Short Takes: 1971 330 with Bound Neck

During the transitional years of 1970-1973 a number of guitars with an unusual mixture of features came out of the factory. This is such a guitar.

Here we have a 1971 330–which in itself is quite rare as very few 330s were produced during this period. Furthermore, this one has the unusual combination of a 24 fret and toaster pickups. By this point most guitars came with first gen/transitional Higains, and certainly most of the “new” 24 fret guitars were thusly equipped.

But on top of all of that, this guitar has a bound neck, which was never a standard feature on the 330. The most likely explanation is that 1971 also saw the launch of the 331 Lightshow, which WAS equipped with a bound 24 fret neck, and that a fretboard from that production run was used here. We can fairly confidently say “fretboard” instead of “neck” because the 331 had a one piece maple neck, and this guitar has the three piece maple/walnut/maple neck normally found on all other semi-hollow body guitars of the era.

Regardless, it’s an unusual thing that at the same time typifies this era of Rickenbacker history.