Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've played 480's since 1974 and agree wholeheartedly with Peter's comments. Maybe the flat radius of the fretboard is the difference from your 350, Peter. And that looks exactly like my '81 480 there, probably minus the finish checking mine has.

John: Nice to hear from a 480 owner. Good point, I have thought about the seemingly flatter profile of the Model 480 fretboard being the reason. The body also has a very different feel, being somewhat more substantial. The angle that the neck comes out of the body on the 480 seems to make it a bit easier to play. I sort of allows the instrument to wrap around one's body better.

I guess I still need more time to figure out the factors associated with this difference in playability. Just in passing, my 480 is by no means immune to finish checking.

Peter: You're right about the 480 just "fitting" better. It's very comfortable standing or sitting. I've also received many positive comments about the action - even though mine is raised a bit for my occasional slide playing.

I've had 2 bugandyglo 480's; a May '73 that was stolen and my current July '81. The burgandyglo has mellowed over the years. I remember when I first saw the 7/81 guitar, it looked darker than the 5/73. But now the wood grain shows through nicely (even through the checking LOL).

Good luck with your playability research. Certainly sounds like fun !

There is a nice page on the Model 480 here.

Dit is echt een prachtig middel. De foto's zijn fatastisch!

Ik houd van deze guitars in Mapleglo.

I have a question about Rickenbacker 480 replacement pickguards/truss rod covers.

I've been searching especially for a white 480 with black pickguard and truss rod cover. If I should come across a 480 in another colour, I might consider re-finishing it white (heresy?). But most other finishes seem to be accompanied by white pickguards, due to which I would have to buy a new black pickguard and truss rod cover, as well. How difficult would it be to get a black replacement pickguard and truss rod cover for the 480 (original or non-original)? How much would such a set roughly cost? Cheers!

How difficult would it be to get a black replacement pickguard and truss rod cover for the 480 (original or non-original)? How much would such a set roughly cost?

You would not have much trouble having a new replacement guard made for this instrument Mikko. I will leave the quote to the guard wizards. You can swap a white nameplate for a newer black one which will run somewhere in the $50. US range. I suspect you will spend somewhere in the $100. US range for both of these items. By the time they get mailed to your place, perhaps you can add a little more. Let the games begin.

Is white a favourite colour?

Yes, having seen one especially nice white 480, I'd say white is my favourite 480. But also mapleglo, fireglo and some others might be tempting...

BTW, is the Rickenbacker white difficult to imitate? I mean, will the re-finishing be easy or difficult? I'm not going to do it myself, but still...

It depends on whether you want an aged white or new white finish:



The 4001S WHT is a 1975 in naturally aged white finish, and the 4003 WHT WT is a 1998 in non-aged white.

Here is an example of a 1990 white finish today. Paul makes interesting points about the environment, however, there must be more factors that come into play to produce this effect.

Smoky room? High ozone content? This seems to be an absorption thing. Don't know what Rick was using for their white in 1990 or whether they were clearcoated...To me, this looks like a non-clearcoated finish that may have had the wrong type of wax, or it could have been never waxed and the pores opened up in the paint and absorbed something foreign (possibly atmospheric hydrocarbons?)I've seen lots of this on nitrocellulose-finished guitars, but none this severe. Was Rick using nitro back in '90? I couldn't buy it in LA in '82, and had to go back East and make an illegal buy of only a gallon to touch up one of my old cars.

This is some sort of specialty coating which was formulated specifically for Rickenbacker back then. I'm sure Rick was dealing with the SCAQMD on VOC emissions as they continue to do today; perhaps the supplier had not done any accelerated age-testing. Finishing guitars is closely related to finishing cars, except I think that Rick's paint formulations come from furniture finishing paint lines rather than automotive. Perhaps John or Ben Hall could shed some light on this. You won't see any white 1990 cars looking this bad, and they do spend all their time outdoors, many in extreme weather and UV conditions.

The majority of this type of paint is used by auto body shops, so the AQMD or SoCal has been eliminating the high-VOC paints one by one since the early '80s, beginning with nitro. Currently they seem to be on the warpath about urethanes, forcing all the world's manufacturers to jump through hoops and reformulate their coatings.

Funny thing, I really like that yellowed look and I don't like the vanilla most aged white guitars have.

To each his own I guess.

Gary, thanks for the photo, most informative (the 4001 bass being quite close to the 480). I find both shades of white equally nice. Would the aged white be more difficult/expensive to do? How about the famous Rickenbacker lacquer - it is difficult to do?

Paul: Ths discoloration may also be due to sulphur-like gas produced by the foam lining in cases. The close contact with this foam may be the culprit as well. I have tried to age newer plastics with chemical and UV to no effect.