Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Has anybody seen an Amber Fireglo in person? My impression/idea of what it was was an aged Fireglo, but a friend of mine in Atlanta said that it was much more of a Gibson style Cherry Sunburst (a la Ace Frehley). Having not seen one in person, I was really curious about it.

Welcome to the Forum Dusty.. Amber Fireglo is a vintage type of finish that replicates the look of an older instrument that has yellowed over the years. This is how it happens: the clear coats of finish turn a nice amberish yellow from age due to ultraviolet light(photochemially reactive) some people like this look some don't, I prefer it myself. Modern finish products have eliminated this problem, so in order to replicate a vintage look, after the color is put on the instrument, several coats of amber toner are sprayed on giving it the vintage look, then clear coats are applied to preserve the finish. Gibson finishes their guitars in this manner: sealer coats, yellow base coats, cherry coat from light to dak on the edge, then seal with clear coats. Rickenbacker doesn't use the yellow as a base coat, they use amber C.V. over the Fireglo to give an aged look. It is one of the most beautiful finish colors you will see on todays instruments.

amber quilt;


too bad not a CII...(sigh)

Here's John Hall demonstrating the differences between the usual Fireglo and the 2006 COY Amber Fireglo, during the factory in August:-

Oh, and by the way, welcome Dusty!

Welcome, Dusty!
There have been a few really good AFG photos posted. I can't remember who posted them, but if you use the search utility to find "AFG" or "ambered fireglo" you should come up with some good references.
Here's what RIC is shooting for:


FG in general is a tough finish to accurately capture digitally, & then monitor settings will have an effect on the final outcome also.

OK! I found some recent pics from a forum member, Robert Kuivenhoven.
Here's the thread:http://www.rickresource.com/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

Here's a pic from Robert's bass:

The only way to really evaluate, judge, and compare finishes is with both guitars in hand. I've seen a number of the new AFGs and although there is a very slight variation in the color, they are far from a Gibson Cherry Sunburst. They're a good deal more subtle, in fact. Of the two pictures above (the John Hall one and the '60 4000 one), the second is more representative of the way the burst fades. The JH one exhibits the exaggerated contrast between the red and the natural that we have come to know and call generically "clownglo". The guitars shown, in fact, have a much more graduated transition between the outer and inner colors.

FG had different tones of red through the years. My favorites (late 1960's to mid to late 1970's?) age to look like a ripe apple.
The earlier (1950's to 1960's) and more recent FG finishes seem to have more of an orange hue.

I'm sure some of our actual experts will have a clearer way to put it, but that's my view.


Edit: there you have it.

Welcome Dusty,

Dale's got it right - the AFG is like a regular fireglo, but the "amber" makes it look like well aged lacquer, and gives it a nice warm finish. For me, it is much more attractive than the regular fireglo.

Paul's got a good point too - it's best if you could compare them side by side. I ended up buying mine sight unseen though, due mostly to a lack of local dealers and AFG being a backlogged COY at the time. However I'm very happy with it, both for the finish and the sound.

Hey Dale, I e-mailed you about R. Smith, but haven't heard back.

Welcome, Dusty!

Tomorrow I will try and take a picture of my AFG model 1996 and my vintage 1967 365 side by side.... The similarity between the two fireglos is amazing, although the AFG is slightly brighter, I suppose because of its newness.

Hopefully I can figure out how to process the digital pictures--normally my hubby does that for me, and he's out of town, LOL!

Okay.... Just remembered that I took a picture of that pair and discarded it when considering photos to submit for the calendar project....

Let's see if I've finally figured out how to size it!

Aaaawwww, nuts.... It didn't work after five attempts to size it down, and it's getting too late! I'll try again tomorrow, LOL!

Using Photoshop, my easy method is:
open the file, adjust "Image Size" to 500X500 or less, then choose "Save As", adjust the quality slider until the file size is 36k or under (it's not always accurate it seems) and change the name to "....Sm.jpg" so you still have the original pic plus the small one.
This usually works fine.