Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just bought a new 660/12, my second Rickenbacker (I bought a 330/6 in the late '80s). It was remarkably hard to track this one down. I live in NYC and there appears to be ONE store in the whole city that had ONE 660/12 for sale. I realize stores wait years to get them in.
My question: does anyone know how many 660/12s are in production in a given year? From my web research, I'm figuring the number to be very, very low....
Anyone know?

http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/electrics/ric/

3 are for sale right now. Not sure about production numbers. I bought a AFG 660/6. Best thing I ever bought.

You'll never get an answer to the question how many are made each year.

There are 3 available at Dave's Guitar. http://www.davesguitar.com/products.html?13256

I have seen a ton of 660s online , they seem to be pretty popular with the wide necks and vintage appointments. The checkered binding, though, would probably slow down their production more than standard models. Physical stores, in my experience, usually have their orders of Rickenbackers spoken for before they arrive.

I was in Rudy's today Chris, I believe they had one in Mapleglo.

Also, Manny's and Ash each had a few 360's w/ full width inlays. Mmm...

dpowell wrote:Physical stores, in my experience, usually have their orders of Rickenbackers spoken for before they arrive.

This is true.

Yeah, I saw that Mapleglo at Rudy's. That's one place in NYC I was referring to in the original post. The salesman there told me they waiting 1 1/2 years for it. Anyway, I bought it from Pittsburgh Guitars and had it shipped, since their price was much better than Rudy's.
Anyone even venture a guess at how many of these are in production at a given time? I know the TP model was 1000 over like 7 or 8 years. I'm guessing since this is general production and not a special edition that there'd be more than that, bu t I dunno.

Numbers aren't common knowledge, but in the case of this model, it's not "very, very low", unless we're comparing production to Fender's production of Strats in a given year...

My gut feeling, based on nothing scientific, is that the 660/12 has become a fairly popular model. No clue as to absolute numbers, but I'd bet they have been increasing as a percentage of Rickenbacker's production.

I bought one in February, and at the time I found a number of them available in stores, but it appears that Rick had just done a run of them. In another few months those will probably have dried up, and it will be interesting then to see how long it is before they are readily available again.

TomPettyandHeartbreakersFan wrote:

dpowell wrote:Physical stores, in my experience, usually have their orders of Rickenbackers spoken for before they arrive.

This is true.

The above confirms my observations, too.

JimK

What about the 660/6 AFG? Does anyone think they were a heavy run?

I really think the gold gaurd and TRC look better with the yellowed inlays and binding. I know this is just my humble opinion but I can can say my 660 is by far the best guitar I ever played. The neck is incredible.

They are still making AFG 660s...no past tense here.

I, too once thought that the guards on my MB 660/12 looked too greenish agains the reddish brown paint finish, so I redid them in a more coppery gold shade that I mixed myself. That was my very first Rick project, back in December of '04. I still have the guitar, of course, and it just gets better looking every time I uncase it.

at the time I found a number of them available in stores, but it appears that Rick had just done a run of them. In another few months those will probably have dried up,

I think they just did a run of them recently too. The stores I found that had 660/12's to sell had just gotten them at the beginning of March it seems. A number of them seem to have sold, so maybe it's a similar situation. I can see why this model would become a popular one....

There's 2 on sale at the Music Zoo, if you don't mind Jetglo.