Rickenbacker Lap Steel Serial Numbers

There are various nicks and marks about the body.

Rickenbacker lap steel serial numbers.

Rickenbacker serial numbers have been issued in a number of formats. Serial number as you can see is b 8. As with many other guitar brands the dating method of rickenbacker are much more common nowadays. There is some bakelite repair on the back of the headstock at the 1st tuning gear.

Dating rickenbacker lap steels. This lap steel is in very good condition. Please be aware that some instruments manufactured in the late 50s cannot be interpreted by this decoder. Rickenbacker did not keep serial to date records until after the second world war.

To the right and below you will find some images that will hopefully help you to locate the complete serial number on your instrument. In the periods before 1998 it was made a lot more difficult. With the first instruments it is virtually impossible to find the exact year of construction by using the serial number. 1954 1960 serial numbers.

Additional details for bakelite fans. I hope this adds to the knowledge and theories surrounding the murky world of pre war serial numbers. Pickup effective august 10 1937. Starting in 1954 rickenbacker introduced a series of serial number formats that can reveal the approximate year of production of a specific instrument.

Dating rickenbacker guitars by reference of serial numbers. Generally with this system the first digits before the letter indicate the model series such as 6 for 600 model guitar. I did nothing to disabuse a retailer of the tag s proclamation that this is a 1950s rickenbacker bakelite but we know better don t we.