FOUR MODEL 360 "F" BODY RESTORATIONS AND SCRATCH BUILDS

All of these large-bodied Capris typically share a more traditional, generic shape usually seen on jazz archtop guitars, although their unusual construction methods mean that the top and back are flat, rather than arched in the usual jazz guitar way. Two of these restorations came into the shop with their tops having been butchered with the poorly-done addition of Gibson humbucking pickups. Additionally, both had cracked and badly-repaired back panels. The Jetglo and the Mapleglo F-Bodeis at the bottom were scratch built by Paul A. Wilczynski, Sr. of Studio California.

The owner of the 1960 Autumnglo example opted for the unusual choice of a single "horseshoe" pickup, much in the manner of the earlier Rickenbacker "Combo 850" models, with a simple two-control wiring harness.

The 1959 Mapleglo Capri kept its added Bigsby vibrato, which has an arm with an unusual provenance, being a piece with an extension with an alloy teardrop-shaped tip, hand-sculpted by Paul Bigsby himself, and stamped “PB” on its reverse.

The Mapleglo scratchbuild at the bottom features many excellent reproduction parts by Winfield: the Accent by Paul long “eighth note” vibrato and arm, the roller bridge and bridge plate, and the strap pegs. Pickups are genuine Rickenbacker toasters—no dopey copies will do! Note the absence of checkerboard purling on this instrument, replaced by black purfling on both top and sides. There’s a good reason for this odd variation: this guitar was built to replicate a very early F-body, either a prototype or first run item. The black purflng predates checkerboard.

More oddities for the historians among us: the original early ‘59 that this guitar was copied from actually had a walnut body and maple neck! Additionally, the Rogan knobs on the original had gold-painted diamonds instead of recessed gold-anodised aluminium inserts. There are many other one-off details as well.

The Jetglo scratch build F-body was kept very subtle in its options, but still is obviously one-of-a-kind. Sharp-eyed observers will note the checkerboard binding on the headstock and sound hole—the only indications of this instrument’s hand-built provenance. Its hardware also features Winfield tailpiece, bridge, bridge plate, and strap pegs. The pickups are genuine Rickenbacker toasters, the wiring harness is by the very talented Mr. Dane Wilder, who builds all of my custom harnesses, and all of the pick guards that you see on these F-bodies were made in Studio California’s own shop. We have hundreds of pick guard patterns going back to 1956.

The group shot features a restyled 700C in Cowboy Burst, Stu Cook’s 100% original, museum reference quality double bound Mapleglo ‘67 4005, and a ‘79 Jetglo 4001 that was recently brought back from the dead!

…then there’s the custom Schwinn Whizzer from ‘49, the classic Eames chair with a Pearl White Pulstar resting on the ottoman, the VOX AC-30, and some fluffy dog beds for Dexter and Koko.