Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I got tired of seeing the cracks in the finish of my 1991 Rickenbacker 330/12 that occurred in the late '90's. So I came up with a concept - the "Eddie Rickenbacker" Rickenbacker. The image printed is of the WWI flying ace's squadron "Hat in the Ring" logo from his SPAD biplane on material you'd wrap vehicles. There's small labels to cover the control knobs that mimic the red, white, and blue stars that were on the plane's wheels. Remember, the finish is cracked so even if the adhesive (it's a waterborne acrylic) causes a reaction, it will either get wrapped again or a total refin, which was the original option. The cammo of the plane, the multi-ply neck to mimic the prop and supports, the trapeze tailpiece and 12 strings for all the cables, and I guess the white pickguard for a pilot's scarf. All ready now for takeoff.

I like it. Too bad you can't do the entire body.

Badanovski wrote:I like it. Too bad you can't do the entire body.

Actually I could but opted not to. I kind of looked at it like the front was the outside of the plane and the wood was the inside.

Chip, that looks cool! It's kinda the "Made in America Plus" sticker option
Just the upper guard needs a different solution, too much white for the whole thing, a little out of optical balance, IMHO.

xpitt wrote:Chip, that looks cool! It's kinda the "Made in America Plus" sticker option
Just the upper guard needs a different solution, too much white for the whole thing, a little out of optical balance, IMHO.

Thanks Alex. I hope all is well!
I was actually thinking of putting Eddie's plane number on the top pickguard to break it up a bit. Seems odd, but I kind of think that the stars on the knobs are so bright they actually make the guard look brighter so I've been toying with the idea of putting the vintage style knobs on it.

As for "Made in America", that's not a completely true statement. I'm not much of a fan of the high gains and prefer the toasters but I can't afford a set right now so I bought some Chinese Frankentone pickups as the pair we so inexpensive. I know this is probably sacrilege here, but with my first run through with them, they don't sound too bad.

Looks cool! Great idea.

I actually named my '72 4001 Eddie. But I didn't do any Eddie customizing to it. I just named it Eddie because when I took the pickguard off, the name Eddie was written in the control cavity under the finish. Plus you've got that whole Eddie Rickenbacker thing, so it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Very clever! I like it!

A very nice touch!
I like it.

Happy Landings to you and your limited ed. 330!

Thanks all for the compliments. It's always fun when you have this idea or concept in your head and it ends up working out.