. 325/12 Blue Boy, Maple body, "F" hole (my guitar)
5. 325/6 Montezuma Brown, Maple body, "F" hole, 2 knobs
6. 320/6 Montezuma Brown, Maple body, 2 knobs

7. 325/6 FireGlo, Alder body, "F" hole
8. 315/12 FireGlo, Alder body, maple back (Kevin's guitar) Fitted with birdseye maple fretboard

Any information on the remaining 2 would be welcome.

Note that there were only two 12 string versions made (so far as we know)

Thanks, Kevin & Paul !

My records are slightly different than Paul's. Here are some of my notes for possible clarification of Paul's list.

#2 is actually a 310 model with a 4 piece Alder body. The pieces were different widths and glued together like a "butcher block". I owned this guitar for a short time and it is the same one in this post. viewtopic.php?p=433629#p433629

#3 has an alder body.

#6 originally had 4 knobs but was converted by the owner to a 2 knob configuration using one of Glen Lambert's custom looms.

#8 is actually a 310/12 model.

Other 2 I know of:

325/6 Mapleglo with maple body that was listed by a dealer on eBay several times and finally sold.

325/6 Blue Boy with "F" hole, 2 knobs, and Accent tailpiece. Listed for sale at The Rickenbacker Page.

I would regards Kevin's additions as definitive, as the information I got is several years old.

I'm hoping that we can get pictures of all of these--so far we've got only 4 covered.

Note that these were all built in '04, and thus some carry COYs that were then being sprayed--BB and MB.

Very nice! That Blueboy finish is growing on me a bit more.