Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Howdy, I've LONG wanted a vintage Rick and the stars might be aligning for me to be able to pull this off. However I want to insure the neck is going to work for me. I have smaller hands and a beat up left arm (that's another story) so my neck "requirements" are pretty tight.

For reference I have a two '67 Gibsons, one a 335 and one a 330 that have the 1 9/16th nut widths but fat full C profiles so the two compensate at least for me. The same dimensions on a 1 11/16th nut width would kill my arm but the 0.85 at the 1st to 0.96-1.0 at the 12th are fine because of the more narrow nut width. I have a few 1 5/8th nut width guitars and then the profile for the neck has to be a little less 'fat' so more in the 0.81-0.83 at the 1st and 0.85-0.87 at the 12th (preferred). You get my point...

I'm looking at a 66-68 ish 330, 360 hopefully a 365. So are the nut widths more like 1 5/8th (1.56) or more narrow than that? What's the profile like, a more thin C or Medium or fatter?

Anything else I need to be aware of before I make this leap? Anyone have a late 60's mapleglow 365 for sale?

Thanks and Happy Playing!

Hi Andrew---welcome to the RRF!

I dont have measurements at the moment, but a 60s Ric neck will have a narrower nut than a late 60s ES-335, and will be generally thinner too.

Hard part is, with Rics, there is huge variation in the neck thickness. This is part of the nature of a handbuilt guitar, and what makes the hunt for the "perfect" Ric even more worthwhile and rewarding when you find it.

Once you go vintage, you probably won't go back!

Good luck with the search.

Welcome, Andrew!

My March '67 330 has a 1 5/8" nut width; the depth of the neck, as best as I can measure, is 11/16" at the 1st fret and 25/32" at the 12th fret, not including the height of the frets, themselves. Where are you located, there may be someone here with a guitar you can try.

collin wrote:Hi Andrew---welcome to the RRF!

I dont have measurements at the moment, but a 60s Ric neck will have a narrower nut than a late 60s ES-335, and will be generally thinner too.

Hard part is, with Rics, there is huge variation in the neck thickness. This is part of the nature of a handbuilt guitar, and what makes the hunt for the "perfect" Ric even more worthwhile and rewarding when you find it.

Once you go vintage, you probably won't go back!

Good luck with the search.

Hi Andrew, I completely concur with Collin - once I tried a few vintage Ricks I just loved them compared to more modern ones...of course you can get good modern ones, and ropey vintage ones, but in general I have found the feel/playability of the vintage guitars to be much better. On neck widths, in general I have found the 1960's 360/370 series "deluxe" guitars to have slightly slimmer necks that the 330/340 series "standard" guitars.... but I haven't played enough to be sure that is a typical pattern or just happens to be the sample of guitars I've owned/tried...

Hope you secure your vintage Rick soon!

Yep----I forgot that, the bound neck deluxe models seem to have thinner necks than the unbound 330 necks (1960s era).

Some of the thinnest necks seem to be OS models, for some reason.

Go with the 330... That's the definitive Rickenbacker body shape IMHO. I've got 5 60's 330's and 1 345 and a couple of 330/12's and vintage IS the way to go!

The necks sound like they'd work, that's great. I'm looking real hard at a 365 that's out there at the moment if someone wants to take a peak and promise not to snatch it from underneath me I'll send you the link and you can tell me your thoughts, approximate value/costs, etc.

I'm in Columbus, Ohio, Eastern edge of Dublin and I work in New Albany.

Thanks for the warm welcome and quick replies; you guys are great! Man some forums the "rookies" can't get a reply no matter what so it's refreshing to see y'all taken care of the uninitiated; as of yet!

Come on up to the Cleveland area, we've got some nice guitars for you to check out. I get down to Columbus a couple times a year, for Winterfair and to visit friends and relatives in Westerville, Reynoldsburg, and Bexley. Do you go to the Ohio Guitar Show?

I have this for you to sample: Better yet, come out to MARF in a couple weeks and sample lots of great Ricks.

I went to the Columbus Guitar Show last what February and didn't see a vintage Ric' there and I was looking; not sure if this is the same as the Ohio show. When and where is the Ohio show? And what's MARF?

Thanks for the reply and nice looking 330 there; I'd love to play that one for sure!

http://www.gbase.com/gear/rickenbacker- ... 7-fire-glo

Any comments on that one?

I am referring to the show at the Aladdin Shrine on Stelzer Road near Easton.

MARF (Mid Atlantic Rickenbacker Fest) is the Rickenbacker confluence that we all go to when available. Check out the Conferences and Confluences section of the RRF:

viewforum.php?f=15

This will be MARF the IVth, 4/16/11 at Pick Of The Ricks in Lindenwold, NJ., one of RIC's best dealers, IMHO. Check out threads of some past MARFs for photos of those great confluences, and some of the other confluences that have happened over the years, such as RIO!!!, GilFest, the various SCARFs, etc. There have also been many mini/micro confluences, or just lunches/dinners. Something great about the RRF is that we do more than just Rick-O-Talk online.

Got ya, so when Is/was the Ohio guitar show this year? I suspect I missed it this time around.

I'd love to attend a MARF or the like but I don't think my better half would appreciate yet another trip and this time for guitar fun and not work. Perhaps a mysterious trip with it's dates coorelating to a Ric event in the future...

Thanks again for all the intel and Happy Playing!

http://www.ohioguitarshows.com/

Drew816 wrote:http://www.gbase.com/gear/rickenbacker- ... 7-fire-glo

Any comments on that one?

When Sam Ash prices a 360 FG 1967 at $2400, shows one cell-phone photo and lists condition as "very good" w/out any further description, there are probably a number if issues that need to be investigated.

I've had (and still have) a number of vintage Ricks and the slimmest necks by far I've played are on the 360 O.S. guitars; my '66 is pretty robust but the '68 and '69 are the slimmest of ANY guitar I've ever played from any maunufacturer. If you're feeling flush with cash that's the way to go though they are routinely the most expensive of the general production '60s Ricks (other than one off's, imports or a few other holy grails).