Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

i am thinking about purchasing a used 1999 620 in jetglo.
i am just curious why the 620 i am looking at has the gold pickguard. it looks amazing (just like the 660).
did the 99 models use gold pickguards because the headstock has the gold in it as well as opposed to the traditional white for the 620 models.
anyone know what's going on with this model?

by the way, as this is my first post, i would like to say hello to all fellow rickenbacker supporters.

ciao,
scott

Scott, welcome...found something similar on Ebay. May be a special order, can't say for sure.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41439&item=7309682495&rd=1

Hi Scott, welcome to the forum...the 620 Jetglo with gold guard is NICE! Not a big fan of the oven knobs though, but if the one on Ebay is like the one you are considering, go for it.

Scott, an easy way to tell if its indeed a 660: Full width inlays, checker binding, and vintage style tuners.

I thought the 660 was not equipped with the "R" tailpiece but used a trapeze style. This should be an easy way to distinguish between them.

it is most definitely a 620.
it has the 1 5/8 neck width, the R tailpiece, and no checkered binding. it has the traditional hi gain pickups.
seems weird that it's in gold, but i think i may go for it anyway. thanks guys.

i think im gonna need to put some toasters in this puppy if i get it.

Scott, I'm going to take a guess this guy bought some extra gold guards and put them on himself.

Alot of people like to make these kind of modifications that can be brought back to normal if desired, and in this case, the owner probably did like the gold if he kept it like that.

Maybe you should ask the seller if it came originally with the gold guards.

it is from a store.
it has the gold in the headstock as well, so i am assuming it had to have been made this way.
looks great.
now i just need to worry about international shipping as i'm in Canada

Do you mean that it's a brand new 620 with gold? Then it was special-ordered that way by somebody. If used, even slightly, the previous owner worked a TRC exchange with the factory.

it is a 1999 model. it has been used.

'the previous owner worked a TRC exchange with the factory'

what does that mean???
sorry i am clueless.
thanks

620s come with a white truss rod cover and white pickguards. Gold aftermarket pickguards are available (from Pickguardian, among others), but nobody is permitted to produce duplicate Rickenbacker truss rod covers in any configuration. So in order to obtain a gold TRC, a white one must be sent into the Rick factory, along with some cash (don't know how much these days) and they will send you a gold TRC. Be sure to call them to pave the way first. Be nice and they'll be nice back.

Hi Scott,

620 JG with gold! Beautiful!! I'm in Montreal, and have shipped guitars in from the USA more than a few times.

Other than shipping costs (which I don't find too bad, usually about a $40 US adder to the guitar cost) you will be charged Great Sucking Tax and Provincial Sucking Tax by customs. Mine are always charged COD by the transport company (UPS, Fedex, USPS). There is usually about a $40-$60 brokerage charge as well. There is no duty, as guitars are duty free under the Free Trade Agreement.

As an example, with all the shipping and brokerage charges (taxes have to be paid here or through import either way) I saved $1000 CDN for my Ric 660/12 compared to the dealer price here in Montreal.

...Dean

No duty?
I was pretty sure I paid like 200$ for mine about a year ago, when did this change?

It was coming from the US to Canada.


Maybe it was tax...

Hi Patrick,

Correct. No duty from USA to Canada.

You still have to pay GST, PST and brokerage. In January this year my 660/12's taxes (7% GST, then here in Quebec you add the GST amount to the total and calculate 7.5% of that total for Quebec Sales Tax - yup, we pay sales tax on our sales tax!!)came to $250 and the UPS brokerage fee was $40.

...Dean

Hey Scott -
I think I know the guitar you're thinking of getting - I've held it in my own grubby hands! It plays great, sounds great, looks great, and seems to be in awesome condition. The owner of the store told me it was a trade-in on an alembic something-or-other, and he didn't have specific knowledge of how the gold came about - like others have said, the TRC was probably switched out with Ric. One thing I noticed about the TRC - it's a bit hard to describe - is that rather than the edge of the TRC being one smooth curve, it's a bit 'pinched' in the middle, like it had to be trimmed down a bit to fit. You can kind of see it in the website photos. Is that normal? don't know, but it's different than my 330.

Anyways, hope it all goes well for you - if I didn't have a girlfriend to answer to I might have walked out the door with it!

Nick