REPLICA (ORIGINAL STYLE!) INCANDESCENT 331 LIGHT SHOW BOARDS

STUDIO-CALIFORNIA is the sole source for replacement circuit boards for Type 1 and Type 2 Rickenbacker 331 “Light Show” guitars and basses. We

provide the complete parts that you will need to replace missing or non-functioning 331 electronics. We also provide installation services. Each set of boards is complete with transformer with built-in foot switch and aluminum heat sink panel with 3 TOS power transistors. The heat sink is also an exact replica of an original and attached inside the guitar body under the strings, as the original. The boards have individual color trim pots that can be adjusted for sensitivity, as well as the potentiometer that mounts on the lens for “on the fly” overall sensitivity adjustment.

NOTE that these parts CANNOT be used in a standard 1 1/2” thick 330 body, in case you’re thinking of making your own original-style “Light Show”. These boards and heat sinks require a full 2” deep body to fit. If you wish to convert a Rickenbacker 330 with a 1 1/2” body to a “light Show” instrument, please see our Solid State conversions elsewhere in this “Light Show” section.

Tep, as in the originals, there are three channels and three colors, and the circuits, and the circuits respond to both intensity of your pick attack and the frequency of the vibrating string. This gives a seemingly unlimited combination go both brightness and color display.

A bit of geek tech here: There are TWO ways of mixing color, “additive” and “subtractive”. Mixing light (as with these bulbs, as well as with your computer monitor or smart phone screen) uses the additive mixing method, abbreviated by its color initials, RGB (for Red, Green, and Blue). This is why the “Light Show” boards use Red, Green, and Blue bulbs, and the millions of colors that are possible on these electronic displays are due to these three basic colors being mixed in various proportions and intensities.

Theoretically, the 331 boards would produce the same variety, though because the colors of the bulbs are not absolutely computer-pure, the number of colors is not quite so huge.

Below is a video of one of our replacement incandescent boards in action. NOTE that although there is an audio signal being passed through the boards (see the alligator clips?), there are no speakers, so the most sound you’ll hear may be some heavy breathing ;-)…

Below is a narrated video of an original 331 after a set of these boards were installed, to restore the rare and valuable 331 to “as original” condition. You can see how the Rowlux film behind the acrylic lenses diffuses the light from the incandescent lamps for the classic “Light Show” effect.