ID Labels in Vintage Instruments

[libratune]

Some of you may remember the discussion of "official looking" model ID labels that have appeared inside the soundholes or control cavities of a few '60s and early '70s Ricks. There was a discussion of instruments spotted with these labels on page 8 of the following thread (the subject of which was the notorious "Shaded Green" 360 O.S.): viewtopic.php?f=68&t=395568

I have a 366-12 O.S. with such a label. There was a similar label in the Shaded Green 360 O.S. Other forum members have recalled spotting these labels from time to time in other vintage Ricks.

There is a 381 Mapleglo with serial no. dating to 1970 currently on ebay, with a similar label inside the soundhole: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TQ:US:1123

A pic of the label in question:

The shaded green 360 O.S. label:

The 366-12 O.S. label:

It is curious to me that these labels seem to appear on just a few instruments from this era and usually on a "rare" model. Is there an explanation as to why these instruments have this label? Did the instruments leave the factory with them? Were the labels made to identify custom-ordered instruments? Or is this a post-production phenomenon? Or something else?

Any insights appreciated.

[electrofaro]

The stickers do seem to all be the same kind. If done afterwards then all guitars must've been in the same collection/stock.

I think the stickers aren't aesthetically pleasing - I hope there was a good reason to put them there!

[collin]

Yeah, I saw that in the 381...interesting (nice guitar there, btw..).

I think they all came from the same dealer. I recall JH saying these labels didn't come from Rickenbacker.

Who knows...maybe for a trade show or something? They do tend to show up on the rarer instruments, instead of standard 360s etc.

[redamber]

The replies seem logical. If a manufacturer was to go the trouble of printing labels showing Model No and Serial No (e.g., as in the Lowden acoustic guitar range), one would expect them to have been used on all instruments and not just sporadically. Also, if this was an official method of identifying Rickenbackers, it would have been unsuitable for solid or semi-solid body models, which lack any visible sound-hole.

[egosheep]

Doesn't this beg the question, "What is Department AC?" If they didn't originate from Ric, it's kind of interesting they all have this department on the address. Maybe finding that out would help explain the source of the stickers.

[redamber]

Good point Thomas - the mystery deepens!

[jfine]

The Dept. "So-and-So" thing was used in advertising back then, in those pre-internet days. I remember writing to all sorts of guitar and amp companies in the '60's when I was a teenager, and the magazine ads always suggested addressing information requests to "Dept..." DB for Down Beat, GP for Guitar Player, etc. Looks like it was a way to keep track of which magazine ads generated the most interest. We may never know what Dept. AC was, but those guitars with labels seem to all have non-standard features--that Autumnglo 366 is probably one-of-a-kind.

[electrofaro]

We may never know what Dept. AC was

We'll keep hunting for the answer

Can't think of any 60s magazine where the abbreviation's AC, neither a publisher?

It's like the Loch Ness Monster - the fact we might never know makes it interesting

[Danotron]

I have another question on this one besides the sticker because I think it's pretty cool. Are Toasters right on this model for this year, 1970? Should they have the "381" early style hi gains? any ideas on that. Ron? Anyone?

Some of you may remember the discussion of "official looking" model ID labels that have appeared inside the soundholes or control cavities of a few '60s and early '70s Ricks. There was a discussion of instruments spotted with these labels on page 8 of the following thread (the subject of which was the notorious "Shaded Green" 360 O.S.): viewtopic.php?f=68&t=395568

I have a 366-12 O.S. with such a label. There was a similar label in the Shaded Green 360 O.S. Other forum members have recalled spotting these labels from time to time in other vintage Ricks.

There is a 381 Mapleglo with serial no. dating to 1970 currently on ebay, with a similar label inside the soundhole: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TQ:US:1123

A pic of the label in question:

381 MG 70 CI w Santa Ana Label in soundhole 12 10.jpg

The shaded green 360 O.S. label:

Label%20Green%208.jpg

The 366-12 O.S. label:

Label-fullsize.jpg

It is curious to me that these labels seem to appear on just a few instruments from this era and usually on a "rare" model. Is there an explanation as to why these instruments have this label? Did the instruments leave the factory with them? Were the labels made to identify custom-ordered instruments? Or is this a post-production phenomenon? Or something else?

Any insights appreciated.

[libratune]

I have another question on this one besides the sticker because I think it's pretty cool. Are Toasters right on this model for this year, 1970? Should they have the "381" early style hi gains? any ideas on that. Ron? Anyone?

Good question. I've been in touch with the seller of this one and asked him to post photos of the wiring harness. It shows pot codes 137 6808 and pretty clean solder joints (many '68 and '69 Ricks have pots with this exact date code). I have a 1969 381 (IA=Jan 69) with the same pot codes and original toasters. The toaster p/ups on this one (JC) may have been factory issue. On the other hand, I have often heard that the 381 was the first to have the new "hi gain" pickups (they were initiallly referred to as "381 pickups" according to one source). So it is a bit puzzling that this relatively late example doesn't have them. If the Register is a fair representation, however, 1970 was a very slow year for Rick guitar production. It could be that the toasters in stock were still being used up on some of the 381s.

Here's the toasters on the guitar in question:

Here's a photo of early hi-gains on a 370 FG 1971:

The early hi-gain pole pieces are hard to photograph; they are not rounded but are like thin round rods that stick out from the surface of the p/up by about 3/16".