Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello,
I own Rickenbacker Fireglo with Vibrato!!! / F Hole!!!
Serial Number DH 111 Year 1964. (Extremly Rare)
All parts ar original - vintage and in good condition.

Does anyone konw the value of this guitar.
tx, Fred

Hi Fred. Sounds like an early "Rose Morris" model as exported to England - does it have two or three pick-ups? If it's two it's most likely a Rose Morris model 1997 and with three pick ups it's designated a model 1998. If it's in good original condition, here in the UK it could sell for £5,000 on a good day at auction (equivalent to around $8,000). If you search for "Rose Morris" using the search box at the bottom of this page you'll find loads of great information on these beautiful guitars. Would also be great if you can post some pictures so we can enjoy your guitar!

This guitar is up om Ebay now with lots of lovely images. Shame about the neck crack but at least it is repaired...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1964-Rickenback ... 2a416a358d

This may not be a RM but it is a nice vintage Rick for about 1/4 the price.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=411678

This is why we don't give estimates without seeing photos. Would've instantly recognized the refin & neck crack.

The eBay price is high, considering this damage. I've had original paint 60s 1997s that I could barely get $4k.

collin wrote:This is why we don't give estimates without seeing photos. Would've instantly recognized the refin & neck crack.

The eBay price is high, considering this damage. I've had original paint 60s 1997s that I could barely get $4k.

+1 to that Collin.

Just heard from John Hall about this one...

"Definitely a Rose Morris, shipped in the 7th shipment on about 10/10/1964. Listed on
our records as a "335S".

Useful to have that Rose Morris file on your desk...


And a larger question for you all. How do you know this 1997 has been refinished? I see the dark bit around the neck crack - that is obviously not how the guitar shipped from the factory. How can you tell the rest of the guitar has been refinished too?

I believe this is where the refin idea comes from. It appears the clearcoat was oversprayed at some point.

Seller says: "All parts of the guitar are original Rickenbacker 1964.
The guitar had a broken neck which was repaired professionally 30 years ago, but your can't feel or hear that when you play this guitar. The (clear)paint has been renewed 30 years ago the former owner told me."

libratune wrote:I believe this is where the refin idea comes from. It appears the clearcoat was oversprayed at some point.

Seller says: "All parts of the guitar are original Rickenbacker 1964.
The guitar had a broken neck which was repaired professionally 30 years ago, but your can't feel or hear that when you play this guitar. The (clear)paint has been renewed 30 years ago the former owner told me."

^^ This.

For all intents and purposes (most importantly, value..) clear overspray = refin.

Plus, it's obviously had more color around the repair.

....though the Fireglo is remarkably lighter shade than would be typical for a '64

Check the images in the register for the year Brian; It's not a typical '64 burst at all. Apart from the too-smooth body burst, it has no variation around the sides. Add that to the soft nitro like shine, the ambiguous references to clearcoat (which would skew a blacklight check), the lack of common wear spots and stripped fretboard and that leads me to a refin. Mostly, the burst pattern gives me the feeling - it looks just like the work of a very good refinisher from Italy I've seen before.

The Italian Stallion strikes again! Ill say something he is pretty good.The bridge is sitting pretty low on this one should have went for the reset before the respray
Great Ebay Pics BTW.

All very good answers to my questions - thanks!

Very nice images in the Ebay listing - almost a 100 of them.

Sad that this one has got the all-too-typical repaired neck break. Whenever there's very dark shading at the back of the headstock at the volute that's a clear indicator that it's a repaired/resprayed neck with the dark colouring used to conceal the fracture line. Originally, I would have expected this guitar to have had lighter Fireglo shading at this point consistent with the shading on the rest of the back of the neck (cf. neck pic of DC301 1997 below).

Interesting that already by late '64 the Rose Morris exports were using the 345 model designation in the cavity whereas the earlier '64 exports used an alpha/numeric coding (5-H in the case of DC301 pictured).