Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Look at the Capri James Burton is playing here:



F-hole and German carved top! Too cool.

Similar to this one:


Interesting how the pickguard is attached with chrome brackets since you can't screw where the carve is. You can see that the guitar in the video used to have a middle pickup that's been removed, so these could be the same guitar, maybe.

Wow! Thats awesome, I've never seen one like that. That is pure german design going on!
Is this guitar still in existence today?

IvanMunoz wrote:Wow! Thats awesome, I've never seen one like that. That is pure german design going on!
Is this guitar still in existence today?

Hey Ivan. A guy on another forum posted and said he asked James Burton about his Rics. James said that he had been given a lot of them for free, and that a lot were prototypes. He said they were all stolen from his house in the 70's while he was touring with Elvis.

According to Rickenbacker's nomenclature, that would be a 384 (three pickups and vibrato). I can't tell if the one Burton's playing in the clip has a vibrato, but it's got two pickups, so it's either a 381 (no vibrato) or a 382 (two pickups and vibrato). And that's awful about those guitars getting stolen from James' house. What a shame.

jfine wrote:According to Rickenbacker's nomenclature, that would be a 384 (three pickups and vibrato). I can't tell if the one Burton's playing in the clip has a vibrato, but it's got two pickups, so it's either a 381 (no vibrato) or a 382 (two pickups and vibrato). And that's awful about those guitars getting stolen from James' house. What a shame.

Cool. The one in the video was a 3 pickup model, but the middle pickup was removed. You can see the two grommet marks and a wire hole when it's shown close up at the start.

Very cool !

egosheep wrote:Cool. The one in the video was a 3 pickup model, but the middle pickup was removed. You can see the two grommet marks and a wire hole when it's shown close up at the start.

Which makes me wonder why they removed it, although I'd remove the center PU as well, as it's in the way
Cool to see a rare Rickie in a video though!

egosheep wrote:

IvanMunoz wrote:Wow! Thats awesome, I've never seen one like that. That is pure german design going on!
Is this guitar still in existence today?

Hey Ivan. A guy on another forum posted and said he asked James Burton about his Rics. James said that he had been given a lot of them for free, and that a lot were prototypes. He said they were all stolen from his house in the 70's while he was touring with Elvis.

Poor Guy...

Great info, Thomas. I never knew that he had guitars stolen.

Nice vid....I haven't seen it in a very long time.
In fact....the RIC that Burton is playing in the vid is what led me to order a 360 MG in late 59'.
It came as a single trussrod 60' model that had been repainted from FG to MG at the factory. In fact, it is the only guitar of any mfg that I know of that came new with a run in the paint. See the picture...the run has almost dissappeared over the last 52 years....yikes...but there it is!
I received it in about March of 60'.
Of course I still have it....in fact JWILLI hosted some pictures of it several years back.

Burton's RIC is the same guitar with the filled in pickup holes that he was holding in the well known promo pictures along with James Kirkland who was holding a RIC bass.
I have copies of those pictures I picked up in the RIC lobby decades ago.

Decades later....less than 10 years ago...I noticed in the gallery section on the RIC website several pictures of obviously the same instrument...but not held by a musician...it was a stand alone picture of the guitar with the filled in holes from the middle pickup.
I have no idea when that picture was taken...but that guitar is what introduced me to Rickenbacker. I was stunned when I saw it...I had to have one!
I parked my Duo-Jet.
I wonder how many sales were generated from the guitar in that vid??

David, thanks for sharing that story. That's the coolest thing I can remember reading on here in a long time. So awesome that you saw that very video first hand and it inspired your purchase!

David, I remember you! And the instrument. Great to see your post. And I still have have the pics.

Thanks John!
I well remember you and your great website as well....
In case you set it up again....you are authorized to put up all those pictures again.

Thomas....there is a lot of info and pictures on this site about my 360 that you might find interesting.
You can search for my user name 360dave and I'm sure you will find it.

Greetings to all...I have not posted for awhile but I have been checking in occasionally.

360dave wrote:Nice vid....I haven't seen it in a very long time.
In fact....the RIC that Burton is playing in the vid is what led me to order a 360 MG in late 59'.
It came as a single trussrod 60' model that had been repainted from FG to MG at the factory. In fact, it is the only guitar of any mfg that I know of that came new with a run in the paint. See the picture...the run has almost dissappeared over the last 52 years....yikes...but there it is!
I received it in about March of 60'.
Of course I still have it....in fact JWILLI hosted some pictures of it several years back.

Burton's RIC is the same guitar with the filled in pickup holes that he was holding in the well known promo pictures along with James Kirkland who was holding a RIC bass.
I have copies of those pictures I picked up in the RIC lobby decades ago.

Decades later....less than 10 years ago...I noticed in the gallery section on the RIC website several pictures of obviously the same instrument...but not held by a musician...it was a stand alone picture of the guitar with the filled in holes from the middle pickup.
I have no idea when that picture was taken...but that guitar is what introduced me to Rickenbacker. I was stunned when I saw it...I had to have one!
I parked my Duo-Jet.
I wonder how many sales were generated from the guitar in that vid??

002.JPG

I've had a few '50s Gibsons that had pretty sloppy finish work. That run ain't nothin! LOL! In fact, I think the build quality of a Capri outshined the build of a 60 Burst I had many, many years ago.... And Capri's don't have Aniline Dye Bleed on the bindings....

Interesting personal story, David - thanks for sharing

If the date weren't on the picture it would be cool to hang on a wall as artwork!

John, just look at how all the surviving 'bursts look now, they all look different - just shows how steady the spraying was done