Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

When did the original run of Rose Morris guitars end and when did the reissues start to show up ? I recently saw a 1996 (325) online that was advertised as being from 1980 but I had always figured that the rose morris’ ended around the late 60s and that the reissues didn’t turn up until the late 80s but please educate me if I am wrong.

IIRC, the original run was 1964-1965, plus another short run in 1967. As to RI check with the usual guitar gods around here.

Wizz wrote:When did the original run of Rose Morris guitars end and when did the reissues start to show up ? I recently saw a 1996 (325) online that was advertised as being from 1980 but I had always figured that the rose morris’ ended around the late 60s and that the reissues didn’t turn up until the late 80s but please educate me if I am wrong.

That confusion likely stems from the fact that 325s had F-holes well-beyond the Rose Morris deal (which ended in 1969 if i am not mistaken, when they started importing Rickenbacker copies instead). A seller who may not be well-versed in the minutae may have seen information about the 1996 reissue on Rickenbacker’s official website, noted that their guitar looked pretty much identical, and assumed their guitar was the same.

Plus, at the risk of sounding pedantic, many people equate any Rickenbacker with an F-shaped soundhole = Rose Morris, and that’s just not the case. That includes later 320/325 models, domestic market “S” models, reissues and one-offs. Rose Morris was a distributor, and you could even argue if they didn’t distribute the guitar, it’s not a ‘Rose Morris’ model.

Good call, thanks for the info guys!