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 neck 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. While the pickups may be a later addition—we’d have to check the wiring to know for sure—the next oddity came from the factory as is!

Because that now-standard 24-fret neck is bound! To be clear, this was NEVER a standard feature on the 330. So what gives?

The most likely explanation is this: 1971 also saw the launch of the 331 Lightshow. That guitar WAS equipped with a bound 24 fret neck. And so almost certainly 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.

Whatever the backstory is, it’s a cool and unusual thing that typifies this era of Rickenbacker history. God I love weird transitional guitars!