Up for sale, a 1996 Rickenbacker 330/12 VP in near mint, 100% original condition and in perfect working order, complete with the original hardshell case and all case candy and factory paperwork. This rare, discontinued model features the "VP" upgrade, which stands for "Vintage Pickups," boasting a pair of the hotly wound Toaster Top pickups typically reserved for vintage reissue models.
With a semi-hollow maple body and set neck design, 330/12 VP has plenty of natural note attack and treble detail, with smooth sustain and and tonal breadth found in few 12 string designs. It's no wonder that top players of the British Invasion and folk boom of the 1960s gravitated towards Rickenbacker for their top notch construction and tone. Equipped with Rickenbacker's hotter Toaster pickups, as was the custom on '90s examples, the guitar has more output than more recent Toaster winds, while retaining the iconic jangle, chime, and shimmer of the Rickenbacker 12 string design. The guitar weighs 8lbs 2oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with low action and optimal intonation.
The three-piece maple/walnut neck has a round, inviting C-shaped profile carve with good shoulder, filling the palm comfortably and fretting easily, measuring .885" at the 1st fret and .910" at the 12th. The thick slab 24 fret rosewood fretboard features practically perfect slender fretwire that shows only faint wear on the crowns of frets 1-3. The guitar plays cleanly up the straight neck with responsive, optimally adjusted truss rods, and the nut measures 1.630" in width (just fractionally wider than 1 5/8"). On the headstock, the Schaller tuning machines work as they should and hold pitch well, with near perfect chrome plating.
All of the electronics function as intended, and everything is exactly how it was when the guitar left the Rickenbacker factory with untouched solder joints and CTS pots which date to the 22nd week of 1996, while the G96-prefix serial number on the jack plate definitively dates the instrument to July of 1996. The chrome "R" tailpiece and six saddle bridge with original cover is intact, and the chrome plating is clean as can be. Plastics are pristine as well, with the small foil "USA" factory sticker still intact on the pickguard.
Cosmetically, this is truly a near mint instrument and a particularly nice example of a rare and discontinued Rickenbacker model. The Fireglo gloss is saturated and warm, highlighting some faint figuring in the maple including a touch of birdseye, and wear is limited to pick scuffing on the upper pickguard,and only a few extremely faint finish scratches in the clear coat of the gloss. Clearly this instrument has spent most of its life in its case.
The original molded Rickenbacker hardshell case is included, along with all hangtags, case candy, and factory paperwork.