Overview: The W Series Guitars
From limited run to mainstay
Sometimes the next big thing isn’t. And sometimes what was planned as a one-year run finds a permanent home in the lineup. We’ve talked several times about the former, but today we’re going to talk about the latter.
In August 2013, Rickenbacker started teasing something special for 2014.
By the end of its 2000 to 2006 run, collectors were trying their best to come up with the most unique Color of the Year (click to learn more) order possible. Whatever model you can think of, there’s probably at least one example out there somewhere wearing a later Color of the Year finish.
So the prospect of a new Color of the Year after a seven-year absence immediately set the collector community abuzz. But shortly before the official NAMM 2014 unveiling, John Hall made it clear everyone had been barking up the wrong tree.
“Well, John, maybe because you teased a ‘2014 Color of the Year,’” was the main response…followed almost immediately by even more speculation about what it actually was.
On the first day of NAMM 2014, we finally got our answer.
Note especially the “available 2014 only” part. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan—and occasionally that’s a very good thing. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
So what exactly is the W Series? Well, here’s how Rickenbacker described the new line in the original press release:
We’ve always been careful not to change much to the formulas that make our guitars and basses iconic in sound and design. For this reason, we rarely bring anything new to market. However, this year we just couldn’t resist introducing the W Series of walnut made designs of our traditional 330, 360 and 4003 models.
This is a natural spin on our classic models. These walnut Rickenbackers boast the same full, rich and warm sounds that we’re known for, while adding the strength and natural character of walnut polished with an oil finish. The full model lineup for the W Series includes the 330, 330/12, 360, 360/12 and 4003. All are outfitted with Maple necks. The entire line is made from top quality wood to deliver thorough excellence.
At launch, the lineup included a 330W, 330/12W, 360W, 360/12W, and 4003W. Apart from the different woods and oil-rubbed finish—and the black fretboard dots on the two 330 models—all other specs and features were identical to their maple brethren.
As were the prices. While walnut can cost significantly more per board foot than maple, the incremental material cost was offset by the much less labor-intensive oil-rubbed finish, allowing the W Series guitars to debut at the same price points as their maple counterparts.
These, of course, weren’t the first walnut-bodied Rickenbackers. Walnut had first appeared on the 650 Dakota in 1992, followed closely by the 650 Sierra and 4004 Cheyenne (click to learn more) in 1993.
While the 650 and 4004 were unapologetically modern Rickenbackers, 1995’s 380L Laguna (click to learn more) looked much closer to a “traditional” 360—albeit with plenty of modern touches of its own.
But by 2009, the last production walnut guitar had rolled off the line. That said, hints of what was to come began to appear, with walnut-bodied 4003 experiments surfacing as early as 2011.
Still, nobody was expecting a full line of walnut bodied guitars, and the response caught even Rickenbacker a little off guard. Here’s what John Hall had to say only a few weeks after the NAMM show.
Remember: less than a month earlier Rickenbacker was describing these guitars as a 2014-only offering. And here Hall was already openly considering adding them permanently to the lineup.
As it happened, sell-through was every bit as strong as sell-in, and so that’s exactly what happened. The W Series became a permanent part of the lineup—and the line itself even expanded. A 4003SW had not been part of the original lineup, but one was added in early 2015.
The 4003SW wouldn’t be the only model added over the years. When the 5-string 4003S/5 joined the lineup in 2019, it received a walnut version as well.
The same held true with 2025’s 4030S (click to learn more), which also received a walnut counterpart.
So what exactly is the appeal? What transformed a planned one-year run into a permanent fixture in the Rickenbacker catalog?
I think it comes down to two things. First is the weight. Walnut is roughly 15–20% lighter than maple, and on a 4003, for example, that can easily translate into a one pound difference between the walnut and maple versions.
Second is the feel. Glossy finished fingerboards have been a Rickenbacker trademark since 1959—but they’ve also always been one of the brand’s more polarizing features.
This is especially true on basses. If we’re being frank, Rickenbacker basses tend to attract a broader audience than the company’s guitars and, as such, have a larger potential customer base. An unfinished board on a Rickenbacker bass, therefore, significantly increases the potential buyer pool.
That’s not to say the same doesn’t hold true for guitars, but the effect is even more pronounced for basses—which is why every new bass model introduced since the W Series joined the lineup has also received a walnut version with an unfinished board.
So a lighter guitar with a feel many players actually prefer. What’s not to like?
As already mentioned, all other specs and features on the W Series guitars are identical to the “normal” maple versions. So as tuners, knobs, pickups, and other appointments have changed on those guitars, so too have they on the W Series guitars—including 2023’s shift from 24 to 21-fret necks on the 330 and 360.
One change that obviously didn’t carry over was 2021-22’s experiment with unfinished fingerboards (click to learn more) on all legacy models. Turns out, the W Series was enough to satisfy that demand.
The W Series guitars have occasionally appeared incognito in places you might not expect. Many—though not all—special run models (click to learn more) with maple fingerboards are actually W Series guitars hiding beneath a custom color.
In the end, the W Series succeeded because it managed to thread a needle that had proven very difficult for Rickenbacker up to that point: guitars that offered something genuinely different without fundamentally changing what made them Rickenbackers in the first place.
Lighter weight. A different feel. A slightly different aesthetic. But underneath it all, still unmistakably the same guitars and basses players already knew.
It gave the Rickenbacker-curious an excuse to give one a shot—and continues to convince a number of them to stick around.
All in all, not too shabby for an idea that was supposed to only last a year.
Great article. I have a 2019 4003SW and I love it. Initially, I was concerned that walnut might differ significantly from the maple 4000 series bass tone that I know and love. The dealership where I bought my 4003SW let me demo it side by side with one of my maple 4003 basses. I dialed in my preferred tone through an amp with my 1994 4003S, then I switched to the 4003SW wit the same amp set up. I was not disappointed. Though all four of my Rickenbacker basses vary slightly in sound, to my ear they all have that unique RIC 4000 series quality. I'm happy to say that my 2019 4003SW is no exception. The lighter weight is nice, too.