Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
Sweet guitar! Serial numbers aren't exact, from what I heard on here they just grabbed from a box of jack plates, so it could very well have been assembled in October...jmattforster wrote:Re: "late in month of Sept", by my calc (ah, the internet) week 40 of '65 was Oct - maybe they ran out of pots but had already stamped the jack plate?
Paul, I believe the internal markings represent what the guitar could be. Lots of 60’s 330’s read “345” in the cavity – in fact, I would bet that most of them do.jingle_jangle wrote:I wonder about Smith's numbers, as I've seen several '65 OS 360s marked as 365s internally, and even a 330 marked "365" internally. So, if Smith got his numbers from factory records, even they could be wrong, if they weren't shipping records...
Agreed- I think every '60s Rick I've ever had or seen has had a '5' prefix written in the cavity, including the 12 strings! As for Smith's figures, I used to think John Hall was being peevish when he said 'those numbers are too low' but after collecting for a few years I am now in agreement. Some of those numbers don't make sense; at the height of Beatlemania and Byrds popularity Ricks would have been THE guitar to have. They must have been backlogged beyond belief, and for the very few O.S guitars that were made I'll bet close to 20 have been offered for sale the last five years.sloop_john_b wrote:Paul, I believe the internal markings represent what the guitar could be. Lots of 60’s 330’s read “345” in the cavity – in fact, I would bet that most of them do.jingle_jangle wrote:I wonder about Smith's numbers, as I've seen several '65 OS 360s marked as 365s internally, and even a 330 marked "365" internally. So, if Smith got his numbers from factory records, even they could be wrong, if they weren't shipping records...
As someone with greater inside knowledge than most, what are your estimates for '60s production, Paul? Do you think the Smith book is close? I am always willing to revise my hypothesis!jingle_jangle wrote: Depending upon which records were used for reference, figures could vary. It would seem that accurate shipping records would be the only reliable source for our purposes.
Glen, I'd have to disagree with your assessment. AFAIK, the bracket for the Ac'cent vibrola was only held on by the bottom strap button. The 2 additional holes were probably to mount the non-standard tailpiece. I don't think they line up with those needed for an R bracket. They seem too far apart. Additionally, the presence of the roller bridge, coupled with the lopsided production numbers, seem to strongly indicate this was a 365. The bottom strap button hole looks pretty enlarged. Perhaps that was the reason the previous owner decided to change it out?glen_l wrote:According to Richard Smith's book there were 4 x 360fg OS and 15 x 365fg OS made in '65. You appear to have the rarer of the two.
I don't think the mounting hole for the accent vibrola would be in the correct position for the R tailpiece endhook, so if it had been converted you'd probably have two strap holes there.
