Van Halen & Cheap Trick

[route66guitars]

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hmm, that's pretty wild---they simply took a six string guitar bridge baseplate and strung it up for bass. I assume the serial number was standard-issue then, right?

Yes, the first year or so they used the same 6 string bridge plate. When the bass was new it had a metal bridge cover that slid forward to engage the mute. In its usual position this cover would have obscured the rather odd tailpiece configuration. If you look closely you can see the screw holes from where the plexi rails for the this cover were mounted.

The serial number series on the basses was initially different from the ones used on the guitars. The basses started with serial number B 7100. This is B 7102.

If you look at the blown up image of the bridge plate you can see the factory stamped over a smaller vertical number, a 3 or 8, with the number 2, and double stamped over another character between the B and 7102 in order to make it illegible.

[Serial]

Just stumbled on this old thread-very cool stuff-please keep 'em coming!

I found an old Rt 66 catalog from the 90s a couple of weeks back (has a double bound Ric 360 on the cover I believe). Cool to see some rare guitars in there from 15 or so years back that are now owned by friends of mine (like the lefty Miller Genuine Draft Hamer 12 string that now resides in the UK).