Rickenbacker

[mayfly]

Folks,

Thought that I'd show a little of my collection of Rickenbacker guitars.

I got into Ricks in the late 80's, after a long suffering association with a late 70's Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.  If you think that Gibson today has quality troubles, you haven't lived through the dark Norlin era of Gibson.  I really tried hard with that LP, but it just was such a piece of crap in almost every way.  It was heavy, was hard to play, and sounded bad.

But I digress. 

My first Rick was by far a superior instrument.  Rickenbacker is probably the only American guitar company that did not sell out.  It's still owned and operated by the son of the guy who ran it in the 50's - and they still make them the same way they did back then.  They never really had a dark period, and the guitars are very nice.  Trying out Ricks back then was quite the experience:  My first rick was very well made, came set up well, sounded great, and even had quality tuners installed at the factory.  It was a revelation.

And here it is:

I bought this from The Collector's Axe in Calgary in the late 80's and it was my main instrument until about a year ago.  It's a 620 Fire Glow: all maple body, neck through construction, bound on the neck and front, dual truss rods, and the classic triangular rick fingerboard inlays.  It was used on two albums and countless shows and it has been re-fretted 3 times.  Sadly, it's pretty much worn out:  It's lost a lot of the 'zing' that it used to have and is now just kind of dead sounding.  I suspect that after the re-frets the frets are just too loose in the slots and it needs a new fingerboard to make it right again.  BTW, with my warmoth teles, I don't really miss playing this guitar.  The teles are just better - better playing, better sounding, and better suited to my hands since I can fine tune things like the neck shape.  Oh, and there are no bender kits for Rickenbackers. 

More Ricks in a day or so...

 

[DocNrock]

Pretty nice there, Mayfly.  I've always wanted a Rick 12 string.

On a different note, I must've gotten lucky with my Lester.  I bought it new from Musicians Friend in 2002 as a cosmetic blem, which BTW I still cannot find the blem.  It is the Goth model, which has been discontinued.  It plays like butta, but I never liked the stock pups.  I know there are many haters of the 80's Dirty Fingers pups (Norlin era), but I scored a pair off e-bay and put them in.  This guitar is a one-trick pony, but it does the one trick VERY well.  I can nail John Sykes' tone with this guitar.  Great for Whitesnakey stuff. 

 

[mayfly]

12 string Rick coming soon ...  oh and sorry to hear that you like the Dirty Fingers pickups 

 

[DocNrock]

12 string Rick coming soon ...  oh and sorry to hear that you like the Dirty Fingers pickups 

I can understand the hate, but it does fulfill a particular (narrow) tonal palatte.  Experimentation with the amp's tone knobs and pickup height often has great yield.  :icon_thumright:

 

[DangerousR6]

I will say that's a nice geetar there Trevor, but I've never never never never ever like the "Bach's" just to damn ugly to me. As a musical instrament they are beautiful, but aesthetically they just ain't my cup-o-tea....

 

[blue313]

Nice Rick!  Are those "straplocks" in the top of the case?

 

[mayfly]

Nice Rick!  Are those "straplocks" in the top of the case?

No, those are poppies.  Kinda a Commonwealth thing -  any Brit/Aussie/Canuck/etc will know...
Pretty serious business, actually.  For those out of the poppy loop, I present the following:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now back to Rickenbackers!

 

[Kublai]

Is that about the Battle of Ypres?

 

[erogenousjones17]

Nice Rick!  Are those "straplocks" in the top of the case?

No, those are poppies.  Kinda a Commonwealth thing -  any Brit/Aussie/Canuck/etc will know...
Pretty serious business, actually.  For those out of the poppy loop, I present the following:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Now back to Rickenbackers!

Written by a fellow Canadian, Colonel John McCrae. We say it every Rememberance Day (Nov. 11). Represent!

 

[mayfly]

Next Rick!

This one was a custom order.  It was a 350 in teal green (the second picture shows the colour better):

Specs on this one are, 2 octave neck, through neck construction, three pickups, and hollow wings.  Yep, it's a hollow body with no F holes.  Unfortunately the position markers were quite hard to see under the lights (the fingerboard was quite reflective) and I never got on with the middle pickup, so I ended up selling this one.  Teal was a custom colour for that year, and Rick does not make this model anymore, so I imagine it's in some collection somewhere now.

 

[DocNrock]

I was being nice...don't like that Rick.  The first was OK, that one ... nah.

 

[mayfly]

I was being nice...don't like that Rick.  The first was OK, that one ... nah.

Yea, I can't disagree.  There were a bunch of things that were a little strange about it.  The small hollow body and looooong two octave neck made for some interesting balance problems.  But you just gotta love the colour!!!!  :headbang1: :headbang1: :headbang1:

More Ricks to come....

 

[tfarny]

Your Ricks rock my socks.
In high school, ('89) my favorite band hands down was REM and I've always wanted that Rick sound but never played one that felt comfortable - and I didn't know diddly about guitar setup and specs back then. I remember they all had huge flatwound strings for whatever reason. Aren't the necks tiny little toothpicks? I'm kind of curious - there are a few on my craigslist right now, not that I have GAS or anything like that... :doh:

 

[Nando Vallart]

Awesome!

 

[mayfly]

Your Ricks rock my socks.

Thanks man!  :icon_thumright:

Aren't the necks tiny little toothpicks? I'm kind of curious

The neck shape is very different from anything else.  It's not a very wide neck, but it's pretty thick.  Imagine something thicker than a 59 roundback, but with about 3/16 shaved off the sides.  The narrow neck makes it a challenge to play leads, but there are particular chord shapes that fit under your hand very well.  Essentially anything that Pete Townshend or Paul Weller played is easy with these guitars.  One thing - if you find the 6 string ricks hard to play, don't even pick up a 12 string 

 

[DangerousR6]

Your Ricks rock my socks.

Thanks man!  :icon_thumright:

Aren't the necks tiny little toothpicks? I'm kind of curious

The neck shape is very different from anything else.  It's not a very wide neck, but it's pretty thick.  Imagine something thicker than a 59 roundback, but with about 3/16 shaved off the sides.  The narrow neck makes it a challenge to play leads, but there are particular chord shapes that fit under your hand very well.  Essentially anything that Pete Townshend or Paul Weller played is easy with these guitars.  One thing - if you find the 6 string ricks hard to play, don't even pick up a 12 string 

That's just about like any Ovation, there are some people that can play them, and play them good. But it's the same scenario, If'n you can't get around the 6, don't bother with the 12 cause it's worse..
I like the looks and the sound of the Ov's, but they are just impossible for me to play.... :dontknow:

 

[Volitions Advocate]

What store in Calgary deals with Ricks?
Did you get it from one of the major chains or was it a small shop?

 

[mayfly]

What store in Calgary deals with Ricks?
Did you get it from one of the major chains or was it a small shop?

Hey VA,

The store was the "Collector's Axe" - a small independent shop down town.  I suspect that it's not there anymore.

Too bad - I liked them.  That Christmas they sent me a Christmas card that said "Merry Rickmas"  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Volitions Advocate]

hmmm. yeah i've never heard of them.

There's only one guitar store in Calgary I haven't been and thats "kickaxe guitars"... heh...i wonder who thinks of these names?

 

[mayfly]

ok!  More Ricks!

err.... well ok - this is not strictly speaking a Rick.  It's a guitar inspired by Rickenbacker, but with more modern features like a wide neck with big frets (wizard profile), 25.5 scale length, SD humbuckers with coil taps, and a wilkinson hardtail bridge.  oh - and the neck is a set neck (but not neck through).  On the back of the headstock, it says "Licensed by RIckenbacker Int Corp"

Yep, it's a Chandler 555!

I got this because I wanted a Rick inspired guitar for soloing and heavy rock tones.  and it fits the bill!  This is one hell of a nice guitar.

Unfortunately after I broke my thumb I can't deal with wizard profile necks anymore, so this guitar is for sale.  :-\  PM me if you're interested  :icon_thumright: