Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Where can I find info to date by pot codes?

Thanks in advance!

Graham, the pot numbers usually have a week/year configuration, that you can hopefully decipher.

I'm not sure if all RIC pots are dated the same, but here is an example.

A lot of the 60's pots have 137 on them. This is not the date. (*Someone will chime in with what it is*) Then there is a full stop, followed by four numbers. This is the year and the month. On my loom here 6708, dating it to August 67.

Hope this helps...

Andrew: I've never looked at codes on my pots, but I'm aware of some of the ways various manufacturers date code products. Often they mark a two-digit year (00-99) followed by a two-digit week of the year (01-52). It is possible that your example actually came from February '67 since it's the 8th week of '67. I might be wrong about pots, but that's the way I've seen other components marked.

Here is one of many useful sites online. There is a section on pot codes that is straightforward.

You are right Randy. Year and then week.
I was on the month thing, thinking Ric serial numbers...
That's what happens when you have just come back from the dentist!

Still disorientated....

Sorry - far too confusing! If the pot codes are:-

6154081 c624 & 6154081 c546

What do you reckon?

Ahhh.........would that be august 1954?

Graham: I haven't a clue. Too complicated for me. If they look kinda grungy and make crunchy noises as you turn 'em, that means they're probably oldish!

Love the title of this thread...

Believe me, the code is: if you've got pot, you can get a date...

I was waiting for that ! LOL

I didn't clue in on the thread name last night but I caught on this morning, it's clever!

Didn't want to let you down, Graham...

Graham, most of the manufacturer/date code info pertains to U.S.-made components. The large listing at http://www.triodeel.com/eiacode.htm doesn't contain a "615" manufacturer's code, so I'm thinking that the codes you cite, e.g. 6154081 c624, are on components not made in the U.S. I ran into this problem when I was trying to date the pots on my 1960s Vox Cougar; the pots, like the bass, were made in Europe and had enigmatic coding.

Graham, 615 is the manufacturer code for IRC, International Resistive Company, according to the info here:

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/pots.html



So yours (6154081 c624; 6154081 c546) lack the ohm rating, but I'm thinking now that the last three digits represent the 24th week of 1956 and the 46th week of 1955, respectively.

One should remember that Pots are a sometimes inaccurate way to date. When they're bought in bulk
and then put into bins, the ones on the bottom sometimes don't get used for years.
Case and point being a small headstock, single piece
maple neck through 4001. First letter of the SN put it at '71. One of the pots had a '67 date code so the owner and dealer INSISTED it was a '67. I guess all of the '70s features could be overlooked.....