If you were just briefly scanning thumbnail pics, you could be forgiven for dismissing this guitar as some cheap 1960s Japanese Rickenbacker knock-off.
I mean, does that red-to-black burst scream Teisco or what? But you’d be wrong. It’s legit. That guitar left the factory on South Kilson Drive in Santa Ana with that finish. And what’s more, it’s technically Autumnglo.
Well, that’s what the production records say, anyway. And while yes, Autumnglo has varied a lot over the years—and I mean a lot a lot—really? Autumnglo? Well, maybe that’s what they called it in the factory, but that’s not what it’s called in collector-land. There it’s “Redburst.” Because, well, look at it.
That’s an important point. As far as Rickenbacker is concerned, there is no such thing as Redburst. That term does not exist in any catalogues or invoices or factory production records. But c’mon. What else should we call it?
In the pre-internet days, folks outside of the UK didn’t really know these existed. The Richard Smith book told us in 1987 that 100 “Autumnglo” guitars were built for Rose Morris in 1966, but that was all we knew.
And so when these guitars first started appearing on the proto-listservs and message boards in the early days of the internet, the initial response was that they must be weird refins. But over time enough surfaced that they could no longer be denied. Eventually, the community figured, “These must be the Autumnglo guitars Smith talked about, but damned if they’re actually Autumnglo!” And thus was born Redburst.
So why does it even exist? Blame the Brits—Rose Morris, to be exact. At their request, all Rose Morris models were produced only in Fireglo. And while some of them—the 1993, 1997, and 1998 in particular—flew off the walls as soon as they hit the showroom floor, some—like the 1995, 1996, and 1999—didn’t.
Maybe their conservatism had bitten them in the bum, Rose-Morris worried. Maybe they needed to offer some color other than Fireglo. As early as August 1964, Rose Morris was asking Rickenbacker if other colors were an option. Maybe black? Maybe a bright Fender-style cherry red? “We’ll paint ‘em any color you want,” F.C. Hall told them. “On your NEXT order. We gotta finish the orders you’ve already placed first.”
How they landed on that precise black-to-red burst I have no idea. Maybe it’s exactly what Roy Morris asked for. Maybe they combined the black and the red he had specifically called out. Maybe the details are in the archives somewhere. Maybe they’re not. We’ll likely never know the specifics.
But this is how backlogged the post-Ed Sullivan Show Rickenbacker factory was: those discussions about another color for Rose Morris started in mid-1964, and these guitars weren’t built until February 1966.
Twenty-five 1997s. Fifty 1998s. And twenty-five 1999s. All in “Autumnglo.” I have to assume that once they arrived in the UK a letter went back to Santa Ana that basically said, “Yeah, let’s not do that again. Fireglo is fine moving forward.” Those 100 guitars would be the only Rose Morris models to feature that…unique paint job.
The end? Basically, but with one footnote. While Redburst doesn’t officially exist, Red Burst does.
In 2007, as one of Ben Hall’s boredom busters that got sold through the Rickenbacker Outlet, a one-off 4003 in “Red Burst” was offered for sale. Was that name purely descriptive, or a tip of the hat to collector lingo? We’ll likely never know, but it does mean that you can’t say “There is no such thing as Rickenbacker Redburst” out loud without some pedant—like me—chomping at the bit to say, “Well, actually…” Consider yourself warned.
Gawjuss....simply gawjuss. Plus that 330 shape is the Corvette of Guitars.
Moonglo!