Where does the 1 come from???

[tennis_nick]

If I recall correctly...

330 - standard model

335 - added vibrato tailpiece

331 - Lightshow.

I thought this was standard for all models, but the we get this...

381?

Unless it's got large lights flashing on the inside, shouldn't this guitar technically be called a 380?

[ken_j]

The 381 is a carved top guitar. The John Kay signature is a 381.

[melibreits]

And then there's the model 480, and its counterpart the 481, which both have a bass body shape, but the 481 is a slant-fret model with humbuckers.....

[melibreits]

Also, isn't there a model 380L as well?

[tennis_nick]

I know the 381 exist, I'm just wondering why the 1? shouldn't it technically designate a Lightshow... but the 381 came first, so the lightshows SHOULD be something like 332... or something... no?

[jdogric12]

I'll bet the thinking that has gone into this thread has already exceeded the thinking that went into the actual numbering of the models.

I still think it's worth discussing, you just can't read too much into it. I've always wanted a 660/12 with a converter comb. Can you guess what that would be?

[jingle_jangle]

Wow. A 666/12. Sheesh!

It warps my brain to look at a compendium of Rickenbacker model numbers (like the one on Bjorn's model page, on the left), and then think of how small the company has always been...

But I don't try to make any sense out of model numbers except in a very general way, because they don't make sense.

[35012]

I would assume that the 1 denotes extra features, such as pickups, Light Organ technology, slanted frets with Humbuckers, etc. The 380, long before being the 380L, was actually just the 381 without pickups, advertised as an acoustic guitar with electric guitar styling.
1968 Catalog
Interestingly enough, all the acoustic guitars appear to have had an electric counterpart at some point, with two pickups, each denoted by a 1 added on to the model number. More interesting is the 392, which not only has pickups but also a vibrato unit.

[chronictown]

Were any 391s or 392s ever made?

[beatlefreak]

From the title of this thread, I thought we were going back to The Matrix.

[jps]

Or Babylon 5!

[captsandwich]

Maybe they are 1 louder.