Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have been looking at photos of pauls original 64 4001 around the time of 1965-1966 and the finish seems way darker than the current 4001 64 reissue, the firegloe seems to be bright red instead of a dark brown red. is this really so?

Fireglo simply does not photograph well. JH has said that the pigments in FG have changed very little since the beginning. I can tell you that my early 60's FG looks very much like my late 90's FG. The finish is applied by hand so variations in density and intensity are normal and desirable. Here is FG from 4 decades. 63, 75, 80, and 98

The fireglo from the mid 60's is very dark. It changes in the late 60's and I don't think has been that dark since.
Here's a 64, 68 and 73. Three different guys in the spray booth during this period.

Where's Jim Glen anyway

drooling on the floor

My local dealer has a C64 that is very dark compared to other FGs I've seen lately. these variations have to be in the spraying they are just too drastic to be lot differences if the color formulas have not changed. Especially if you consider they are close in date of manufacture.

My '98 4001V63 FG is very different than my '73 4001 FG.





The V63 is much darker around the edges and horns and the color is more cranberry than red.

Jim Glen must be having a coronary at this time given the amount of Fireglo he has just had to endure!

I would think one of the cool things about fireglo is that everyone's is just a little different!

The color is the same. It only appears to be different when the application is heavy. JH has also said that as the clear coat yellows it adds other tones and on very yellowed FG the edges can be so dark they appear to be black.

I remember the first time i saw a fireglo 4001 i thought it looked awful it was in the mid seventy's ,i still think it looks awful [sorry jim]i always liked fender sunbursts or Gibson tobacco sunbursts, i always wished Ric had something like that.now the color of Ted's 4002 is a beautiful shade a little darker then montazuma with that shade of yellow in the middle.AG in most cases is to lite.

You can certainly see the individual "interpretation" of the spray guys over the years. As John says, they are almost individual. Plenty of choice over the years for the F/G aficionados...