Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi everyone,

What's everyone's opinion on Rickenbackers from the mid-late 1980s (1984-1990)? Illustrating my point is my 1988 330, which has seen better days but is completely stock, even down to the 12-string tailpiece (??)! Wonderfully shaped thin neck, super easy to play.

P.S. Apologies for low quality image...

They are fantastic! All black powdercoated R tailpieces from the 80's are 12ers... no 6ers that I know of were powdercoated black; they just used 12-string tailpieces on the 6-string guitars with BT.

I love the 80's Ricks! Nice slim necks usually.

I love them! They are the Rickenbacker's that I grew up playing. My first was a 1988 325v63. It was an awesome guitar. My second was a 1990 330/12 similar to yours. Mine was red with black hardware. Later on in life, I was able to buy a fireglo 370/12RM. I don't remember the year it was made, but it was number 700 out of 1000. As you say, all of these had nice slim necks and were very playable (to my hands). I have owned other Ricks, they are all great instruments, but none of them feel like my late 80's/early 90's models.

tcsmit29 wrote: Later on in life, I was able to buy a fireglo 370/12RM. I don't remember the year it was made, but it was number 700 out of 1000.

It was made in November 1989.

I had a 1980 320, a 1987 360/12v64 and a 1988 370/12rm. They all had very nice necks. Very nice.
Not like the 2004 330/12 I had, the neck was a baseball bat.
But at least it didn't move.

Interesting - didn't know that all black R tailpieces were 12 string ones!

PunchyStrummer wrote:Interesting - didn't know that all black R tailpieces were 12 string ones!

Yes indeed. My January 1991 JG BT BH 610 6 string also has a 12 string tail.

My brother loves his 1980 320. It has a nice neck and the smaller headstock. He replaced the R tailpiece with an Ac'cent vibrato, but still has the R to convert it back.

I've a white 89 330 and It's one of my favs.

1989 Jetglo 360 WB here. My first Ricky! Is a keeper... Picture is to the right----------------->

tcsmit29 wrote: Later on in life, I was able to buy a fireglo 370/12RM. I don't remember the year it was made, but it was number 700 out of 1000.

I recognize that Fireglo 370/12 RM #700/1000; as Brian said, made November 1989:

libratune wrote: I recognize that Fireglo 370/12 RM #700/1000; as Brian said, made November 1989:

4-fullsize.jpg

Sweet! I didn't realize that is was in the Register. How do you recognize that guitar? Did it cross your path at some point? I bought it in 1998 or 1999 from another member here, LenMinNJ. I was pretty new to the whole internet thing. I remember bidding on an RM on ebay and losing the bid. Len contacted me by email and said he had one for sale. I talked to him on the phone and sent off a certified check. About a week later, that beautiful guitar showed up at my door. It was a pretty risky thing to do, and I would never do that now. Unfortunately, I had to sell the guitar in 2007ish. I got into a situation where I owed the IRS a bunch of money and the only way out (or so it seemed at the time) was to sell that guitar. I would love to get it back.

tcsmit29 wrote:

libratune wrote: I recognize that Fireglo 370/12 RM #700/1000; as Brian said, made November 1989:

4-fullsize.jpg

Sweet! I didn't realize that is was in the Register. How do you recognize that guitar? Did it cross your path at some point? I bought it in 1998 or 1999 from another member here, LenMinNJ. I was pretty new to the whole internet thing. I remember bidding on an RM on ebay and losing the bid. Len contacted me by email and said he had one for sale. I talked to him on the phone and sent off a certified check. About a week later, that beautiful guitar showed up at my door. It was a pretty risky thing to do, and I would never do that now. Unfortunately, I had to sell the guitar in 2007ish. I got into a situation where I owed the IRS a bunch of money and the only way out (or so it seemed at the time) was to sell that guitar. I would love to get it back.

Was that on the old alt.guitar.rickenbacker? Good times! Just goes to show what it was like in the very small internet+Rickenbacker community back then - you really COULD send off a check like that and trust someone. Nowadays you can't even hardly go through something like ebay without being worried about getting scammed!

No it wasn't on the alt.rickenbacker site. Len contacted me through ebay. This was back in the days when you could see who was bidding on items and message them. I guess ebay took away that feature because of people like us. We used eBay's feature to bypass paying any of the fees. In hindsight it was risky. But it ended well for me.