Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I recently added a collected instrument with the serial number JL199. The Register auto-decode listed this as "1970-12".

According to RIC, JL199 is "December of 1960".

Seems like maybe we aren't always decoding the numbers correctly...

CJ, that guitar is a Capri 360. I think that serial number might be from before '60, or the RIC site decoder is correct
The serial number is only on the bottom of the jack plate.

BUMP

rickenbrother wrote:CJ, that guitar is a Capri 360. I think that serial number might be from before '60, or the RIC site decoder is correct
The serial number is only on the bottom of the jack plate.

I can't say I actually know a whole lot about it, there was another thread where folks here thought it was from 1960, so the RRF decoder calling it 1970 seems wrong. I guess I just want someone to check it out. If there's some problem, it could be pretty bad if a lot of guitars are getting mis-dated.

I guess I can go into the record and change it to what the RIC decoder says, but I'll wait for someone who knows the code to take a look just in case they need to see what happened.

The RIC site serial number is most likely correct. I'm not exactly sure what the system was at RIC for giving serial numbers to guitars before '61.
The only guitars that are possibly misdated, could be some of the ones from before '61. I'm sure that after Peter or Gil see this thread, they will make the correction to this guitar.

JL199 corrected to 1960.

There is no actual way for us to decode such early serials correctly, J=1970 L=December
Some early instruments shared the same serial system, if you'd look at Rickenbacker's own decoder - it simply decodes all J serials to 1960 while many of them are actually 1970.
For example, try decoding the following serials in Rickenbacker's serial decoder:
JK340 (a 4001... 1960 is a "bit" early i'd say...)
JC083 (a 381, being a "march 1960" instead of march 1970 makes it an undocumented prototype )
These 2 examples are clearly 1970 (and decoded correctly by our decoder), however - Rickenbacker's own decoder decodes them to 1960 which is wrong...

JL=December 1970. Unfortunately it seems that some 1960 (or earlier) instruments used the same serial system, owners of such instruments need to fix it by hand.

These sort of errors really beg the question of how carefully serial numbers are thought out in the early days of manufacturing for any guitar manufacturer. Some companies recycled serials, repeating a series again and creating confusion. Before 1960 can certainly be a challenge when dating Rickenbacker instruments.

I frequently receive emails from owners with a serial included with the question "Please tell me all about my Rickenbacker" as if the serial was a magic code that unlocked the secret to the Holy Grail. It would certainly be nice.

With today's computer technology, my wish would be for a serial to indicate not only the date of the manufacture but also the model and the finish and any other special custom features. All of this would assist owners and buyers of used instruments immeasurably.

just in passing, should you know the history of your instrument, especially if purchased used, please consider adding it to your Registration. It may go a very long way to assisting others down the road.