Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC) was founded in 1931 by Adolph Rickenbacker and George D. Beauchamp.
The original company "Electro String Instrument Corporation" produced the first modern electric guitars
known as "Rickenbacker Electro Instruments". Along with other interess, Adolph Rickenbacker continued
instrument making until 1953 when he sold the company to F.C. Hall which marked the dawn of modern Rickenbacker guitars.
The following chart is for guitars and basses from 1961 thru 1996.
The serial numbers are on the jack plate. The first letter is the year, the second letter is the
month. From 1987 a prefix number, instead of a letter, was introduced.
You can also go to the Rickenbacker website and type in your serial # here:
Rickenbacker Serial Check
