Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

It's been mooted a few times on the board recently and has me wondering: how many have vintage pieces do folks have in their collection, and to what ratio? I've had a fair number of Ricks over the years (25 or more, probably) a mix of bass, six and 12 string. I find my current collection is all vintage except for my 4001C64 bass, which is a ratio of 4:1.
What do you have, and what (if any) rationale guides your acquisitions?

You may have to define "vintage" -- something from before a certain date? What date? Is a 1959 4000 MORE vintage than a 1965 4005? I've got two basses from the '70s, two from the '80s, a couple from the '90s, and the rest from the oughts. Where would YOU draw the vintage line?

Vintage 6'er ('68), vintage lap steel ('46), newer bass ('99).

sloop_john_b wrote:...newer bass ('99).

How old will you be when your '99 bass becomes vintage?

Vintage is a very interesting concept. When I bought my former Feb. '67 4005WB in 1973 it was just a sort of old, used bass; at what point in time did it become a vintage bass?

For me I'd say '73 is the cutoff for what I consider vintage Ricks as they began to eliminate many of the '60s features such as crushed pearl inlay, checkerboard binding, toasters and (for guitars) 21 frets and the smaller headstock. I know, there's always exceptions out there with rarities and limited items such as the 4002. But yeah, pre '73.

'76, '77, '84, '85.

'93, '97, '00, '04, '05.

'09, '10, '11.

'12 on order.

bassduke49 wrote:You may have to define "vintage" -- something from before a certain date? What date?

The Vintage Rickenbackers thread here on the RRF defines Vintage as '54 through '84 year models.
Does anyone know what criteria made '84 the transition year ?

My collection has three oughts, two nineties, one eighties, one seventies plus a console steel circa '61.

jps wrote:

sloop_john_b wrote:...newer bass ('99).

How old will you be when your '99 bass becomes vintage?

It became vintage when Dale was done with it...bum neck and all!

8mileshigher wrote:The Vintage Rickenbackers thread here on the RRF defines Vintage as '54 through '84 year models.
Does anyone know what criteria made '84 the transition year ?

Yes, '84 was when John Hall took over the company. I look at that as the cutoff for vintage when it comes to Ricks.

I have both vintage and current production models.

chucksimms wrote:For me I'd say '73 is the cutoff for what I consider vintage Ricks as they began to eliminate many of the '60s features such as crushed pearl inlay, checkerboard binding, toasters and (for guitars) 21 frets and the smaller headstock. I know, there's always exceptions out there with rarities and limited items such as the 4002. But yeah, pre '73.

I agree 110%

Not that the late 70s/early 80s Rics and the modern JH-era Rics aren't great--they definitely are, but the fact is all the production changes after mid-73 marked the end of an era, moving away from all the features we've come to love the most and reintroduce over the years in reissues.

I'd even argue that the best years were pre-1966.

The unique thing about Rics is that the golden "vintage" era ends only due to a change in features, not a marked drop in production quality, unlike pretty much every single other American guitar manufacturer by the early 1970s.

It's hard to use the word "vintage" in the context of rating guitars. That's just become a blanket term for an arbitrary date. Its much better to define the "golden years" of any manufacturer, which, in many cases doesn't begin until many years after they begin making guitars.

Here's my general idea of the perceived "golden years" of most of the bigger American electric guitar manufacturers from back in the day:

-Gibson 1952-1964
-Gretsch 1954-1965
-Fender 1950-1966
-Rickenbacker 1957-1965
-Epiphone 1957-1969


All that said, I have three pre-1973 Rics and zero post-1973 Rics.

collin wrote:

chucksimms wrote:For me I'd say '73 is the cutoff for what I consider vintage Ricks as they began to eliminate many of the '60s features such as crushed pearl inlay, checkerboard binding, toasters and (for guitars) 21 frets and the smaller headstock. I know, there's always exceptions out there with rarities and limited items such as the 4002. But yeah, pre '73.

I agree 110%

...I have three pre-1973 Rics and zero post-1973 Rics.

You're not biased!

I'm in for 10 vintage ('73 or earlier) and 5 modern ones.

I Found it interesting when I looked at my list too. Of the 5 "newer" ones 2 are Artist models based on Vintage guitars (a Carl Wilson 12 and John Kay model), and the other 3 have been modified to more Vintage appointments (Paul W. Lightshow, Paul W. crushed pearl inlays on a AFG 620, and a Larry Davis modified 1997).

I guess that puts me pretty firmly in the Vintage camp

(Although I am digging the pictures of this new Ruby color from NAMM)

I only have one Ric, it's an '83 330. If I'm lucky enough to own another, I'd like it to be pre 73.