Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

jwilli wrote: PS: My '59 345 serial number is 3V581...

John, what a coinky-dink! The serial number on my '59 345 Capri is 3V580. (It's on the Register with pics.) So there may be a bit of "sequence logic" here and there to the pre-'61 serial numbers.

The wood on the body of mine seems to be mahogany -- it is very grainy and porous. Could this be? Check out the pics and let me know what you think.

Very unusual look for maple, so you may be right about that:

Here is an older low resolution pic. Ron, I think ours are made from the same wood. I have heard tales about Mahoghany, etc... Any wood experts out there? I'll shoot a couple of hi-rez pics soon...

Thanks for the image John...

Bill's guitar looked like yours but with only two pick ups, and in much worse shape.

More pics would be great!

Here is another pic. Might not be any better than the other......

jwilli wrote:Here is another pic. Might not be any better than the other......

Looks good to me...

jwilli wrote:Here is an older low resolution pic. Ron, I think ours are made from the same wood. I have heard tales about Mahoghany, etc... Any wood experts out there? I'll shoot a couple of hi-rez pics soon...

I think there have been Capris that have surfaced with Mahoghany bodies, I seem to remember seeing one once or twice.......

I once owned a 330 '59 Capri that definitely had a mahogany top. Fireglo. Man, bought that thing for $1200. And this was only '98. I think it had been hanging in the store a loooong time. It had tail lift on it though, but pro repaired. Anyway - love looking at these old Capris. I wish the Beatles had played a large bodied Capri, then Ric would be churning them out.

leftybass wrote:I think there have been Capris that have surfaced with Mahoghany bodies, I seem to remember seeing one once or twice.......

John, what do you think of the Capri in the pic I posted at the top of p. 2 of this thread? Does the body look like Mahogany to you? It certainly isn't maple or alder. The back, of course, is a different piece and could be maple or alder ply.

For more pics see the Register: http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... lebrity%3D

ocduff wrote:I once owned a 330 '59 Capri that definitely had a mahogany top......It had tail lift on it though, but pro repaired.

Tail lift on a 330?

jwilli wrote:Here is another pic. Might not be any better than the other......

That really really really looks like maple to me.

libratune wrote:

leftybass wrote:I think there have been Capris that have surfaced with Mahoghany bodies, I seem to remember seeing one once or twice.......

John, what do you think of the Capri in the pic I posted at the top of p. 2 of this thread? Does the body look like Mahogany to you? It certainly isn't maple or alder. The back, of course, is a different piece and could be maple or alder ply.

For more pics see the Register: http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... lebrity%3D

I would say it could be, yes..... the time period seems about right to me.

I agree that it doesn't look like alder or maple. I think Paul had one come through his shop that he worked on, maybe he'll chime in as well.

Dillon's 345 is lovely tiger-striped mahogany, with a back of close-grained hardwood (maple or birch) 3-ply plywood, as many were back then. My own '60 365 was plywood-backed, and I redid a '59 335 last year at this time, that had a plywood back. Graham's '59 375F was solid-backed, I recall.

jingle_jangle wrote:Dillon's 355 is lovely tiger-striped mahogany, with a back of close-grained hardwood (maple or birch) 3-ply plywood, as many were back then. My own '60 365 was plywood-backed, and I redid a '59 335 last year at this time, that had a plywood back. Graham's '59 375F was solid-backed, I recall.

Paul:

I beleive that Bill still has the original body of the Capri. I know he has no desire to restore it back to original, but perhaps another guitar could be crafted out of it... Not sure what it would cost to do that or whether it would be worth it to bring part of the guitar back to life...

If it had been me, I would not have done this to the Capri, but I guess Bill wanted a '59 325 and this was his only way of getting one the way he wanted it.

B

jingle_jangle wrote:Dillon's 345 is lovely tiger-striped mahogany, with a back of close-grained hardwood (maple or birch) 3-ply plywood, as many were back then. My own '60 365 was plywood-backed, and I redid a '59 335 last year at this time, that had a plywood back. Graham's '59 375F was solid-backed, I recall.

Boy, was I off...meant to say "Ron's", not "Dillon's", per the pictures in the Register.