Overview: Serial Numbers 101

Let’s talk serial numbers!

So let’s say right up front that if all you want to do is date your guitar, you should check John Minutaglio’s serial number decoder at rarerickenbackers.com or Ryan Hankins’ serial number decoder at justrickenbackers.com. They’ll do all the hard work for you. But if you want more than that, if you want to understand HOW they work and how to do it yourself, then you’ve come to the right place.

Now in general, there are two “eras” to consider: 1954-1960, and 1961-present. The latter is pretty simple once you “get it.” The former is a little more convoluted. So that’s where we’ll start.

But before we do, a caveat: the pre 1961 serial numbering scheme is complicated and inconsistent. I feel like I say this all the time about all things Rickenbacker but I absolutely have to here: expect exceptions. Got it?

Pre-1961: The model-specific era

OK. In general, guitars from this era used four serial numbering approaches based on the “type” of guitar: solidbody “Combo” guitars, semi-hollow or hollow “Capri” or “Full Size” guitars, basses, and short-scale guitars (including some short-scale Capris).

Let’s start with the Combos.

Here’s what you’ll find on the internet about Combo serial numbers. The first 3 digits of the serial number tell you the story. The first digit will be a “4”, “6”, or “8” to indicate the model: 400, 600, or 800. The second digit is a “C” for “Combo”. The third digit tells you the year of production: from “4” for 1954 to “9” for 1959. Any trailing digits are production numbers.

At first glance that sounds easy enough.

Serial number on a 1956 Combo 400

And for the Combo 400, 600, and 800 that’s…mostly right. Prototype/show guitars may have a slightly different scheme or some leading digits, but for production guitars, it’s pretty good. Especially given that production on all three was pretty much done before 1959 (yes, that’s some foreshadowing).

But wait—there are other Combos, aren’t there? Like the 425, 450, 650, and 850. What about them?

Good question. Unfortunately there isn’t one clean answer, so let’s walk through them from “most sense” to “least sense”.

Starting with the 850: to identify the model the leading “8” was expanded to “85” so the familiar 8C“X” scheme became 85C“X”. That tracks.

Except…the 850 came equipped with a toaster at the neck and a horseshoe at the bridge. A small number were made for a trade show with dual toasters. These guitars lost the leading “85” and just began with a “C”. Why? There’s no clear answer.

The 425 effectively replaced the 400 in 1958, so it adopted the 400’s 4C“X”scheme. This also makes sense.

Is the Combo 650 vaporware? As a production model, that is. That’s a discussion for another day—but the handful that do exist start with just a “C” like the double toaster 850s. Go figure.

So if the Combo 850 became 85C“X”, surely the 450 scheme must be 45C“X”, right?

Nope.

When the Combo 450 appeared in 1957, they generally left the 4C“X” scheme of the Combo 400 alone and (usually, but not always) added an “A” to the end, behind the production number.

Again, it’s worth stressing these are rules of thumb, not absolutes. And things are going to get even less helpful.

Late 1958: Where the dating logic breaks down

At some point in late 1958, serial numbers shift from formats like “4C8” to just “4C,” “85C,” or similar—losing our date code. When exactly this happened or why is not clear. We do see a few early 1959 instruments with date information, but consistent dating doesn’t really return until late 1960—which we’ll get to shortly.

Capris and F-Series (1958-1960)

Now let’s move on to the full-scale semi-hollow models—the Capris and F-Series guitars that entered production in 1958.

As with the Combos, these serial numbers include some “intelligence” in that the first two positions tell us a little bit about the guitar. The first character is “2” or “3”, telling us how many pickups the guitar has. The second position is “T” for trapeze tailpiece or “V” for Kauffman Vibrato. When the Kauffman was replaced by the Accent the “V” was carried over. These letters were followed by a production number with no built-in date information.

Serial number on a 1959 365 Capri

A third letter appeared in 1960: “R” for stereo-wired “Ric-O-Sound” models. On those guitars the “R” would replace the “T” or “V”.

Short-scale Capris complicate things slightly. When they launched in 1958, they used the existing short-scale scheme we’ll discuss next. In 1959, they switched to the same pickups/tailpiece format as the full-scale models.

So did things “fall apart” for the semi-hollows too? Not exactly. They never had date information to lose. But—as with everything else—the system would change again in late 1960.

Basses & short scale guitars

Basses are relatively straightforward: “B” B followed by year of production and a production number. With the familar caveat that the year disappears ar some point in 1959 and everything changes again in late 1960.

Short scale guitar appeared in 1957 with the solidbody 1000. They didn’t use the Combo scheme and the hollowbody scheme didn’t yet exist so we simply got “V”/year/production number.

Why V? No clear answer. The 1000 didn’t even have a vibrato. But there it is—and, just like the Combos and the basses, they year disappears in late 1958.

Short-scale Capris launched in 1958 using this same scheme, then switched to the hollowbody pickups/tailpiece format in 1959. So within two years, the “V” goes from meaning nothing, to meaning vibrato, while date information appears briefly and then disappears again.

Late 1960: A brief moment of clarity

We keep mentioning it, so let’s talk about what actually happened in November 1960.

Rickenbacker introduced a brand-new serial number scheme that dropped all model-specific information but provided clear dating for every instrument.

Everything you’ve read so far? This new system ignores it entirely.

And it lasted for…two months.

The format was JK, followed by a production number.

Why JK? If you think it through, it makes sense. K is the 11th letter of the alphabet, and November is the 11th month of the year. J is the 10th letter of the alphabet, and the year was 1960.

And in December the prefix became JL.

Why November? No idea. It was simply the point at which Rickenbacker chose to standardize. Even if the experiment was short-lived, it clearly pointed the way forward.

1961-1986: The modern system arrives

Take a deep breath. After all of that, you’re going to love how simple and consistent the post-1961 system is.

From 1961 to 1986, serial numbers begin with a two-letter code indicating year and month of production, followed by a production number:

• First letter: year of production where “A” = 1961 and “Z” = 1986.

• Second letter: month of production where “A” = January and “L” = December.

  

  Serial number on a January 1965 420

They added some logic—if not true intelligence—to the production number at the same time. From 1961 to 1965 it ran from 01 to 999. Whenever the count reached 999 they just rolled it over and started again at 01.

In 1966 they added a digit, expanding the range to 001 through 9999. This system was used until 1999, and Rickenbacker never needed to restart at 001 in a single year.

That’s it. You can now accurately date any guitar built between 1961 and 1986.

1987-1998: Adapting the system

Of course, by 1986 they’d run out of letters. So the format was adjusted:

• First character: month of production (“A” = January, “L” = December)

• Second character: year of production (“0” = 1987 through “9” = 1996)

Serial number on a January 1989 610

This worked for ten years. Then they adjusted again.

They reused letters for months—this time starting at “M” for January and ending at “Y” for December (skipping “O” to avoid confusion)—while resetting the year digit so “0” now meant 1997 and “9” meant 2006.

Congratulations, you can now accurately date a guitar built between 1961 and 2006!

1999-Present: Year and week

Or can you? Because in 1999 they scrapped the whole scheme.

For the first time since 1961, you need more than the first two characters to date a guitar—but it’s still straightforward:

• First two digits: year of production (“99” = 1999, “21” = 2021, etc.)

• Next two digits: week of production (01–52)

And that’s the system still in place today—and it should work until 2098. After that…well, that’s somebody else’s problem.

Exceptions

There are two notable exceptions to these rules that merit their own discussion.

One is a handful of guitars produced in 1965 that featured a serial number sticker on the back of the headstock, beneath the clear coat. Those guitars featured their own numbering scheme. You can learn more about those here.

The second exception is the vibrato-equipped 425 produced between 1965 and 1967. These guitars also had their own serial number scheme, which was stamped onto the vibrato housing. You can learn more about those here.

And finally there are the XX serial numbers. There was a period in the 1980s when you could buy a replacement output jack from Rickenbacker, but in order to thwart counterfeiters these plates were issued with a serial number beginning with “XX” to distinguish them. The number on the plate has no meaning.

And that’s it! You should now be able to read a Rickenbacker serial number and—usually!—make sense of it. And if I got anything wrong or you can shed more light on the murky 1958-1960 window, please let me know!

Want to learn more about…everything else? Check out our handy site map to see what we’ve already covered! Don’t see what you’re looking for? Drop it in the comments and we’ll add it to the queue!