A Very Rare Late Sixties Jetglo Model 320

This super rare Model 320, with a single f-hole (running at 1 o'clock), weighs just 6.80 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a short scale length of 21 1/4 inches. Maple body and neck, and rosewood fretboard with 21 medium-width frets and white dot inlays. Headstock with earlier style (without "Made in U.S.A.") white opaque plastic logo plate lettered in black. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Three Rickenbacker "toaster" pickups with chrome covers and outputs of 7.72k, 7.67k, and 9.28k. Split-level two-piece white plastic pickguard. Five controls (two volume, two tone, and a blend control volume) plus a three-way selector switch. Seven-sided black plastic knobs with metal tops with black lettering. Rickenbacker bridge and Rickenbacker "R" tailpiece. The pots are dated May and June 1976. Inside the control cavity is a pencil mark "320-H." Although the serial no. ("PI 6457") is for September 1976, the body, neck, pickups, hardware, and tuners of this guitar have all the features of a mid-to-late 1960s instrument, and it was almost certainly produced then, kept in the factory, and only given its potentiometers and serial no. jack plate in 1976. This guitar is in exceptionally fine condition, with the absolute minimum of belt buckle wear on the back, a tiny chip on the lower edge of the treble bout, a few tiny edge chips, a few tiny marks. Housed in its original black Rickenbacker hardshell case with black leather ends and blue plush lining (9.50). With the original case keys and the original warranty acceptance letter from Rickenbacker (201 E. Stevens Street, P.O. Box 2275, Santa Ana, CA 92707), signed by F.C.Hall, President. Very rare.

"There were three divisions in the Thin Hollow Body category, but just two different body styles. The first division, Models 310-325, had extreme cutaway three-quarter size bodies. The second and third divisions, Models 330-345 and Models 360-375, had extreme cutaway full sized bodies...The first guitars from the 310-325 group had solid tops...In 1961 photos showed traditional F shape sound holes on some of these models...There is no consistent pattern in the production of F hole and solid top guitars. It was probably simultaneous throughout the history of the 325 style instrument...The standard finishes in 1964 were Fireglo and natural maple. Black was available for an additional twenty-five dollars over the retail cost. The traditional F shape sound holes became standard, but, as before, some solid top guitars were made too" (Richard R. Smith, The History of Rickenbacker Guitars, pp. 162-163).

This guitar is similar to the guitar illustrated on p. 92 of Richard R. Smith's The History of Rickenbacker Guitars, a non-vibrato Model 320 which appeared in the 1975 catalog, "although the guitar probably dated from the late 1960s."