Bill Dillon and his 58 MG 355

[libratune]

Paul, thanks for checking this out and letting us know. This Capri has definitely been played, but the front is in pretty good shape and it's nice to know with certainty that the body is mahogany.

Are mahogany bodies pretty rare for Rickenbacker, or have you seen others?

[jwilli]

Very cool info. I will have to check my 345 more closely. I am sure it was made with the same type of wood that Ron's was since it is one serial number away. There is a music store that has one like Ron's. The guy won't sell. Yet. It's a '59 345 FG. And the wood looks just like Ron's guitar.

[jwilli]

I have a pic of it on my phone but don't know how to put it up here. Can send it to you.....

[jwilli]

I'll see if this works.......

[jwilli]

here , larger

[libratune]

Interesting. It still has the Kauffman arm. That's an indicator that it has been well taken care of!

From what I can see, the wood does look similar. Interesting to note that the Kauffman on mine has a TP-like "extender" while this one doesn't. I wonder why these are on some guitars and not others . . .

John, did you get the serial number? Why won't the guy sell? Does he actually think it's going to increase in value over time?

Remind him he's a dealer, not a collector, so it's his job to display and sell those guitars!

[jwilli]

Ron, I do have the serial number around here somewhere. His wife was easier to talk to. He doesn't even want to acknowledge the guitars on the top shelf. Last time I was there, I offered 6k and he didn't even look at me, lol. I did buy a pristine '63 Epi Casino for $1695. there once. I will ahve to make another trip there soon.........

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

Well I had the chance to spend Labour day drinking tea and playing Rickenbackers with Bill Dillon again...

What a nice way to spend an evening.

Bill brought two of his five RIC's for me to admire, so I thought that I would share my impressions of them with you.

First up is his September 1963 RM 1993 12 string (Di 24x) which he has owned since he was 17 years old when he bought it privately in Toronto for $175. Bill back around 1967 swapped out the original dot fret board with one from a mid sixties 4001, so that it looked more like George Harrison's guitar. He also stripped and refinished it in a darker fireglo and bound the headstock and the f-hole himself - the effect is quite striking and utterly distinctive. No one else has a Rickenbacker quite like this one. The action was perfect right up to the top of the fret board with no strain to bend the strings - just a beautiful set up. I was floored with just how beautiful the guitar is....

The other guitar is an August 1962 Old Style 360 -(BH 44x) - originally it had gold TRC and pickguard and an accent vibrato but they have been replaced with newer white ones and a flat tailpiece. The fireglo was much more orange then normal, it looks exactly like this one from the register made the same month.. http://www.rickresource.com/register/vi ... 6order%3D5

Again the guitar played like butter - chords just fall so easy on under your hands... Now I know why people swear by the necks of 60's era Rickenbackers...

I have been promised the chance to do a proper photo shoot at some point.... I grabbed these two quick shots just so that I could share them with the forum...

Bill promised that next time I will see his 1968 330 12 that he is having refinished in jetglo and double bound... He also has a John Lennon limited edition 355-12.

Sure was a fun way to spend an evening!

[Danotron]

Thanks for sharing Brian!

That 1993 may be the most beautiful Rick 12 I've ever seen. Double bound, F hole, crushed pearl inlays, it's got it all. For my personal tastes I like it better than the Harrison Model.

I would love to do one just like that someday.

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

oops! Just noticed an error in what I wrote... That should be a Sept 1964 RM 1993 12 string... If it was from Sept 1963 it would have predated Harrison's and been very valuable indeed!

B

[jingle_jangle]

Not to mention that anyone who swaps a 4001 fretboard onto a 12-string Rick is gonna have a heck of a tuning and intonation surprise...

[collin]

Wow, his 1993 looks really cool!

Shame about the mods though.....it looks like a 360S/12 but with bound soundhole and headstock. Still tasteful, but modded nonetheless.

Very nice guitars though!

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

Not to mention that anyone who swaps a 4001 fretboard onto a 12-string Rick is gonna have a heck of a tuning and intonation surprise...

Paul:

I may not have explained what Bill Dillon did to change the guitar's fret board very well.. I am just a lay person, and I just parrot what we talked about last night... I try to follow what he says to the best of my ability. I hope at some point that he will join us here so that I can be party to the discussion...

Bill has in addition to doing his own mods on these guitars (long before they were ever vintage) built several of his own guitars from scratch, (mostly acoustics) so he must have learned (through trial and error) what he was doing because 40+ years on the guitar is still playable and is perfectly in tune. Again is it to spec from when it left the factory?? I would say almost certainly not - but is is his guitar and he has certainty made it his own.

He said something about the neck having a 9" radius, and that he guessed that it was correct... I don't know if that is correct for a 64 era 12 string... Again when he did the work the only way to to see pictures of George's guitar was in TEEN BEAT magazine and production stills from A HARD DAYS' NIGHT. Now a days we are so blessed by having images freely available of what it is supposed to look like, and the c-series replicas are not to hard to find either. in 1965 an O.S. 12 string was a rare bird in Canada.

[Ontario_RIC_fan]

Ok I asked the question and now I have an answer...

The inlays came from the 4001... and Bill cut them down to guitar size and inlayed them onto the fretboard of the RM1993... So he redressed the board to a 9" radius, and inlayed the the speckle epoxy material onto the fret board. He then bound the fret board and then he refretted the guitar with spec fret wire...

So there you go... Now I have told it properly... It looks to my eye like would have originally.... If I had not been told that it was changed I would never have known that...

Brian

[collin]

Wow......sad part to that last bit is that now we know he butchered not one, but TWO classic vintage Rics !! (RM1993 and 60's 4001).

Oh the humanity!!