Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

On my 'Hello' post I had a request from Bob for some pics of a my 381/12 V69 because he thought the tuner ferrules were rather large for a vintage headstock, so I've taken some pics of the headstock along with pics of the headstocks of the 1998PT and the 330 for comparison.

381/12 V69 Headstock Front


381/12 V69 Headstock Rear


381/12 V69 Headstock Close-up



1998PT Headstock Front


1998PT Headstock Rear


1998 Headstock Close-up



330 Headstock Front


330 Headstock Rear


330 Headstock Close-up


I note that the 381/12 V69 and the 1998PT have the tuners 'deluxe' tuners whilst the 330 has the smaller 'Schaller' type.

Over to you Bob!

Hey! Thanks for the pics. Much appreciated. Those are beauties. Is the RIC 12-string headstock a beautiful piece of engineering or what?

I think I remember you saying that the 381/12V69 is a '94. If that's the case, it's very unusual that you would have the "snake" logo Kluson copies by Schaller. By 1994 they were using the RIC Deluxe tuners made by Gotoh. I have seen a couple of 660/12s with them from when they changed the RIC Deluxe tuners to single line in the early 2000s, and seemed to be scraping the bottom of the parts bin during the transition.

Even further, with the notable exception of the PT and John Kay Limited Editions, every Rickenbacker I have ever seen with those tuners has small, transparent nylon washers behind the ferrules, not the large washers.

Without looking back at the thread: Your 330 is a '95 or '96, am I right?

Oh! Now I went back to the thread. It's an '88. Sooo, the tuners make sense. Still, the ferrules are odd. But, lo and behold, the Bacon book shows a 381v69 (mislabeled in the book as a real '69) with the same washer treatment.

I KNEW the 330 was a '95 or maybe a '96. Who can tell me how I knew this?

belloff wrote:I KNEW the 330 was a '95 or maybe a '96. Who can tell me how I knew this?

Something to do with the tuners perhaps? My guess is the Schaller writing...

Here's one from '86 (April), a 320/12V63....with the boxy Schallers.

Bingo. Those Schallers were only used by RIC in '95. There was probably some trickle into '96. These, I think, were the transition period for Schaller between "Made in W. Germany" and "Made in Germany". Whever I see them I think "1995!"

The '95 330/12 Turquoise at Chris' Guitars (which is the one Jake SHOULD be buying) also has them.

BTW, the string routs in your 381/12V69's headstock are HUGE...

belloff wrote:BTW, the string routs in your 381/12V69's headstock are HUGE...

Probably to keep the weight down!

Bass side's wider than treble. An indication that the initial router cut slipped a bit and a clean-up cut was taken on a second pass.