360 - Surprise Inside

[still]

Working on my 360 today, I got a little surprise under the neck pickup:



Never seen THAT before!

Think that's an abbreviation for "natural"???

[jps]

Can we see a lot more photos of your 360? Not just close ups, too. include the truss rod cavity, control cavity, whole instrument front and back, and details, please. Some things in that pic you posted look unusual, to me, anyway.

[longhouse]

It's probably a fancy 'natural/mapleglo' indicator -but I'm afraid your guitar is now officially named NATALIE.

[still]

NATALIE would be cool; I'm forever trying to name my guitars, and never coming up with anything!

Except for the 330, which became "Little Ricki" one day. As in, "Hey Lucy, bring Little Ricki down to the club..."

[still]

Can we see a lot more photos of your 360? Some things in that pic you posted look unusual, to me, anyway.

I'll work on getting more pictures.

"Unusual" good, or "unusual" bad??? FWIW, I decoded the serial number today and found out it's from July 1973. Which sounds about right, since I bought it in 1979 or so.

[jps]

This is the first photo I have seen of a pickup cavity that looks like that one, and the wires coming off the pickup do not look like RIC spec leads. Not to mention how they spelled NATalie.

[collin]

Nat King Cole wants his Ric back. He marked it under the pickup so it would be "unforgettable."

[still]

Here's a few more pics.





Detail of checkerboard binding:


FWIW, that case is not original -- I gave the case away in 1979. The lower pickguard is also not original; the original had a chip near the fifth knob, so I ordered a new one from Rickenbacker (still have the original in a drawer). Bridge isn't original, either. Nothing wrong with the original bridge, it just happens to be in the case pocket.

I still remember the day I bought this, my first Rickenbacker... at Norm's Rare Guitars. Then, as now, Rics were scarce as hen's teeth!

[jps]

Nice 360! So, the guitar is legit, is the pickup routing the way they did it back then on the 360? Can you show a better pic of the underside of the pickup , especially, the wiring?

[still]

Well, I'm actually relieved to hear the guitar is legit... I was starting to feel a little weird there!!!

As for more pics, I just opened it up and put it back together today, so I'm sorta reluctant to rip it apart again, right away.

BUT: here's the story, and a promise. The whole reason for working on the guitar today was to adjust the pickups. They were tightened way far down, and I loosened them about a year ago -- I was HOPING the foam would recover, if I let it sit long enough, but no luck. So today I added some pieces of nice dense black foam, and it actually worked!

I think it would look better, though, if I got new foam from Ric.

SO: my promise is, when I get the new foam, I'll take and post a better series of pictures.

As for the routing, I don't know if that was normal in 1973 or not. I will make this additional promise, though: if/when I open up my 1978 360/12, I'll take and post some pictures of that, too!

[still]

Nat King Cole wants his Ric back. He marked it under the pickup so it would be "unforgettable."

He can pick it up any time -- tell him I said so!

[jingle_jangle]

Well, we all know that '70s 360s are fairly rare items. The neck routing looks like the center pickup routing on a 340/370, so I'd venture to say it is correct for the time. The pickup looks like it was replaced or rewired. The body, neck, trim, checkerboard, and Grovers are all era-correct.

[Rickygirl]

Can we see a lot more photos of your 360? Some things in that pic you posted look unusual, to me, anyway.

I'll work on getting more pictures.

"Unusual" good, or "unusual" bad??? FWIW, I decoded the serial number today and found out it's from July 1973. Which sounds about right, since I bought it in 1979 or so.

Definately good Brad. I saw your pics and thought yours must be a similar age to mine. I have a December 1974 360. We are lucky as the sound that comes out is just fantastic. I was amazed when I had my young 330 to hear the difference in the tone and sustain. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of the 330 too, but the 74 360 sounds amazingly rich and is so resonant!! The only difference is that my tuners are different. I have Grovers on mine with a sort of pearlised finish to the keys. They were on when I bought the guitar.

I am sorry...I wasn't aware they were fairly rare.... I am always a bit behind everyone else....

[still]

I am sorry...I wasn't aware they were fairly rare.... I am always a bit behind everyone else....

I wasn't aware, either. Heck, when I got this Ric, it was just a used guitar... now it's "vintage."

I wonder if 1974 wasn't some kind of turning point, sonically speaking. In all honesty, this '73 Ric has got very little play from me, because I liked my 330 soooooo much more. And the '78 360-12 is stunning, too.

P.S. Just checked out your MySpace, and if that's your 360 on those songs -- then I agree, your 360 sounds really good. Better than mine!

[melibreits]

Wow, that's a sweet-looking mapleglo. Love the figuring in the wood, and especially the checkered binding!