NGD: 1982 Rickenbacker 330

[cestlamort]

I'm not normally one to do NGD posts, but I thought this one was pretty special: 1982, Rickenbacker 330 jetglo.

The good:
Plays nicely, feels nice. Rare bird. One of the last years of the old era (x-bracing, wider ramp, rounded lower horn, etc). Essentially the same as Johnny Marr's 330.

The bad:
Has some major flaking on the fretboard (the serial number does start with "VD" (sigh) ). I'm starting to shop around for refinishing quotes. (Paul W. on the Rickenbacker boards can restore it to new, necessarily with new frets. Other referrals welcome, too).

Neck pickup not making a signal (although reads at 14 (!) compared with around 5 for the bridge). (Caveat: I'd used the multimeter maybe once before and didn't unsolder stuff. I'm guessing the proper way to troubleshoot the pickup is to keep one terminal at the PU and then work downstream through the volume and tone controls, right?)
I am considering trying to talk the local Bain Capital subsidiary into some sort of discount due to the pickup. (I knew about the fretboard finish).

Pics:


























Thick (!) fretboard. Compared here with a 2009 330/12.




Big thanks to egosheep for advice and encouragement.

[Maggieo]

Congrats on your MarrGuitar!!!!

[pad]

what a great find!
looks lovely just like mine '86 360!

[niemand]

.

[egosheep]

That's amazing! Full Marr-enabler over here. There's nothing like the real deal. Ramps on Rickenbacker's don't come much better that this, ultra-wide and symmetrical to the guard. And that fretboard is like a thick slice of bacon, it's just majestic. Can't wait to see it up and running and hear how it sounds! It's funny that Johnny kept his tuned to F# when he was touring it, but I've never had the guts to test mine that way.

[fuzzjunkie]

I think the headstock is supposed to be a slightly different shape? Seems less wide than the '85 that I had and the fingerboard does look thicker. I think my pups were in the 9.5-10.5 range, but I let it go a dozen years ago.

On a side note, I wonder if Peter Buck might have left one behind when he left town?!?

[fuzzjunkie]

Also, that amount of flaking is strange. I've not seen it to that degree before. Guy must have really acidic sweat.

[cestlamort]

Thanks! Excited to get this one in shape.

The flaking is just on the fretboard (all over). I've heard of a couple other guitars of this era having it. (Maybe like green Sovtek boxes or late 70s Chevys?). It's all over, so I think it is more the varnish reacting to the wood than death sweat.

Lots of (very) light checking on the body and neck, too.

Dropped it off at the store and their tech is going to check it over (my guess is either a bad pot or solder joint). Hopefully, they'll fix it and/or refund a bit so I can take it to my own tech guy.

F# ?! whoa. Trying to serve as some sort of universal counterbalance to Roger McGuinn tuning down?!

[egosheep]

F# ?! whoa. Trying to serve as some sort of universal counterbalance to Roger McGuinn tuning down?!

Supposedly Johnny did this "before he could afford a capo" but he must have really liked it because he kept doing it after he was using capos. Whenever he used the 330 live himself, it was in F#. Craig used it on later tours tuned in standard but always with a capo on 4 or 5.

Johnny always played his 1959 355 and his 1972 LP Custom tuned to F# as well, and routinely his 1985 LP as well with a few exceptions where he tuned it open. As a rule of thumb, the debut album and Meat Is Murder are F#, whereas The Queen Is Dead and Strangeways are more typically standard tuning. Applies to the bass tunings, too. I wonder what strings he used to tune up, seems like 10's would make it really dicey.

[brianeharmonjr]

That is strange flaking for sure. Paul does fantastic work, but you'll be in for a long wait. I know he's had a lot to deal with over the past year+ (work, family, health, job, moving shop), and he's pretty backed up. 5+ years ago I would have recommended Dale Fortune, another great Ric repair and restoration guy, but he apparently has dropped out of the scene for reasons I haven't seen a clear explanation of.

[thunderroad]

Mark Arnquist is up there in the Pacific Northwest. (Oregon, maybe?) I've seen lots of his work and it looks great. I think he's an ex-Ric guy.

[jakeisjake]

yeppp I was just gonna mention Mark A. he did work for Ric.

that's a beauty nonetheless!

[cestlamort]

Picked it back up from GC, after it sat there for a week. They had diagnosed the issue as a bad switch, but had to wait for their "Vintage Shop" (or some such thing) to approve the repair. For a toggle switch. And the approval never came.

Now, back in my possession, still with nothing fixed, but... whatever. I should have just fixed it myself. (I had thought since they didn't disclose the issue, they should fix it. Silly me).

Better news: Scheduled to meet a local luthier luminary on Monday for the fretboard finish.

(As OSG seems to be slowly becoming RickenbackerFinishIssues.com. )

[Grey]

I wouldn't trust Guitar Center with a Squier. Funny thing, I have a Rickenbacker that's two years older than yours and it was missing the same knob decal. I bought replacement knobs from RIC and transplated a new decal into the old knob.

[cestlamort]

I wouldn't trust Guitar Center with a Squier. Funny thing, I have a Rickenbacker that's two years older than yours and it was missing the same knob decal. I replacement knobs from Rickenbacker and transplated one into the old knob.

Yep. Not the smartest choice on my part (different story if it would have involved anything more than a solder joint or two). I'd hoped they'd just refund some of the purchase price. That said, I'm not sad they didn't fix it.

I'll probably do the same for the knobs. Either replace the one or all (if the font has changed significantly).