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Where does the 1 come from???
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:58 am
by tennis_nick
If I recall correctly...
330 - standard model
335 - added vibrato tailpiece
331 - Lightshow.
I thought this was standard for all models, but the we get this...
381?
Unless it's got large lights flashing on the inside, shouldn't this guitar technically be called a 380?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:00 am
by ken_j
The 381 is a carved top guitar. The John Kay signature is a 381.
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:57 am
by melibreits
And then there's the model 480, and its counterpart the 481, which both have a bass body shape, but the 481 is a slant-fret model with humbuckers.....
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:58 am
by melibreits
Also, isn't there a model 380L as well?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:17 am
by tennis_nick
I know the 381 exist, I'm just wondering why the 1? shouldn't it technically designate a Lightshow... but the 381 came first, so the lightshows SHOULD be something like 332... or something... no?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 5:48 am
by jdogric12
I'll bet the thinking that has gone into this thread has already exceeded the thinking that went into the actual numbering of the models.
I still think it's worth discussing, you just can't read too much into it. I've always wanted a 660/12 with a converter comb. Can you guess what that would be?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:39 am
by jingle_jangle
Wow. A 666/12. Sheesh!
It warps my brain to look at a compendium of Rickenbacker model numbers (like the one on Bjorn's model page, on the left), and then think of how small the company has always been...
But I don't try to make any sense out of model numbers except in a very general way, because they don't make sense.
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:25 am
by 35012
I would assume that the 1 denotes extra features, such as pickups, Light Organ technology, slanted frets with Humbuckers, etc. The 380, long before being the 380L, was actually just the 381 without pickups, advertised as an acoustic guitar with electric guitar styling.
1968 Catalog
Interestingly enough, all the acoustic guitars appear to have had an electric counterpart at some point, with two pickups, each denoted by a 1 added on to the model number. More interesting is the 392, which not only has pickups but also a vibrato unit.
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:59 am
by chronictown
Were any 391s or 392s ever made?
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:56 am
by beatlefreak
From the title of this thread, I thought we were going back to The Matrix.
Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:07 pm
by jps
Or Babylon 5!
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:21 am
by captsandwich
Maybe they are 1 louder.
