Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270901074554

Is it a credible claim that only 2000 were made? Anyone ever play a 'Lennon' and feel they are good investments?

Any, even remote chance that any counterfeits exist of this model?

Your estimate of approximate value?......THANKS!

IMO pretty rare. If you go by assumption that 1%-2% of production is lefty, that's 20 guitars......

I'd say less than 1 dozen, maybe more like 1/2 dozen. This one does have the certificate, so I'd say it's legit.

I would be quite certain that Rickenbacker made no more than 2,000 of the John Lennon Limited Edition guitars. They didn't even complete the authorized run of at least one limited edition (I forget which one - Glenn Frey?).

There are 160 JL Limited edition guitars in the RR Register which is consistent with my casual observation that the Register typically reflects about 5% - 10% of the actual total. 160 registered is consistent with production of no more than 2000. The highest certificate number in the register is #2000. (I would expect the percentage of Limited Edition Rickenbackers in the Register to be higher than that for the typical model due to pride of ownership.)

There are 6 lefty JL Limited Edition guitars in the register, 3.75% of 160 registered, so leftybass's estimate of 1% - 2% may be a bit low, but in the right ballpark. If the Register is numerically representative, Rickenbacker might have made 70 - 80 lefty JLs, so figure 50 - 100 lefty John Lennon Limited Editions might have been made, to be safe.

So, rare, yes; a good investment? Well, the Register database tracked 16 righthand JL transactions (and thanks again, Ron and everybody else who worked so hard to compile the data); the mean sale price was $2,546 and the high was $3,599. There wasn't enough (or perhaps not even any) data on lefty JL transactions. One righty Jl 325 failed to sell for $2,799 Buy It Now or Best Offer on ebay recently. In comparision, a non-JL 325V63 sold for $2,549 on ebay; our Register shows a mean sale price of $2,256 for 55 non-Limited Edition transactions.

I haven't seen any indication that these will skyrocket in value (although some Limited Editions do seem to be moving up in price significantly) so it will depend on how much you have to pay for it. Even Berkshire Hathaway stock can be a not-so-hot investment if you buy it at the wrong price.

There are undoubtedly counterfeit John Lennon signature pickguards floating around in the world - they (and other counterfeit signature pickguards) pop up on ebay every now and then. A counterfeit JL Limited Edition guitar is obviously possible but I would think a counterfeiter would be nuts to make a fake LEFTY JL Limited Edition! It would be WAY too much work, for a tiny potential market.

Thanks Clement - that's everything I wanted to know!

21 were made in that exact configuration. 8 355JL LH's, and 5 350/12JL LH's were made. C'mon, give us a harder one...