Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So, when did Rose Morris start importing Rickenbackers? Would January '64 be among the first batch, or were they already importing in '63?

John, the earliest ones were from Jan. as far as I can tell.

Sweet! I've got a January RM on its way to me. Probably doesn't affect value any, but cool to know it was one of the first nonetheless.
It sort of gets me wondering about something. This is a January '64 guitar and the heel is not square, and neither was the heel on a May '64 RM that I had. As far as I can tell, all of the RM reissues over the last 20 years, including the 1996AFG, have had square heels. Mistake? Or did some of the export models actually have square heels?

I used to have a '64 325 FG with F-hole (Serial #DGXXX). That's equivalent to a '64 RM1996. It had a round heel. My (3) 1997 reissues and my 1996 reissue have square heels.

This may be interesting reading to you John.

http://www.geocities.com/vintage325/325_3.html

My 1965 RM 1998 has a round heel....never noticed that before!

Glen's 325 site is interesting to look at with this question in mind. I hadn't looked at it in quite a while.
So, the 325/1996 models had square heels longer than the full scale hollowbodies. I guess you learn something every day!