Short Takes: The 1967 “Shaded” Guitars

Today it seems like every time you turn around there is a new custom color coming out of the Rickenbacker factory—either a new dealer special run or a one-off boutique special. This was not always the case. Custom colored guitars from the 1960s, for example, are very rare beasts.

That said, guitars in “Shaded Blue” and “Shaded Green” have been well known within the collector community for some time. It should be noted that these are not “catalog” names—the community has adopted them from the factory records cited in the Richard Smith book. In May 2023 another period “shaded” color emerged: “Shaded Orange” (referred to as just “orange” in the Smith book) Let’s take a look at them.

1967 Shaded Blue 365OS

1967 seems to be ground zero for these guitars. Both the Shaded Blue and Shaded Orange have only one documented example, and both are 1967 365 OSs. The first known Shaded Green example—an 330–is also from 1967. Three further Shaded Green examples have been documented: an 1968 360, a 1968 360OS and an 1971 360OS.

1968 Shaded Green 360OS

We don’t know the “backstory” around the Shaded Blue and Shaded Green guitars, but we do for the Shaded Orange. It was custom built for the Orange Guitar Store in Orange, CA, where it was used as a not-for-sale display piece for a number of years. If Factory documentation refers to it as “Orange”, F.C. Hall called it “Natural Grain Orange”, but look at it alongside its 1967 brothers: it’s clearly Shaded Orange!

1967 Shaded Orange 365OS

When the Shaded Orange guitar appeared in 2023, multiple people reported having seen a similarly-finished 1967 330 “about twenty years ago”, but it has not been documented.

1971 Shaded Green 360OS

I have a kind of not-so-crazy theory about the Shaded Green guitars. I think they were all painted at the same time but assembled at different times. The finish sure looks the same on all of them—and that type of thing wouldn’t be at all uncommon from this era. It’s a theory!

1967 330 and 1968 360 in Shaded Green

No matter the reason for their existence, these are rare birds—and have carried significant premiums when they have changed hands! And as perfect as a 365OS in Fireglo is in my eyes, it’s nice to see a pop of color every once in a while.