Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Dan, light is light and dark is dark...I do agree though that it's highly subjective. But the difference between "light gunmetal blue" and the nearly black of Melissa's 330 is a difference of words, not perception, I think.

Sorry to be such a stickler, but when I read "light gunmetal blue" I visualized a silver blue with a gray tinge. If you had said "deep midnight blue" I would have seen what Melissa ended up posting!

Paul, The body of the 330 is not illuminated enough to reflect the true shade. Just look at the tailpiece. I can't see the edges of the tailpiece clearly. The guitar I saw at Truetone Music was far from black.

OK, Dan, it's "light gunmetal blue".

I should have taken my camera.

I beleive that the later Midnight Blue has the silver base coat,at least from recent built guitars I've seen. Or has it changed once again? Here is another shot of MB from '87. Note this is a hard color to capture on film. It looks brighter outside or with a flash and deep blue with a purplish hue in dimmer light just like the sky on a clear night. I beleive this is the same as Mellissa's 330. She captured it better though.

Another shot. Looks darker here.

Nobody responded to my post but I did see the guitar in question. The lighting conditions may have affected the perception of the appearance of the guitar, but it is indeed MID. It's not gunmetal, but because of the lighting in the store the finish does not appear very dark either.

J. Oliver, Had you seen that particular shade of midnight blue before? When I was at the store the guitar was on the bottom row and to the right of the other RICs.

I should have posted a disclaimer stating my interpretation of RIC guitar color is not meant to be athoritative in any way shape or form.

Dan, all I can say is that the guitar does appear "lighter" than other MID RICs I've seen. I do think the lighting is, at the very least, partly partly responsible for the apparent difference. It's definitely MID, no question in my mind.

Sort of tangentially, sensory perception necessarily varies from one human to another. With that, as Paul W. astutely noted, trying to convert our perceptions of colours into words is a tough gig. We could discuss this forever and never finally agree on the question of is it or isn't it MID. There is variation in fireglo and other burst finishes, why not allow for some in MID?

Dan, I apologize for getting pedantic, but it was you who first raised the flag. If color is subjective, then the word "authoritative" could not possibly apply. However, color is definitely a science, and word descriptions are either deliberately romantic (my dining room was once painted a color named "Space Age". It was a light purplish-gray.) or woefully inadequate. Again, I'm sorry if I bored in a bit too sharply.

The newer Rick Mid Blue does not use silver metallic as a base coat. It uses another type of reflective pigment that is non-metallic and which does not migrate in air currents. Rickenbacker no longer uses any metallics in any of their finishes. This is based upon a conversation that I had with John Hall last March.

BTW Truetone also had at least one gorgeous 660/12 MB when I was there just over a week ago.

guh-drool

Is MB Mid-Blue or Montezuma Brown? (He ducks again)

More comparisons: Here's the headstock of my '00 4004 Laredo:


my old '01 4003:


and my '95 4003 (yes, it is Midnight Blue):


I prefer the more metallic Midnight Blue, but the Rick dealer near my house had a recent 360 in the newer Midnight Blue (non-metallic). It was deep, brilliant, and only lasted in the store for three days.

Here's a picture of it:

I stand corrected. There IS a lot of variation in Mid Blue. My own experience has been with a narrower range of colors.