Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Anyone here ever seen a '61, '62 or a '63 330, 335, 340 or 345? Did Rickenbacker make any? This inquiring mind would like to know.

Good question Jwilli, and no---I've yet to see one. There are quite a few 360s,365s,370s and 375s around with the thinner body from late 1961 or early 1962, but none from the 330-340 family.

I have to ask the same question about the 4001, I have yet to see any confirmed as 1961 or 1962 production. There is a 4001 in the Rittor book that I believe to be earlier than a 1963 example, which is how it's labeled. It has a headstock and tuners the same size as the model 4000 next to it from 1961, and it's the only 4001 I've seen that has features like that. Perhaps it was made quite a bit earlier than 1963, but was shipped out that year. All I know is this: It's early.

The first 4001 ('61) is in a private collection. The owner bought it directly from F.C. Hall many years ago. Scott Jennings had access to it while workng as the RIC historian.

John slog,told me he had a transitional 4000 from 62 with the big gold guard but newer body shape with walnut wings in autumnglo,it now lives in Japan somewhere.

John Simmons,please post a pic.of that early 4001.

IMO it's a shame that any instrument ends up in a museum. They were built with a heart and soul to be played and make music, not to be put on display like an animal in a zoo.

Dale, I have to wonder if these Ricks will "peak" like collector's cars do. Most classic cars only appeal to those who desired them in their youth -- once that generation gets old, the cars don't appreciate quite like what the kids want.

Right now, muscle cars are heating up the collector car circuit, while Model Ts and other classics are getting "released" from museums.

Who knows? Maybe we'll see a dramatic downturn in the vintage Rickenbacker market as the population at large forgets who the Beetles, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Cream, and others were.

I could be wrong though!

That's a very good point. Those people who were young in the 60's and 70's are now at their peak financially, and can buy all the dream guitars of their youth. When they pass away, they will hand down their collections to their children or grand-children who may not have the same strong love for, as you say: Beatles, Byrds, etc. So they would all sell the guitars and the market will turn down dramatically. I say this will happen in 20 to 30 years from now.

I cant wait till 20 or 30 years pass away!!!
So,did it!!

As many people have said already, that is a GREAT bass Atsushi.

I think Ric's are way under-valued. (verses $60,000.00 for a mint 1960 custom colored Strat for example).

Dave, I tend to agree with you in principle...although I must say if the NOS 1964 4001 really went for $25K, that may be considered by some to be a quantum leap forward. My take is that someone simply wanted it REAL bad. But---on the whole I'd say Rickenbackers have a long way to go before reaching their peak in value...

Ken, I'll do what I can to get a pic of the 4001 on this thread....

Cool,Those years have always been a void in my knowledge of the Ric bass guitar 60-62 what went on then? why haven't we seen any examples?

I don't really know Rickenbacker basses... All I know is this is an older model and it was on eBay, some of you might remember it?

Eitherway here's a picture.

John, I always maintain that the cream of the crop sell for far more than even an *excellent* comparative example. If a 1964 4001s is truly *NOS*, I have no problem with $25,000 and consider it a bargain.

Yes, I think that at some point, prices will peak and possibly ebb. But there are forces at work here that have not been in the past. Primarily, the exploding access to high-quality media of yesteryear. The Beatles and other musicians live on in high-res film, audio, and any number of tremendous avenues of multimedia. I think that interest for the period of history from 1960 onward will outstrip previous erae in the decades to come. And because of that, the ebb will not be as steep as for collectible gems of previous erae.

It's already started. My 13-year-old boy's favorite artists are:

The Beatles
Johnny Cash
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
The Doors
Ozzy Osbourne

and he wears a Johnny Cash button on his denim jacket. Other 13-year-olds think that's COOL.

Some of that music is mine. Some of that is MY father's music. The kid and his grandfather are rocking out to the same tunes. Imagine that in 1967 or 1947. Impossible.

The flattening out of time is starting, and it is because we are better able to preserve our moments from the past in ways that we can conceptualize in the present. Our window to history is becoming a panorama, thanks to high-res video, pristinely preserved and recorded audio, and the porting of old sounds and pictures to new technology.

Imagine a snapshot of a street in your town from 40 years ago, taken on an Instamatic. If the shot contains nothing that is recognizable to you, does not connect the past with the present, contains nothing that allows you to reconcile it with now, it does not hold much interest. But imagine if you could pan around it. Look up, to the left, see what was different then and what was the same. Experience it more fully. Then you'd probably be fascinated. That's what is happening between our past and present, thanks to all of the advances we have made in capturing the world on recorded media and showing it to people in a more lifelike manner. We're making the past look and feel like the present and allowing ourselves to comprehend the contrast at the same time.