9 Comments
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Vincent's avatar

Nice work, Andy. I'm a bit dizzy after going through all that! I'm sure you know the feeling.

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Andy White's avatar

I’ve been working on it off and on for about four months. It can be overwhelming!

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Michael's avatar

What a great read. I think lots of people have attempted to do this article, but here it is, well researched and fun to read and learn! Thanks so much! As an aside, my OS 5 and 8 string basses don't fit into standard 400x cases of the period, so I'm assuming those came with deluxe cases of their own as well.

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Andy White's avatar

Great point! I missed those. I’ll add ‘em!

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Steve Lee's avatar

I was lead to believe by “somebody” that black deluxe with blue first appeared in late 1967 for 330/360 size models. How say you? Yay or nay?

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Andy White's avatar

I believe that to be fairly unlikely.

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Michael Stack's avatar

What stellar research! I confess - after reading and looking at so many case photos, I scrolled down to the last few and saw my (not really) 2015 1993Plus FG in a molded case. Mine is a 2015 Rose Morris 1993+ and the case is different. Do you know if I have a custom case or was this a RM OEM case. The case is a black tolex with fuzzy blue material. The case has those thumb hasp latches.

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Andy White's avatar

Rickenbacker has not offered a black Tolex case since 1995, so it didn’t come “from the factory” that way. If you had a photo I could tell you if it’s from another era or if it’s just flat not factory.

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Woody Cross's avatar

Very Interesting! The case I got with my used ‘74 4000 in 2004 was one of the black tolex/black velvet ones with full body contours and neck suppport. Obviously not Original, but it was one of the best cases, as you said. I’ve had 2 silver/blue poodle cases, both purchased used ,one with no interior body contouring and a small neck support at the nut, and one with side bolstering for the body and a larger neck suppport.

You should take a vacation after that post! 😅

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