Extremely Rare.

1967 Rickenbacker 'Export' Model 1998 (three pickups with vibrato).

This super rare 'Export' only model 14 3/4-inch-wide full-sized thin-body (1 1/2 inches deep) guitar weighs just 7.30 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24 3/4 inches. This guitar features offset cutaways, with pointed horns providing a "sweeping crescent" profile across both. Maple body, with a single "f" soundhole, three-piece maple/walnut/maple neck with a medium to thin profile, and rosewood fretboard with 21 frets and white dot position markers. Headstock with white opaque plastic logo plate with black lettering. Serial number "GA 215" (January 1967) stamped onto the jack plate. Individual dual-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (stamped on the underside "D-160400/Patent No." Three Rickenbacker chrome bar "toaster" pickups with outputs of 3.93k, 2.72k and 7.69k (that's how the Ricky three-pickup models measure). Two-piece split-level white plastic pickguard with four screws. Five controls (two volume, two tone, and one blend control) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on lower level of pickguard. Seven-sided black plastic knobs with metal tops with black lettering. The potentiometers are all stamped "137 6617" (CTS April 1966). Rickenbacker six-saddle bridge and separate Rickenbacker vibrato tailpiece. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with minimal belt buckle scarring on the back (nothing through the finish) and a few tiny wear marks on the edges. The 'Fireglo' color is deep and rich and shows no signs of fading. The original frets show only a very light amount of wear. Housed in its original Rickenbacker silver hardshell case with blue plush lining (8.75).

"The mid 1960s British Invasion groups had a new look Model 1997 (two pickups) and Model 1998 (three pickups… were the two most popular export models. Their American counterparts were the Model 335 and the Model 345, respectively. The F sound hole distinguished both full sized export models from the American editions; the U.S. versions rarely had F holes. Rose, Morris offered only the vibrato versions of the six string hollow body models. The British called the 1997 and 1998 "slim-line guitars." The British price for the 1997 with a case was 159 guineas and the price for the 1998 with a case was 170 guineas. " (Richard R. Smith, The History of Rickenbacker Guitars, p. 220).

According to by Richard R. Smith (p. 241), there were a total of two hundred and seventy-six Model 1998's shipped between 1964 and 1967, with just fifty in the last year of 1967.

One of John Lennon's main guitars was a 1964 Rickenbacker 325 in Jetglo (very similar to the 345 but with a shorter scale length of 21.25 inches as compared to the standard 24.75 inches and a body width of 12.75 inches as compared to 14.75 inches.