Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I saw him with a burg but never a Ruby.

It looks ruby on the "new" DVD.

Got a clip? Look for skunk stripe. If you see that, it is not Ruby.

Go on, tell him why, I know you're dying to !!!!

Nope, already covered. Let's see a picture...

Jaymi, when we talked about Ruby it wasn't the colour of this bass that I meant, it was Foxton's. It's not burgundy (although he may have had one of those too), it's brighter, but nowhere near as red as this. I've got some footage of him playing it too, and I've seen others for sale. I didn't even know that this finish was referred to as Ruby. I've got an old Rick catalogue from around 1980 (shows both 4001 and 4003 basses)which shows Ruby as a custom colour option but it's the colour of Foxton's bass, not this. Sorry!

BTW the Ruby in the catalogue doesn't appear to be metallic (although it's difficult to tell from the pics). I may have a pic of a late 70s Ruby that was for sale on ebay a while back; if I can find it I'll mail you a copy.

Jaymi, I've just checked in a catalogue from this period and I've got a picture in front of me of a bass which appears to be identical to the bass you've posted pictures of. It is referred to in the catalogue as RED. It is noticeably different to the Ruby finish in the earlier catalogue, which is more like an extremely "happy" burgundy . The other colours available at the same time as Red were Midnight Blue, White, Mapleglo, Fireglo and Jetglo. Maybe John Hall could clarify?

Shaun here are three excellent examples that show the differences between Ruby, Red, and Burgundy well from an earlier thread:

this...http://homer.netmar.com/~muscon2/r373.jpg

is ruby, an opaque metallic color...look closely at the headstock. No skunk stripe..

Now this...http://homer.netmar.com/~muscon2/r470.jpg
is red..

and then there is the reissue burg..
http://homer.netmar.com/~muscon2/r442.jpg

notice the pigment differences...they are especially noticeable on the headstocks...

(Posting borrowed from Jaymi himself!)

easiest way is-Ruby metallic finish, looks like candy apple-non translucent. Red-looks like enamel, also non-translucent. Burg-translucent, but in various shades.

Speaking of Burgundy, there's a nice one on UK ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=3779017370&rd=1

...Oh.. and a red one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=3776944852&rd=1

This would all be a moot point if you stuck to Firerglo

what Jared said...

Hey Jim, I'm with you there!!!Of course none of it really matters to me as I'm a true blue man myself but still.....

Right, so I'm with the programme now with regards to these finishes, although Jeff, for some reason I can't access those links you provided; I'll try and check back at some stage.

Anyway as I say I'm not really into reds - other than fireglo - so have never paid much attention before, but I've still got a question.....what colour is Foxton's? Anyone who has the DVD, its the one he plays on the Old Grey Whistle Test footage. It looks to me pretty much the same shade as the pics of Ruby in my catalogue, which is why I always thought it was Ruby, although obviously the pics in the catalogue may not be too accurate, and the lighting on the live footage may just be bringing out the colour. However it doesn't appear to be metallic so far as I can tell, and its also difficult to tell whether or not there's a skunk, so not sure if it's opaque or not; I'll have to watch it again. If it is indeed Burgundy then it's by far the brightest Burg I've ever seen, and barring the old aubergine-coloured ones is the nicest Burg I've seen IMHO. Jaymi or Jared or someone who is in the know, maybe you could check the footage out and confirm?