This article will not discuss every single pickguard Rickenbacker has ever produced. I don’t have that kind of time, and who wants to read 10,000 words about plastic anyway? Even for me, that’s a little over the top.
And the fact of the matter is that while there have been god knows how many variations on the teardrop shape over the years, there have also been distinct eras with relatively little variation in materials and colors. If you ignore all those tiny variations in shape, the story itself is actually pretty simple.
I mean, yes, we have to talk about some of those shapes. But not every single tiny variation. Nobody wants that—except maybe the good folks at places like Pickguardian, who’ll make you a reproduction of just about anything—but even they usually want a tracing to get it right. So let’s get into it.
The very first modern Rickenbackers, the 1954 Combo 600 and 800 (click to learn more) shared the same pickguard, but there were two versions. The shape was identical; only the material differed.
Now there is a rule as to which version was used on what guitar, but this being Rickenbacker—even in these very early days—the rule is only a suggestion. Exceptions to the rule absolutely exist.
The rule—such as it is—is that Natural guitars got black Bakelite pickguards, while Turquoise Blue guitars got gold-anodized aluminum. To be fair, while I’ve seen a fair number of Natural guitars with the gold pickguard, I’ve only seen a few Turquoise Blue with black. So parts of the rule were more flexible than others, it seems.
And you’ll notice that the two examples I’ve shown you are not identical—the anodized aluminum guard on the second guitar has been cut to fit around the horseshoe pickup (click to learn more) surround. Get used to seeing a lot of things like that in this story.
Now Bakelite and anodized aluminum are terms that we hear a lot in relation to early electric guitar pickguards, but do you really know what they mean? Let’s run through a very high-level explanation of each.
Bakelite is, quite simply, the world’s first fully synthetic plastic. Invented in 1907, it combines phenol and formaldehyde under heat and pressure to create a durable, if somewhat brittle, material that was used in everything from telephones to fountain pens to…guitar pickguards.
Anodized aluminum is fancy rust. Aluminum is placed in an acid bath and subjected to an electrical current, causing a durable, protective oxide layer—the fancy rust—to form on the surface. Color is then added using dyes or metal salts that penetrate or are deposited within the microscopic pores created by the anodizing process.
So our very first pickguard is a very traditionally-pickguard-shaped item found on two models and in two materials. Easy peasy.
1956 brought some new shapes, but no new materials. The Combo 400 (click to learn more) launched with a large gold anodized aluminum pickguard that covered much of the face of the guitar.
The Combo 400 was designed to be inexpensive and easy to build. Its oversized pickguard served that purpose by covering the routing underneath, giving the guitar a clean, finished appearance.
It’s important to note that at this time—and for quite a long time, actually—each pickguard was cut by hand using a master template. Sometimes the curves are a little different; oftentimes the screw holes are in different places. As a result, there is no single, definitive pattern to refer to. That’s why folks like Pickguardian ask for a tracing when creating a replacement.
The Combo 600 and 800 also got a new pickguard in 1956, again in the name of manufacturing efficiency.
You’ll see here, in the lower part of the pickguard, the first hint of what would become the signature Rickenbacker teardrop shape. By extending the guard to cover the lower bout, the control cavity could be routed from the front, with the pickguard hiding it.
Once again, the new pickguard came in Bakelite and anodized aluminum versions.
1957 was an important year in Rickenbacker pickguard history. A number of new models introduced new shapes but, more importantly, new materials. One of which was a dead end, but the other cast a much longer shadow.
We’ll start with the dead end—which is one of the few things I can’t find a clear answer for. Three solidbody short-scale student models—the 900, 950, and 1000 (click to learn more)—launched in 1957. All were variations on the “tulip” design language the Combo 400 had introduced. But instead of anodized aluminum, all three featured white plastic pickguards.
What is that material? That’s the question I simply can’t find an answer to. I can tell you what it’s not—it’s not the material we all know and love today (which I’m not going to spoil by revealing now). It’s something else.
I can make some educated guesses. It’s likely some kind of vinyl or ABS—both were commercially available in 1957 and used by other guitar manufacturers. Fender used both in 1957, for example—transitioning from vinyl to ABS pickguards midway through the year.
It’s hard to see from pictures, but here’s how I’d describe the difference from the modern material. It’s not nearly as shiny. It’s far more brittle and prone to cracking. It discolors—both overall yellowing and localized staining (rusty screws, etc). It just looks…cheaper.
But I just don’t know what it actually is.
The other new material, though? That’s going to be very familiar to you.
The Combo 850 introduced the gold backpainted acrylic—which most collectors refer to as “Plexiglass”—pickguard that would dominate the rest of the late 1950s and early 1960s semi-hollow lineup.
Plexiglas (with only one s) was the trade name the material was first introduced under in 1933. You’ll also hear it referred to as Lucite—DuPont’s brand name for the same product. Developed as a lightweight, shatter-resistant replacement for safety glass, it was famously used for airplane windows and canopies in World War II, and after the war it made its way into all sorts of consumer goods.
The Combo 850’s pickguard was cut from a sheet of clear acrylic, then painted with metallic gold paint on the backside. Thus the “backpainted” in “gold backpainted acrylic.” The unpainted top surface was shiny, durable, and highly scratch resistant. Really an ideal material for a pickguard.
The Combo 850’s pickguard shape combined the Combo 600 and 800’s bottom with the Combo 400’s top. By late in the year it had made its way onto the Combo 600 and 800 as well, replacing the older anodized aluminum version—on gold-equipped guitars. Most black-equipped guitars retained the older Bakelite version, although I have seen at least two 1958 guitars with a black pickguard and the new shape.
Funnily enough, the Combo 850 pickguard’s shape was also a cost-cutting measure. The Combo 800 picture above makes that obvious. Covering the entire treble side of the guitar with the pickguard meant you didn’t have to do the labor-intensive German carve (click to learn more) seen on the bass side. Clever!
Now the Combo 850 was the first production model to feature a gold backpainted guard, but I’m not sure if it was the very first Rickenbacker so equipped. A prototype 4000 bass (click to learn more) was produced in 1957, and it too had a gold backpainted guard. I honestly don’t know which came first.
While this is a later 4000, the atomic-age wonder pickguard design remained largely unchanged through 1961—and was also used on the very first two-pickup 4001 (click to learn more) prototypes.
By the end of 1957, the Combo 400 and the line-extending two-pickup Combo 450 (click to learn more) were the only models left with anodized aluminum pickguards. And by the end of 1958 the black Bakelite would be gone as well.
1958, as I’m sure you’re aware, saw the introduction of the semi-hollow Capri line and an explosion in the number of Rickenbacker models. But there was one very important step between the Combo 850 and that modern Rickenbacker line: the late 1957 Polynesian prototype (click to learn more).
We talk about this guitar a lot because it’s a vital link in the development of the modern Rickenbacker lineup—first proper semi-hollow guitar, birth of the tailpiece ramp, yadda yadda—but we’re talking about it here because it’s also the first appearance of one of Rickenbacker’s most enduring and defining design features: the teardrop pickguard.
That basic pickguard shape went on to appear on all of the 1958 Capri models, and most Rickenbacker guitar models since. If I asked you to draw a Rickenbacker guitar, I’m almost certain you’d include a teardrop pickguard.
For most of the first half of the year, the pickguard was a single level. Which, as it turned out, made playing kind of uncomfortable—the top-mounted pickups mean the strings sat a significant distance above the body, leaving no comfortable place to rest your right hand.
This was rectified later in the year with the addition of a second pickguard level, raised on rubber grommet spacers to create a higher, more comfortable place to rest your hand. The look was set.
Now you may have noticed that the guard from early 1958 is shaped a little differently than the one from late 1958—it’s a little shorter, and therefore appears a little fatter. Good eye. It did change over time, but I’m not going to try and build a timeline. Just know that it was and would remain a work in progress, but the basic concept was here to stay.
There was one more refinement to the look yet to come, but we’ll get to that in a bit, because there was another change of note in 1958. The tulip-shaped Combo 400 and 450 were replaced by the new cresting-wave )click to learn more)-bodied 425 (click to learn more) and 450.
The 425 followed a pattern that had been set the year before: student models—which the single-pickup 425 was considered—got white pickguards. So what did the two-pickup 450 get?
Gold anodized aluminum, because why not? Which made the 450 the last so-equipped model. Note also how the basic pickguard shape remained the same as on the earlier tulip-bodied models, adjusted only to fit the new treble cutaway.
If you’ll remember, I mentioned a few paragraphs ago that there was one more refinement for the teardrop shaped pickup yet to come. Well, it arrived in mid-1959. Let me show you the before and after and see if you can spot it.
Got it? The upper guard was extended about half an inch toward the strings between the pickups. Why? Because the original design left the edge of the guard right where your pick could hit it. Moving that edge flush with the high E-string solved the problem. From that point on, most two-pickup models have included that little extension on the upper guard. Three-pickup models have all retained the older, extension-less design.
That last little modification more or less finalized the design. It started with form—the teardrop shaped pickguard. Function followed—first adding, then extending the upper guard. And the basic concept has been in use ever since.
We’ll talk more about the teardrop pickguard as materials change and it finds novel applications, but we’ve already hit the important bits. Luckily, we have plenty of other things to talk about.
The student-model mystery white plastic appears to have disappeared in mid-to-late-1960, replaced by the same material still in use on the majority of models today: white acrylic.
Not backpainted white acrylic, solid white acrylic. And not just any solid white acrylic: sign white acrylic.
So why is that important? Look closely at the photo above. Look for the routs underneath the pickguard. You can kinda just barely see them, right? That’s sign white.
Sign white acrylic is a translucent, light-diffusing color designed to be lit from behind—like on exit signs. Thus the “sign” in “sign white.” And because it is slightly translucent, you can just barely see through it.
Well, that’s not exactly right. What you are actually seeing is light passing through the pickguard from overhead, reflecting off the surface underneath, and passing back through the pickguard. Where the body has been routed, there is no surface immediately underneath to reflect the light back, so those areas appear slightly darker. Make sense?
And as I write this, it occurs to me that this may be why I’ve always had a hard time describing this material. The best I’ve been able to come up with is that it looks “soft”—despite it actually being very hard. I think maybe that’s because it really does have “inner light”—or a reflection of light passing through it, anyway—that gives it less “substance” than your normal white pickguard. It certainly makes spotting fakes very easy.
Why Rickenbacker chose a translucent white over an opaque white? No idea. Maybe there was no reason. Maybe that’s what was available, and they had no idea it would behave like that—they just liked the way it looked. Whatever the reason, they’ve stuck with it.
Now it did come with all the same benefits of the clear acrylic used in the gold backpainted guards—glossy, very durable, highly scratch resistant—so the choice of acrylic itself makes sense.
Regardless, by late 1960 mystery white was out and sign white acrylic was in for good. And at the beginning of 1961, the 450 switched over to white acrylic as well, officially bringing Rickenbacker’s gold anodized aluminum era to an end. All pickguards were now acrylic—gold backpainted, or sign white.
But the 450 wouldn’t be the only model to change pickguard material in 1961. While the first few 4001 prototypes may have had gold backpainted guards, the next pre-production batch had a white guard with a…unique design.
The new 4001 presaged what would come in a few years’ time. In the meantime, however, the new models that appeared between 1961 and 1963—like the 460 (click to learn more) and 625 (click to learn more)—all featured white pickguards. The 625 was, in fact, the first solidbody guitar to feature the teardrop pickguard.
And when the production-ready 4001 entered the line in early 1963, it too had a white pickguard. Probably the second-most—or maybe even the first!—famous Rickenbacker pickguard design, in fact.
Could I list all the changes—from minute to huge—this pickguard has gone through over the years? Maybe? Does anybody really want to see that? God, I hope not—for your sake. We’ll hit some of the big ones along the way, but the point is this: a variation of this pickguard has appeared on the overwhelming majority of Rickenbacker basses over the years. I’d confidently estimate well over 90%. So yeah. You know this shape just as well as you do the teardrop.
Here’s the thing about having long pickguards, like almost every Rickenbacker does. It saves money. It is much easier to have your routs on the front and then mount your controls to the pickguard than it is to rout from the back and mount your controls on the top.
At the same time, when you have the pickguard cover a lot of the face of the guitar—like the 450, or a Stratocaster—everyone knows why you’re doing it. Efficiency. Which doesn’t scream “premium.”
The teardrop pickguard threads that needle beautifully. Yes, it’s long to cover that rout and provide you that manufacturing efficiency, but by leaving the pickups outside that pickguard, it exposes more of the wood. And that visible wood suggests a premium instrument. It’s a very clever design.
When you surface-mount your pickups, like on most Rickenbacker guitars, that’s easy to do. There are no pickup routs to hide. But when you have to recess the pickups—like on the 4001—that makes it more difficult.
Gibson uses mounting rings around the pickups to hide the routs. Fender just covers it all up and mounts the pickups on the pickguard. The 4001 does both. The neck pickup is mounted to the pickguard. And what else is the horseshoe pickup surround but a large mounting ring? And then you’ve got that lovely expanse of wood between the bridge pickup and the bridge itself.
The most notable change this pickguard design has undergone over the years is the shortening of the section that holds the neck pickup. When first introduced, it extended all the way down to the bridge pickup surround. Today there’s about a three-quarter-inch gap between the two. Does that show more wood and require less material for the pickguard? Yes. Whichever one they were going for—and maybe the answer is both—it’s smart.
So by mid-1963 we had gold backpainted and sign white acrylic, and the teardrop and 4001 shapes. What else do we need to know?
Not a lot, actually. There are plenty of variations on a theme—as well as a few oddballs left to talk about—but the basics were pretty much done. Which is pretty amazing, actually.
Well, one more thing happened in 1963—towards the very end of the year—that we should probably talk about. Gold backpainted acrylic disappeared. And while this particular guitar wasn’t the very first sign of the change, it was pretty darn close to it.
In 1961, Roger Rossmeisl (click to learn more) took the existing Capri body and enlarged the horns, lowered and pinched the waist slightly, and reduced the body depth from 2 inches to 1 1/2 inches to create what collectors refer to today as the “New Capri” (click to learn more)—a shape that basically lives on today in the 330 (click to learn more).
As you can see, the New Capri utilized the same gold backpainted guards found on the “old” Capri. In late 1963, however, the New Capri shrunk just a little bit—only about a quarter of an inch in width—and when it did, the gold backpainted guards gave way to sign white. Harrison’s 1963 360/12OS (click to learn more) was one of the first few. And as the New Capris were the only models still using gold, that change ended the gold backpainted era.
Well, the first one, anyway.
So now everything is sign white acrylic, right? Right. And every subsequent new model introduced in the 1960s would feature white guards. Some used the core designs in new ways, like the 4005 (click to learn more), which marked the teardrop pickguard’s first appearance on a bass guitar—albeit with only one level.
Some were variations on a theme, like the modified teardrop pickguards found on the 6005 and 6006 Banjolines and the 381 (click to learn more).
Some were…well, the Bantar (click to learn more).
Geometry forced the convertible 6/12 models (click to learn more) to get creative with their pickguards. On the semi-hollow models, there was too much space between the body and the strings for the converter comb to be mounted directly to the face of the guitar. On the solidbody 450, however, there wasn’t enough space between the pickguard and the strings to accommodate the converter unit. Heads were scratched, and two solutions were devised.
For the semi-hollow 336/12 and 366/12, an extra-thick block of white acrylic was shaped to serve as a mounting point for the converter assembly. This block was then incorporated into the teardrop pickguard.
If the semi-hollow solution involved adding height, the 456/12 required removing height. So that’s exactly what they did—removing a section of the existing pickguard and filling the gap with an extra-thin sheet of black plastic.
And then there’s the second-generation F-Body jazz guitars, produced from 1967 to 1968. The 1958-61 F-Bodies (click to learn more) used the standard gold backpainted teardrop guard. And most guitars since had used a variation on that theme. But the second generation used something completely different: a pickguard so generic it could appear on almost any brand.
Was it a conscious decision made to appeal to the notoriously conservative jazz market? Who knows. Regardless, this thoroughly conventional guard may actually be the most unusual Rickenbacker guard of the 1960s. One of these things is not like the other ones…
The first really interesting new thing to happen, pickguard-wise, came in 1970 with the 331 Lightshow (click to learn more).
Now that looks pretty cool, but it’s actually a lot simpler than you might think. The two giant guards, which allow light from the frequency-sensitive light bulbs inside to twinkle through as the guitar is played, are each composed of two layers: a clear acrylic layer on top and a thin sheet of a lenticular material called Rowlux that produces a shifting moiré effect beneath.
Just as the teardrop pickguard had been adapted for a bass on the 4005, in 1972 the bass pickguard was adapted for a guitar on the 4001-inspired 480 (click to learn more).
In 1973, Rickenbacker produced two prototype 4001-based 8-string basses (click to learn more) for John Entwistle and Chris Squire. Apart from the extra four strings, they also featured a striking new look: a black truss rod cover, binding, and pickguard.
The black and white look was deemed so handsome that Rickenbacker decided to put it into production in late 1973, beginning the so-called Black Trim, or BT era (click to learn more). The material used for the pickguard? Black acrylic—fully opaque this time.
At first, the black pickguard was only available on White 4001s, but it didn’t take long for the option to spread to other models and finishes. By the end of the decade, almost all models were available with the black trim option—meaning almost all pickguards came in both white and black acrylic.
As far as new designs in the 1970s? Actually, kinda yeah. Rickenbacker launched two new bolt-on neck basses in 1975, the 3000 and the 3001 (click to learn more), and both featured new—yet still “if you squint you can kinda see the 4001 pickguard”—designs.
1977’s 4002 (click to learn more), though…that was all kinds of new.
Ok, once again there is some family resemblance there, but do you see the really big difference? Maybe this will make it clearer:
That is a five-ply, black-white-black-white-black pickguard. The first—and to date only—multi-ply Rickenbacker pickguard on a production model. Acrylic, of course. And it is thick. One of the thickest pickguards I’ve ever run across.
And while black or white pickguards were an option on most models, the 4002 came only with the multi-ply black.
Another 1970s model that only came with black was the 1975 Forrest White (click to learn more)-designed 430 (click to learn more)—a vaguely Telecaster-ish budget model that the market largely ignored. If you want to make it sound special, however, we can call it the only production solidbody Rickenbacker guitar to feature a single-level black teardrop pickguard. That’s about the nicest thing I can say about it.
Actually, that’s not true. There’s another very interesting fact about the 430. It is the only model ever to have a top-mounted output jack incorporated into a teardrop pickguard. And they even added extra screws around the jack for reinforcement. The cost of the two extra screws was more than offset by the savings from not having to drill a hole on the side and slap a jackplate on it.
The 481 (click to learn more) took the 480’s “4001 but guitar” brief and added humbucking pickups (click to learn more) and slanted frets (click to learn more). The 480’s 4001-style pickguard grew a little portly as a result, but the basic DNA remained intact.
The doubleneck 362/12 (click to learn more) and 4080 did the best they could to adapt the pickguards of their “donor” models to two necks. Here’s how the 362/12 handled it.
An extra switch was added to the upper bout to enable switching between the two necks. Now look closely at that translucent sign white pickguard and see if you can spot the routs. Don’t focus too hard…you’re looking for suggestions. Think you have it? Here are the actual routs.
Yeah. You got it. Sign white, man.
The 4080’s solution was simple: basically stretch the existing shape. Except it got broken into two pieces because it would take a ridiculously large sheet of acrylic to make it in one.
And that pretty much brings us to the early 1980s. Still all acrylic, in both black and white, and still mostly variations on two basic themes—with a few oddball exceptions.
The 4003 bass (click to learn more) launched alongside the 4001 in 1980. The 4001 had been designed when flatwound strings were the norm, and had difficulty with the higher-tension roundwounds that had come to dominate the market in the 1970s. To combat the problem, the 4001 was tweaked and reinforced to handle roundwounds. Side-by-side, you have to know what to look for to tell the difference.
One of the changes was to flip the hairpin truss rods (click to learn more) so they adjusted from the butt end of the neck rather than the headstock. Accessing them, however, required removing the entire pickguard. That’s a nuisance! The solution? Split the pickguard into two pieces.
The truss rod adjustment returned to the headstock sometime in 1984 or 1985, and in 1986 the split guard reverted to the familiar one-piece version.
The “B-Series” guitars (click to learn more), introduced in 1982, were Rickenbacker’s first attempt at reissue models. In practice, they were contemporary models given a cosmetic upgrade to evoke three models closely associated with The Beatles. One of those three original models, John Lennon’s 1958 325 (click to learn more), had gold guards. And so, so did the 320B.
While it was just a toehold, gold backpainted guards were back. And they have gone on to appear on a number of reissue and one-off models since. As well as one new production model we’ll get to shortly.
Initially, black pickguards were only found on specific models or with specific finishes. The Black Hardware/Black Trim (BH/BT, click to learn more) era began in 1984—adding black-finished hardware to the look. Certain finishes—White, Red, Midnight Blue, Silver—came stock BH/BT. But the option could be chosen on any finish for most models, leading to abominations like this 1987 4003.
The Signature Limited Edition models (click to learn more), introduced in 1987 with the Pete Townshend-inspired 1998PT, brought a number of new twists on existing designs. Let’s see if you can spot one.
Yes, there’s a graphic on the upper guard, but what else is special about it? Let’s take a closer look.
Notice how the upper and lower guards are slightly different colors? That’s because the upper guard isn’t sign white acrylic. It’s white backpainted acrylic. The graphic was screenprinted onto the back of the upper guard, and the whole thing was backpainted white—just like a backpainted truss rod cover (click to learn more).
The second Signature Limited Edition, the Roger McGuinn 370/12RM introduced in 1988, established a signature template all but one of the other Signature Limited Edition models would follow.
Even the bass pickguard would get a white backpainted version, on the Chris Squire 4001CS introduced in 1991.
Two Signature Limited Edition models—the John Kay 381JK and the Glenn Frey 220GF/2020GF—got silver backpainted guards, a look unique to these models.
And the Tom Petty 660/12TP got gold backpainted guards.
The 660/12TP proved so popular that, after the approved 1,000 guitars were built, the 660 entered regular production—without Petty’s signature—in both six and twelve-string versions in 1998. Making it the first non-reproduction model to launch with a gold backpainted pickguard since 1958.
Oh, and the one Signature Limited Edition model to not follow the template? That would be the Lemmy Kilmister 4004LK, which had no pickguard.
The modern 200 Series (click to learn more) of guitars and basses had launched in 1984 without any pickguard at all—the first such Rickenbacker models. But a 1992 refresh added a familiar look to all four models.
Small and single layer, but a teardrop nonetheless. The pickguards were black on Red, White, and Midnight Blue instruments—following BH/BT rules—and white on all other finishes.
If that body shape looks familiar, it should. It’s the same Forrest White design that first appeared on the 430 in 1975. Without a pickguard, there is very little Rickenbacker DNA in the design. I’m not saying that’s why they added the pickguard for the refresh…but I’m also not not saying that.
Designed for the modern player, the 650 line launched in 1992 with five different models sharing two new pickguards. The Atlantis (650A), Colorado (650C), and Dakota (650D) featured single-level, chrome-plated metal teardrop guards.
The Excalibur (650E)—later renamed Frisco (650F)—and Sierra (650S) featured the same guard in gold.
While admittedly not anodized aluminum, they were the first metal pickguards since 1960.
The BH/BT era came to an end in 2004. While several special runs and the 90th Anniversary 480XC have had black pickguards, no catalogued production models have featured black guards since.
I promise you we’re getting near the end. To celebrate Rickenbacker’s 75th anniversary (click to learn more) in 2006, the company produced 75 each of four different models—the 330, 360, 620, and 4003—with a special Dark Cherry Metallic finish, and gold backpainted guards.
Before the upper guard (or the entire guard, in the case of the 4003) was painted, a 75th anniversary logo was laser-etched on the reverse—with different logos for guitar and bass.
Is that it? No. We have one last interesting guard to discuss. After a long break, the Signature Limited Edition returned in 2019 with the Al Cisneros 4003AC.
There is so much going on here that you probably glossed right over the guard, but it deserves a closer look. This may well be the most interesting pickguard since…maybe since the teardrop and 4001 shapes solidified.
Now you’re probably looking at this and saying “So what? It’s just another teardrop pickguard.” No, friend, it is not.
Every single teardrop pickguard has a point at the bottom. Scroll back up, you’ll see. This one does not.
“OK. Big deal.” Well, tell me the difference between these two pickguards.
“I don’t see one?” No. You don’t. Now let’s zoom out on the guitar on the left—a 2020 4003 SPC CB, which was effectively a 4003AC with different cosmetics.
“Wait…you’re telling me that’s a teardrop pickguard and a 4001 pickguard married together?” Yes. Yes it is. I told you it was cool.
I mean, I couldn’t have found a better ending for this deep dive if I tried. I’ve spent I-don’t-know-how-many-thousand words explaining to you how pretty much every Rickenbacker pickguard since those two shapes were introduced harkens back to one of those two designs. And now I get to end with the two of them coming together as one? Chef’s kiss.
This article is near and dear to my heart because I have this fetish for black guitars and basses with gold parts. When my utter fascination and affinity for Rickenbackers emerged and dovetailed with the aforementioned fetish, a rabbithole began. I wound up with every model of Rick guitar (and a 4003) that I wanted, starting with a Jetglo 660 and later a matching 660/12. They more than checked all the boxes, thanks to the wider necks.
(I’ve already gone way too long)
Quickly, for the rest, a call to Rickenbacker asking if I could buy gold pickguards came to no success but they recommended a vendor who was 9 miles from my home, Pickguardian! Excelsior!!! Tony’s a rock star!Now, the TRC’s are a complete other story. Yeesh!
As always, thank you SO MUCH for another exhaustive and rare set of info, Mr. White.
You should get a medal.
Whew! Done!
Great article, Andy. Especially liked the spotting of the "sign white" choice by RIC for the pickguards. Still a mystery as to why that was chosen but to the educated eye it's very distinct from "plain white."