'New' Guitar: 1980 Rickenbacker 480
Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:40 am
Thought I would put up a picture of my Ric to show some love for the 480 series players. 
A bit of history, if you're interested.
I recently purchased this guitar after looking around for several years, trying to find one in this finish. It was the first time I ever saw one go up and I snagged it about a week ago. Many years ago when I was still new to guitar, I got a brief chance to play one and loved the way it felt and sounded. I've got a soft spot for dotted fretboards, and the single coil pickups all contributed to why I decided to look for a 480 over a 481. I also wanted a very versatile guitar that I could use for any kind of music if the need arised, (I have a couple other guitars) so I decided against the slanted frets. (Save for finding some ridiculously rare un-slanted prototype model which i've only ever seen one picture of, but I still prefer the bite of those Hi-Gain Single's)
It's in a rarer Walnut finish,(not to be confused with Autum Glo) and has a beautiful woodgrain. Everything on the guitar is origional down to the rubber washers on the bridge, except for the Bass Tone Knob silver inlay. The origional was gone and the cavity was painted over white, then haphazardly replaced with the wrong insert. I wanted to keep as much of it origional as possible so I kept the knob itself, and used a replacement from Rickenbacker to transplant a new insert from.
I've been using the origional Deluxe C480 case but i'm probably going to have a hardshell case custom made which is countoured to the body. Partially because I hate rectangular cases and partly because I don't trust the handle and clasps on a 30 year old case.
A bit of history, if you're interested.
I recently purchased this guitar after looking around for several years, trying to find one in this finish. It was the first time I ever saw one go up and I snagged it about a week ago. Many years ago when I was still new to guitar, I got a brief chance to play one and loved the way it felt and sounded. I've got a soft spot for dotted fretboards, and the single coil pickups all contributed to why I decided to look for a 480 over a 481. I also wanted a very versatile guitar that I could use for any kind of music if the need arised, (I have a couple other guitars) so I decided against the slanted frets. (Save for finding some ridiculously rare un-slanted prototype model which i've only ever seen one picture of, but I still prefer the bite of those Hi-Gain Single's)
It's in a rarer Walnut finish,(not to be confused with Autum Glo) and has a beautiful woodgrain. Everything on the guitar is origional down to the rubber washers on the bridge, except for the Bass Tone Knob silver inlay. The origional was gone and the cavity was painted over white, then haphazardly replaced with the wrong insert. I wanted to keep as much of it origional as possible so I kept the knob itself, and used a replacement from Rickenbacker to transplant a new insert from.
I've been using the origional Deluxe C480 case but i'm probably going to have a hardshell case custom made which is countoured to the body. Partially because I hate rectangular cases and partly because I don't trust the handle and clasps on a 30 year old case.
Wowee Zowee! I never saw one in Walnut before. Simply gorgeous! 
I have a 480 in Mapleglo (as well as a 481 in Walnut, your guitar's "evil twin" I guess ... 
