Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I haven't seen enough of these to know all the ins and outs. You've all see the one on ebay now with the weird headstock? What's up with it?

Looks to me like it was originally ordered as a lefty, and then converted to righty. Then the truss rod cover was removed and lost. I'd guess that somebody was going to try to make one with right-side-up lettering, but never got around to it.

Hmm, hard to say. My .02 is that it was a right handed guitar from the factory. There may have been some attempt later on to do a lefty conversion, but just to make the peghead a lefty shape makes no sense to me, the body is where it would need attention for the sake of playability. It is still intact in it's original shape. I think there may have some damage at some point to the peghead, and they did the best they could. YMMV!

Fender's first known left-handed Telecaster (1952) had a right-handed neck and bridge pickup route on a lefty body....no jigs existed at the time to a proper lefty. This was remedied about a year later....

What'll it go for? If you got it, would you have a new neck made for it or leave it as it is?

How about a link, folks?

Looky here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/combo-600-rickenbacker-electric-guitar_W0QQitemZ320096773465QQcategoryZ41439QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Was the oversized piece of galvanized or zinc-plate added to the back to hold it together structurally due to the cracking, or was that large a piece of metal endemic to the original?

That's the back plate to cover the body routing.

It's on many, but not all of the 600s/800s.

...and it's usually flocked in a gray color. Can't tell if this one is flocked or just a worn plated item...

I always thought that the elongated jack plate only existed so that both the jack and the strap button could be on the same piece of metal, but here, there is a separate piece of metal for each. Would I be correct in assuming that the jack plate piece was flipped around horizontally to keep the body together where it split, and the piece of metal that holds the strap button is a replacement?

Lots of things don't look right to me....only compared to what I've seen. I don't remember such a back plate shape? Although the flocking looks correct? The headstock looks like it's been re-shaped? And I would have expected to see the serial number on the second plate? I'll have to look at mine when I get home - but the neck doesn't look right from the shot of where it joins the body?

Lots of things don't look right to me....only compared to what I've seen. I don't remember such a back plate shape? Although the flocking looks correct? The headstock looks like it's been re-shaped? And I would have expected to see the serial number on the second plate? I'll have to look at mine when I get home - but the neck doesn't look right from the shot of where it joins the body?

Headstock has not been lengthened or shortened, and with the long end at the left side, it would be a lefty Rick, as far as I can tell. Hence my early speculation.

The headstock just looks too narrow and long to me? But who knows? It looks like a great one for the Wilczynski treatment though