The Rickenbacker 481ās body style was based on the 4001 bass, popularly played by Paul McCartney. Even with that, the guitar was too experimental to reach its full potential.
By the early 1970s, the great interest the lads had sparked in 6- and 12-string Ricks had waned. But thankfully for the company, there was still high demand for yet another Beatles-played instrument: the 4001 bass.
Paul McCartney was gifted a 4001 by Rickenbacker in 1965, which he then used prominently throughout the groupās late-ā60s recordings and while leading Wings all through the ā70s. Other rising stars of rock also donned 4000 series models, like YesāChris Squire, Pink FloydāsRoger Waters, the Bee Geesā Maurice Gibb, Creedence Clearwater Revivalās Stu Cook, and more.
And like that, a new star was born.
So, whatās a guitar company to do when its basses are selling better than its guitars? VoilĆ : The Rickenbacker 480. Introduced in 1972, it took the 4000-series body shape and created a standard 6-string out of it, using a bolt-on neck for the first time in the brandās history.
The 481ās slanted frets predate the modern multi-scale phenomenon by decades. The eight-degree tilt of the frets is matched by an eight-degree tilt of the nut, pickups, and bridge.
āIt was like a yo-yo at Rickenbacker sometimes,ā factory manager Dick Burke says in Rickenbacker Guitars: Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fireglo. āWe got quiet in the late ā60s, but when the bass started taking off in the ā70s, we got real busy again, so making a 6-string version of that was logical, I guess.ā
The gambit worked, for a time. Sales of the 480 were strong enough at first that, in 1973, a deluxe model was introducedāthe 481āand itās one of these deluxe versions that weāre showcasing here.
āThe 481 features slant fretsāpointing ever-so-slightly toward the body of the guitarāand the eight-degree tilt of the frets is matched by an eight-degree tilt of the nut, pickups, and bridge.ā
Take a close look and youāll notice that the body shape isnāt the only remarkable feature. The 481 was Rickenbackerās first production run to feature humbucker pickups. Here, you can see each humbuckerās 12 pole pieces dotting through the chrome cover, a variant casing only available from 1975 to 1976. (Interestingly enough, the pickups had first been developed for the 490, a prototype that never made it to public release, which wouldāve allowed players to substitute different pickups by swapping loaded pickguards in and out of the body.)
The new pickups were also treated with novel electronics. The standard 3-way pickup-selector switch is here, but so is a second small switch that reverses the pickupsā phase when engaged.
The inventive minds at Rickenbacker didnāt stop there: The 481 features slant fretsāpointing ever-so-slightly toward the body of the guitarāand the eight-degree tilt of the frets is matched by an eight-degree tilt of the nut, pickups, and bridge.
Long before the fanned fret phenomenon caught on in the modern, progressive guitar landscape, Rickenbacker had been toying around with the slant-fret concept. Originally available from 1970 forward as a custom order on other models, slant frets were all but standard on the 481 (only a small minority of straight-fret 481s were built).
The 481 was the deluxe version of the 480, which preceded it and marked the first time the company used a bolt-on neck.
Dick Burke, speaking separately to writer Tony Bacon in an interview published on Reverb, only half-recalls the genesis and doesnāt remember them selling particularly well: āSome musicians said thatās the way when you hold the neck in your left handāyour hand is slanted. So, we put the slanted frets in a few guitars. I donāt know how many, maybe a hundred or twoāI donāt recall.ā
Even proponents of the 481 do not necessarily sing the praises of the slanted fretboard. Kasabianās Serge Pizzorno, a 481 superfan, told Rickenbacker Guitars author Martin Kelly, āI donāt just love the 481, itās part of me.... The 481ās slanted frets have made my fingers crooked for life, but I donāt care, Iāll take that for itās given me riff after riff after riff."
Initial 480-series sales were promising, but the models never really took off. Though they were built as late as 1984, the slant-fret experiment of the 481 was called off by 1979. And these slanted models have not, in the minds of most players or collectors, become anywhere near as sought-after as the classic 330s and 360s, or, for that matter, the 4001s.
For that reason, 481sādespite their novelty and their lists of firsts for Rickenbackerācan still be found for relatively cheap. Our Vintage Vault pick, which is being sold by the Leicester, England-based Jordan Guitars Ltd, has an asking price of 3,350 British pounds (or about 4,300 U.S. dollars), which is still well under half the going-rate of early 360s, 660s, and other more famous Ricks. Some lucky buyers have even found 481s on Reverb for less than $2,000, which is unheard of for other vintage models.
With its idiosyncratic charms, the 481 remains more within reach than many other guitars of a similar vintage.
Sources: Martin Kellyās Rickenbacker Guitars: Out of the Frying Pan Into the Fireglo, Tony Baconās"Interview: Dick Burke on the Creation of the Rickenbacker 12-String | Baconās Archive" on Reverb, Reverb Price Guide sales data.
