Rickenbacker 483 1974 Fireglo VERY RARE

A once in 5 years or so opportunity to purchase a Rickenbacker 483 !

For Ricky fans and collectors.

There are only 7 other 483s on the Rickenbacker Register - 4 in the USA and 3 in Japan (3 Fireglo, 1 Burgundy, 1 Jetglo and 2 Azureglo). This is the 8th produced in early April 74.

A small batch of 483s were made in March and April 1974 - their serial numbers are almost sequential.  3 in March with numbers between 1489 and 1504 and 4 in April with numbers between 1969 and 1974. Other than that 483s. were only made to order and so few have ever surfaced on the market.

You can find the 480 and 481 - but the 483 is as rare as hen's teeth.

In excellent condition - all original with two changes to the standard specification, which look as if they were made on request by the Factory or were made by the first owner on purchase - more later.

The criticism of the 480 (with two single pickups) is that the neck pickup is too weak. Rickenbacker offered an alternative - the 483 with three pickups to cure this problem. It was only briefly specified in Rickenbacker's sales literature - (original brochure included) - which states under the 480 "model 483 has 3 pickups".

All 483s I have seen have the 480 truss rod cover- so Rickenbacker made minor alterations to the 480 only.

The 480 with a 3 way switch is like the Telecaster - neck, neck/bridge and bridge are the options.

The 483 with Rickenbacker's minor alterations also came with a 3 way switch - neck/middle, all three, bridge options.

A bit of a mix between the 480 and 481 (two humbuckers).

This guitar however has had added (very early on in its life or on purchase) a further switch which makes the 483 similar to a Stratocaster giving 5 options:

- neck and middle,  middle, middle and bridge, all 3 and bridge.

A very sensible addition. This could be the only Stratocaster type 483 !

The guitar is in excellent condition - and it looks like it was played early in its life briefly and has been kept in its case for many years. the second addition - is a third strap holder added on the neck join. The hole definitely looks like it was made by the Factory at the time - hence I believe the changes were made probably on order of the guitar.

The finish is excellent along with the neck and frets. some minor small nicks in the head (see pictures) which is the norm with 480, 481 and 483s.

All pickups, tuners and switches are original. The finish of Fireglo is the Rickenbacker colour to have - in my opinion the nicest colour.

The guitar plays and sounds great- better than a 480.

The guitar comes with its original case (some minor scuffs), the original Rickenbacker sales brochure of the 1970s, and later Ric cloth, pics and Allen key.

The guitar weighs 8.1lbs

This is a very rare opportunity - or you can wait another 5 years or so !