Color Collection

Rickenbacker Ruby

Ruby (RBY) has appeared in two distinct versions across its production history, separated by roughly two decades. The first version, from 1981 to 1989, featured a semi-transparent deep red coat applied over a silver base. The 2010s version — which ran from approximately 2011 to 2016 — was a metallic deep red. Pictures don't do the difference justice, but side by side the two are clearly distinct. The first version is the more technically interesting of the two. Ruby was a three-coat finish: gray automotive primer first, then a reflective silver base coat, then multiple coats of transparent red tint to build the final hue — the same method used for classic candy apple red finishes. The process was unforgiving: the wood surface had to be perfect before painting, as Ruby and similar finishes show the tiniest defect, they're so reflective. No two examples came out exactly the same shade — the depth of the red shifts depending on how many coats were applied and the specific batch. Early examples can read closer to Burgundy in certain lighting, while others are a truer candy red. It can be easy to mistake 1980s Ruby for Burgundy from photographs alone, but the 2010s version is unmistakably distinct from either. The first-version guitars came standard with white and chrome trim, though some examples were optioned with black binding and black plastics — the rarer combination and the more striking one.