My newly acquired '76 450/6.
Posted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:09 pm
Some of you saw the post I put on the Rickenbacker's Wanted section looking for a 450. Well, I got it and it looks and sounds killer.
Here's a pic of the guitar.
http://images.dumb.org/main.php?g2_itemId=5101
Now for the silly stuff. If you click "Next" on that page, you'll see the body of the guitar. Looking at the bridge, you can see that the two posts holding the compensated bridge are quite tall. Completely different from my 450/12. I decided to investigate further and opened it up. By now, you may have already noticed the control knobs are wrong. They look like Radio Shack specials.
In image #3, you see that somebody did a very nice job of shielding the guitar. They made certain to solder each sheet of copper to the other to keep it grounded. Bravo. But... now that the pick guard is off, you can see that the bridge is spurious.
Image #4 shows the pick guard and wiring. The serial number for this guitar indicates it is from '76. The pot codes indicate they are from a '78. Someone simply did a switch off or bought a replacement plate at some point in its life.
Image #5. Foreshadowing. See those cracks on either side of the center block?
Image #6. And there is why! Somebody put a Gibson style tune-o-matic or other similar type bridge on this guitar at one time. When they put the recessed screws for the bridge poles, they went a bit too far.
Image #7 and #8. Extra strap holes. Why? Who can ever know at this point. What a moron.
Image #9. Another angle showing the body cavity. you can see where the original pick guard holes used to be.
Image #10. Someone replaced the Klusons with Grovers. They then returned Kluson deluxes to the guitar. They appear rather new and aren't quite as solid as the ones from my '79, so I suspect them to be replacements.
Image #11. Looks like a Ric TRC... its not. Its a thin piece of plastic with a sticker on it.
In all, there's a lot wrong with the guitar in terms of bone-headed maneuvers, but its still a great, great instrument and I don't regret making this trade at all. The shielding makes it absolutely quiet, the action is nice, the neck is nice and fat and on top of it all, the thing is just killer looking.
--
John
Here's a pic of the guitar.
http://images.dumb.org/main.php?g2_itemId=5101
Now for the silly stuff. If you click "Next" on that page, you'll see the body of the guitar. Looking at the bridge, you can see that the two posts holding the compensated bridge are quite tall. Completely different from my 450/12. I decided to investigate further and opened it up. By now, you may have already noticed the control knobs are wrong. They look like Radio Shack specials.
In image #3, you see that somebody did a very nice job of shielding the guitar. They made certain to solder each sheet of copper to the other to keep it grounded. Bravo. But... now that the pick guard is off, you can see that the bridge is spurious.
Image #4 shows the pick guard and wiring. The serial number for this guitar indicates it is from '76. The pot codes indicate they are from a '78. Someone simply did a switch off or bought a replacement plate at some point in its life.
Image #5. Foreshadowing. See those cracks on either side of the center block?
Image #6. And there is why! Somebody put a Gibson style tune-o-matic or other similar type bridge on this guitar at one time. When they put the recessed screws for the bridge poles, they went a bit too far.
Image #7 and #8. Extra strap holes. Why? Who can ever know at this point. What a moron.
Image #9. Another angle showing the body cavity. you can see where the original pick guard holes used to be.
Image #10. Someone replaced the Klusons with Grovers. They then returned Kluson deluxes to the guitar. They appear rather new and aren't quite as solid as the ones from my '79, so I suspect them to be replacements.
Image #11. Looks like a Ric TRC... its not. Its a thin piece of plastic with a sticker on it.
In all, there's a lot wrong with the guitar in terms of bone-headed maneuvers, but its still a great, great instrument and I don't regret making this trade at all. The shielding makes it absolutely quiet, the action is nice, the neck is nice and fat and on top of it all, the thing is just killer looking.
--
John