Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Accent is older than '68. Any thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/very-rare-1968-Rick ... 240%3A1318

I saw that and thought the same thing.......I dunno!!

Nothing vintage Ric would surpise me, really. Olivias isn't really known to swap parts or basically do anything to their guitars.

Have you ever seen them embossed like that? It's a first for me.

I doubt if it was on the guitar when it was new....someone probably changed it out before they bought it....

kiramdear wrote:Have you ever seen them embossed like that? It's a first for me.

The earliest ones were like this, Kira.....from 1960 to early-mid 1962 I believe.....

kiramdear wrote:Have you ever seen them embossed like that? It's a first for me.

Just take a look at the cover of the Rittor book. You do have your copy of it, right, Kira?

Uh, Santa let me down this year.

that is for sure earlier "accent by paul" with the same engraving like i've seen on long bracketed ones on f-bodies or on few les pauls too. that doesn't mean that it is not original though, it could have been "on the bottom of a drawer" and was eventually found and used in production of a new instrument. sometimes we can see guitars with features/parts from several periods put together at the factory. good example would be some seventies or even eighties lefty 300 series guitars made with 21 fret necks and bodies from 60's and or some late 60's guitars coming with early 60's parts e.g. mix of kluson double line and single line tuners. i have one such guitar - one of the last if not THE last 450/12 that has: bridge plate from 1980 430 with anchoring dimples for standard bridge and had standard mid 80's 6 saddle bridge and bit different pickguard and black tolex /black fuzz case.. i got the guitar from the original owner couple years back and he said he ordered it in like 85/1986 so i can only assume that they used what parts they had on hands to fill the order up. the original owner was older gentleman and guitar lived in his closet most of the life so i doubt he did some mods to it.

Whether or not the VB is orignal to the guitar, it is not "period-correct." On the other hand, it is not something that, IMHO, detracts from the value of the guitar.

I had emailed OV about the correct-ness of the "badged" Ac'cent prior to noticing this thread. The response back was that the owner represented it to them as original, but they were going to look into it.

It's a cool guitar. I seem to recall one very much like this (68 370 O.S in FG) being sold by a new ebay seller about a year ago, local pickup only in some out-of-the way place down south. There was a discussion then on this forum about whether it was for real or not. It sold for about $8K. Could be the same guitar.

PS - Edit -- Well, my brain is still functioning! I found the prior thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=379888&p=411161&hil ... OS#p411161

It must be the same guitar. John Williams noted in the middle of page 1 of the prior thread (Feb 08) that the guitar had an "Ac'cent by Paul" badge on the vibrato, and that this was unusual for a guitar made in 1968! Also the current OV ad says it was purchased from the original owner who used it to play in churches. In the Feb 08 post, one forumite mentions he contacted the seller who played it -- you guessed it -- for religious revival services in churches around the country.

One forum member bid $7800 for it and was outbid by a sniper named -- brace yourselves -- I-think-I-like-this, which was (then) OV's alias for ebay buying! Sold for $7900.

So mystery solved. OV bought this a year ago, held it, and is now selling it in the same condition in which it was purchased, with period-incorrect Ac'cent badge!

Put that in your (our collective) pipe and smoke it ! ! !

RRF CSI does it again! Nice on, Ron!

rick_ovic wrote:RRF CSI does it again! Nice one, Ron!

Thanks, Darren.

It was a bit tedious putting this puzzle together, but it was more fun than, um, shoveling snow!

Just curious...any way we can be sure this guitar left the factory with a middle pickup?

Woodie wrote:Just curious...any way we can be sure this guitar left the factory with a middle pickup?

I'm no expert on middle pickup authenticity, but there was a discussion on the following thread recently about whether a middle pickup was geniune on a 1967 376-12:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=386281

I believe it would be hard to tell just from the wood markings unless something was off with the finish under the p/u or it was mounted off-center, which does not appear to be the case here. On the other hand, the hole drilled for the middle p/u wire looks a bit ragged to me. I would also want to look at the solder joints where the middle p/u wires were attached to see if the joints looked original.

As to this specific guitar, if you go back to the Feb 08 thread referenced above, there was supposedly a written appraisal by Gruhn of the guitar that might have confirmed it was an original 375. I don't know if the current seller (OV) has access to that appraisal or not, but you could ask.

Ouch. I just got a rather flamey off-forum email regarding my post. I felt I might need to state the nature of my original post. Just to clarify, I did not mean to imply that this was a dishonest or misrepresented piece. I just found it curious. I respect the business that Olivia's does, and if I found a piece priced to my liking, I would not hesitate on pulling the trigger. It was not my intent to "drag an established dealer's name through the mud" or be a "Johnny Come Lately who thinks he knows everything about Ricks". I responded in kind to these accusations, but it did occur to me that my M.O. may've been misunderstood. If there is anyone else whom I've offended by mentioning a pre-62 part on a guitar from 68, please accept my apology.

Jonathan, there was absolutely nothing in your original post that implied that this was a dishonest or misrepresented piece. You just found it curious. So did I. If you're quoting comments directly from the off-forum email, they are completely unwarranted, and frankly appear defensive. Invite the person representing Olivia's to post on this forum directly, so they may respond to these questions themselves. Most of us are ask the same types of questions whenever we see something for sale that appears questionable, whether the seller likes it or not. This is, after all, America. Blasting you in a private message off-forum seems cowardly to me.