pauleway wrote:
My brother worked in a music store in the early 70's to the early 80's and said that there were Rickenbacker guitars that came into the store and were designated as "MoonGlo", and that was over forty years ago. That seems to shoot R. O'keefe's story down!!
Here's what we know:
- There are absolutely no known references to a finish called "Moonglo" in any company literature or invoices.
- The (25) 1997s and (50) 1998s referenced in this thread that are
informally referred to as Moonglo were never
officially called Moonglo. Roy Morris was looking to shake things up and in 1965 ordered guitars in a red-to-black burst, "Red Autumnglo".***
-
The first reference to "Moonglo" I ever heard came from Ron, in reference to a handful of other guitars finished in a similar red-to-black burst produced in 1968.
The name "Moonglo" came about because I had earlier acquired a 365 OS in an odd finish color that the seller swore was properly called "Moonglo". This finish color is very distinct from a dark FG -- it is very dark (opaque) around the edges and it may even have a touch of burgundy. It moves to a dark cherry ending in a medium-red center. For all I know the name was made up out of thin air. I've never seen this finish on a Rick other than these two, so I decided to stick with the distinct name. Besides, it's less cumbersome (and a bit more mysterious) than "Darkcherryglo."
That leaves us with a few possibilities:
- In communicating with dealers (or internally), Rickenbacker was referring to the 1968 red-to-black burst guitars as Moonglo. Access to company invoices would answer this.
- Confabulation from you or your brother, which is natural over the course of 40-50 years.
***
Kelly, M. & Kelly, P. (2021) "Rickenbacker Guitars: Out of the Frying Pan and Into The Fireglo", 198-199, 334
