Rickenbacker
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subversion
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would love to try one... especially after hearing The WHO a few days ago 8)
Revolutions
New member
basil of the revolutions speaking...
damn i love rickenbackers...they grew on me after I heard the BEATLES and saw A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. since then i've been a huge beatles AND rickenbacker fan.
personally i'd love to play John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 or George Harrison's wonderful old style 360/12.
you could check out different rickenbackers' history, hear sound samples and watch videos at www.rickbeat.com
damn i love rickenbackers...they grew on me after I heard the BEATLES and saw A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. since then i've been a huge beatles AND rickenbacker fan.
personally i'd love to play John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 or George Harrison's wonderful old style 360/12.
you could check out different rickenbackers' history, hear sound samples and watch videos at www.rickbeat.com
subversion
Moderator
i'm actually turned on by the bass. i saw Marduk's bassist B.War playing one in their DVD & thought that if it can pull off black metal then it must be something...
brundisium
New member
There used to be a trio music down at peninsular bringing in rick stuff more than 10 yrs back if i remember correctly. Nowadays, no such luck of finding it here unless someone brought it in themselves or those that were sold from the shop then
Here's someone from Singapore who bought a Rick
(taken off the web):
Purchase: It was my 55th birthday. I'd been playing guitar at that point for 45 years. Thought I'd buy myself a good guitar to mark the occasion. Cost was not a major factor but vibe, sound and pedigree were. I plumped for the six-string version of Rickenbacker's Tom Petty signature model, the 660. I live in Singapore, where there's no Rickenbacker agent, so I went surfing and discovered Dave's Guitars in Wisconsin. They answered my e-mail enquiries and the whole deal was done without any fuss or drama. I sent a banker's order and a week later UPS delivered the fireglo beauty to my home. The cost of the guitar was US$1250, shipping was another US$150.
Likes: Three things really appeal about this guitar - its sound, its looks and its build quality. The 660 is built along the same lines as Rickenbacker's early "tulip" models from the 50s in that it is a one-piece, neck-thru-body construction with "wings" added to give the body shape. It's made entirely of rock maple, which in the case of my instrument is beautifully flamed and figued on the sides, body and top, and is a cresting wave shape - very retro, very cool. The toaster pick ups (bridge and neck)are the new vintage-specs alternative Rickenbacker has been offering for a couple of years now. Output is around the 5.0K mark in terms of resistance and they deliver THAT jangle as only a Ric can. More significant to me, being British, is the fact that the guitar sounds quintessentially American. Plug it in, turn it up and it couldn't be anything other than a Ric even though it's a solid-body construction and only six strings, the sound is all there. And so are the looks - Ric's traditional fireglo finish (this model is also available in turquoise) is set off beautifully by chequered binding on the top edge of the body, a bound neck and a gold, two-tier pickguard. Vintage-style (but not oven style) control knobs and Kluson-style tuners complete the look along with those (crucial to real Ric fans) shark's tooth diagonal position markers on the deep red rosewood fretboard. Talk about eye-candy! The build quality is quite flawless and, apart from one truss-rod adjustment after the guitar had been in Singapore's humid climate for six weeks, the action was spot on straight out of the box. The "box" by the way is a gorgeous silver case made by the same people as make Fender's tweed cases. It has a discreet Rickenbacker badge near the handle, a blue plush lining and is built to last. The thing that sets this Ric apart - like its 12-string TP big brother - is the extra width of the neck compared to standard models. TP himself asked for this so his fingers didn't get all confused on a thin neck with 12 strings. Translate that into six-string territory and you have a neck that's not unlike a clubby-style '56 goldtop Les Paul or an ES-175D. Very playable and great if you like beefy necks. I also am of the opinion that such necks do wonders for a guitar's tone and when you hear it, you'll know just what I'm talking about.
Dislikes: OK, the downside to my best-ever birthday present falls into three categories, namely weight, neck finish and power. First up, it may be a small guitar but, as I say, the neck is beefy and the weight of all that lovely rock maple is too much for an ageing hippy with a bad back to tote for too long. Shame, I was expecting it to be lighter because the body is small compared to, say, a Strat or a 335. The finish on the neck is Ric's standard high-gloss nitro-cellulose - not normally a problem but in these humid climes it can get pretty sticky, pretty quickly. I manage the problem by polishing it with a premium resin-based NOT WAX-based auto polish about once a month. And power - those toaster pick ups will not push your average Marshall, AC30 or Fender Deluxe into overdrive territory. If you use a lot of effects, it's probably OK but I'm a tone freak which means I like a guitar, an amp and a cable and not much else thank you. Make no mistake, the 660 is probably the best rhythm guitar on the planet. It's capable of delivering Lennon-esque sounds, Petty-esque drive or McGuinn-esque jangle but put it this way, SRV would not have used it in a blue fit and neither would the likes of Page, Clapton or Beck. Not only do the pick ups stay firmly in rhythm territory - and that's not a criticism, the sound is full and rich - the feel of the neck at the dusty end doesn't lend itself to bends and vibratos the way a Gibson or Fender does. That's not a problem for me but it could be for those of you who want to be Joe Strummer and Brian May all at the same time.
Quality: I believe I've said enough about the build and quality of the guitar in my opening remarks but here just let me say that little things, such as the trapeze tailpiece and the strap buttons, are unique to Rickenbacker and give the instrument a real touch of class. So too does the subtle shaping of the back edges of the body. It looks great and makes the guitar more comfortable to carry.
Summary: The bottom line is that the 660 is a superb instrument that to my mind is actually under-priced by comparison with similar up-market Fenders, Gibsons and Gretschs. I've lived with it now for more than four months, playing it at home through a small tweed Fender and onstage through a 4 x 10 Fender De Ville. It has been utterly reliable, holds its tuning very well and has delighted my fellow band members and audiences with its look and its sound. Everybody who sees it ooohs and aaahs and makes mistakes guessing the model number. Only 1,000 TP signature 12-strings were made. I suspect there are not many more six-string versions in existence either but Rickenbacker themselves can give you the score on that. The guitar has "collectable" written all over it but I don't think I'll be around 30 years from now when someone, somewhere will be paying big bucks for this beauty. It's not a guitar for all seasons, it's something of an acquired taste but hey, if you like Guinness and oysters you like Guinness and oysters. Me? I'm a Guinness and oysters man and this is American guitar building at its very finest. You won't find anything better coming out of Corona, Montana or Nashville and the only way to go from here is into the esoteric realms of the boutique builder. I might do that for a Strat or a Tele - both can be improved on - but a Ric is a Ric. It just doesn't get any better.
Rating: 5/5
Author: ricochet
Date: 2003-01-24
(taken off the web):
Purchase: It was my 55th birthday. I'd been playing guitar at that point for 45 years. Thought I'd buy myself a good guitar to mark the occasion. Cost was not a major factor but vibe, sound and pedigree were. I plumped for the six-string version of Rickenbacker's Tom Petty signature model, the 660. I live in Singapore, where there's no Rickenbacker agent, so I went surfing and discovered Dave's Guitars in Wisconsin. They answered my e-mail enquiries and the whole deal was done without any fuss or drama. I sent a banker's order and a week later UPS delivered the fireglo beauty to my home. The cost of the guitar was US$1250, shipping was another US$150.
Likes: Three things really appeal about this guitar - its sound, its looks and its build quality. The 660 is built along the same lines as Rickenbacker's early "tulip" models from the 50s in that it is a one-piece, neck-thru-body construction with "wings" added to give the body shape. It's made entirely of rock maple, which in the case of my instrument is beautifully flamed and figued on the sides, body and top, and is a cresting wave shape - very retro, very cool. The toaster pick ups (bridge and neck)are the new vintage-specs alternative Rickenbacker has been offering for a couple of years now. Output is around the 5.0K mark in terms of resistance and they deliver THAT jangle as only a Ric can. More significant to me, being British, is the fact that the guitar sounds quintessentially American. Plug it in, turn it up and it couldn't be anything other than a Ric even though it's a solid-body construction and only six strings, the sound is all there. And so are the looks - Ric's traditional fireglo finish (this model is also available in turquoise) is set off beautifully by chequered binding on the top edge of the body, a bound neck and a gold, two-tier pickguard. Vintage-style (but not oven style) control knobs and Kluson-style tuners complete the look along with those (crucial to real Ric fans) shark's tooth diagonal position markers on the deep red rosewood fretboard. Talk about eye-candy! The build quality is quite flawless and, apart from one truss-rod adjustment after the guitar had been in Singapore's humid climate for six weeks, the action was spot on straight out of the box. The "box" by the way is a gorgeous silver case made by the same people as make Fender's tweed cases. It has a discreet Rickenbacker badge near the handle, a blue plush lining and is built to last. The thing that sets this Ric apart - like its 12-string TP big brother - is the extra width of the neck compared to standard models. TP himself asked for this so his fingers didn't get all confused on a thin neck with 12 strings. Translate that into six-string territory and you have a neck that's not unlike a clubby-style '56 goldtop Les Paul or an ES-175D. Very playable and great if you like beefy necks. I also am of the opinion that such necks do wonders for a guitar's tone and when you hear it, you'll know just what I'm talking about.
Dislikes: OK, the downside to my best-ever birthday present falls into three categories, namely weight, neck finish and power. First up, it may be a small guitar but, as I say, the neck is beefy and the weight of all that lovely rock maple is too much for an ageing hippy with a bad back to tote for too long. Shame, I was expecting it to be lighter because the body is small compared to, say, a Strat or a 335. The finish on the neck is Ric's standard high-gloss nitro-cellulose - not normally a problem but in these humid climes it can get pretty sticky, pretty quickly. I manage the problem by polishing it with a premium resin-based NOT WAX-based auto polish about once a month. And power - those toaster pick ups will not push your average Marshall, AC30 or Fender Deluxe into overdrive territory. If you use a lot of effects, it's probably OK but I'm a tone freak which means I like a guitar, an amp and a cable and not much else thank you. Make no mistake, the 660 is probably the best rhythm guitar on the planet. It's capable of delivering Lennon-esque sounds, Petty-esque drive or McGuinn-esque jangle but put it this way, SRV would not have used it in a blue fit and neither would the likes of Page, Clapton or Beck. Not only do the pick ups stay firmly in rhythm territory - and that's not a criticism, the sound is full and rich - the feel of the neck at the dusty end doesn't lend itself to bends and vibratos the way a Gibson or Fender does. That's not a problem for me but it could be for those of you who want to be Joe Strummer and Brian May all at the same time.
Quality: I believe I've said enough about the build and quality of the guitar in my opening remarks but here just let me say that little things, such as the trapeze tailpiece and the strap buttons, are unique to Rickenbacker and give the instrument a real touch of class. So too does the subtle shaping of the back edges of the body. It looks great and makes the guitar more comfortable to carry.
Summary: The bottom line is that the 660 is a superb instrument that to my mind is actually under-priced by comparison with similar up-market Fenders, Gibsons and Gretschs. I've lived with it now for more than four months, playing it at home through a small tweed Fender and onstage through a 4 x 10 Fender De Ville. It has been utterly reliable, holds its tuning very well and has delighted my fellow band members and audiences with its look and its sound. Everybody who sees it ooohs and aaahs and makes mistakes guessing the model number. Only 1,000 TP signature 12-strings were made. I suspect there are not many more six-string versions in existence either but Rickenbacker themselves can give you the score on that. The guitar has "collectable" written all over it but I don't think I'll be around 30 years from now when someone, somewhere will be paying big bucks for this beauty. It's not a guitar for all seasons, it's something of an acquired taste but hey, if you like Guinness and oysters you like Guinness and oysters. Me? I'm a Guinness and oysters man and this is American guitar building at its very finest. You won't find anything better coming out of Corona, Montana or Nashville and the only way to go from here is into the esoteric realms of the boutique builder. I might do that for a Strat or a Tele - both can be improved on - but a Ric is a Ric. It just doesn't get any better.
Rating: 5/5
Author: ricochet
Date: 2003-01-24
Hope you enjoyed the previous post. You may want to follow his example of ordering from States but apparently there is an exclusive distributer for Singapore but based in Japan. You may want to check out their website:
http://www.warp.or.jp/~ricks/asia/
I myself own a couple of Ricks (381/12V69) and (1997). The former is a maplego 12-string and the latter a fireglo F-hole 6-string similar to Pete Townshend's signature model which is now out of production. Both are vintage reissues and are retro-heavenly! Got them about 8 years ago from Albatross Music (this guy named Chan) but they are no longer around.
I can't stress heavily enough that Ricks don't take too kindly to our humidity, so take care of them and leave them out in the open in cool but dry areas to avoid their glossy finish from 'melting' and getting all sticky (do not leave them in the box even if you have moisture absorbers ... the extreme of warping may happen, I heard). I had that 'sticky' problem and not only that, mould grew on it too! In the end, I sacrificed the glossy finish and got rid of it by using lighter fluid. These days I keep my guitars out of the box and use guitar polish once in a while ... they still look and sound great!
Ricks are one-of-a-kind guitars. You can't compare them to any other. They are however on the whole, quite heavy and more suited for rhythm than lead. The 1997 model with its higher action is great for slide leads tho'. The 12-string can be a killer to tune (double the number of strings to tune so double the time needed) and if your fingers are too huge/thick, a killer to play as well. A good 12-string model to get is the Tom Petty signature (the previous' post owner has the 6-string) because of the wider neck. Heck, you can customise your Rick, so choose any model you like but ask for the Tom Petty neck (you may have to wait more than 3 months tho').
Hope all this doesn't dampen your wish of getting a Rick. If you are a Beatles or Byrds fan, there is nothing like it, and when paired with a VOX AC-30 amp, you have the ultimate combi!
http://www.warp.or.jp/~ricks/asia/
I myself own a couple of Ricks (381/12V69) and (1997). The former is a maplego 12-string and the latter a fireglo F-hole 6-string similar to Pete Townshend's signature model which is now out of production. Both are vintage reissues and are retro-heavenly! Got them about 8 years ago from Albatross Music (this guy named Chan) but they are no longer around.
I can't stress heavily enough that Ricks don't take too kindly to our humidity, so take care of them and leave them out in the open in cool but dry areas to avoid their glossy finish from 'melting' and getting all sticky (do not leave them in the box even if you have moisture absorbers ... the extreme of warping may happen, I heard). I had that 'sticky' problem and not only that, mould grew on it too! In the end, I sacrificed the glossy finish and got rid of it by using lighter fluid. These days I keep my guitars out of the box and use guitar polish once in a while ... they still look and sound great!
Ricks are one-of-a-kind guitars. You can't compare them to any other. They are however on the whole, quite heavy and more suited for rhythm than lead. The 1997 model with its higher action is great for slide leads tho'. The 12-string can be a killer to tune (double the number of strings to tune so double the time needed) and if your fingers are too huge/thick, a killer to play as well. A good 12-string model to get is the Tom Petty signature (the previous' post owner has the 6-string) because of the wider neck. Heck, you can customise your Rick, so choose any model you like but ask for the Tom Petty neck (you may have to wait more than 3 months tho').
Hope all this doesn't dampen your wish of getting a Rick. If you are a Beatles or Byrds fan, there is nothing like it, and when paired with a VOX AC-30 amp, you have the ultimate combi!
Revolutions
New member
im a sucker for ricks....but i doubt i can come up with US$3,000 over for a 325C64, John Lennon's guitar from the new "C" series.
where in singapore can u get the AC30? i tried one out in Hong Kong but not with a rickenbacker at all. i went to listen to some old Beatles records just now and figured that the 325 with the AC30 creates the "twangy" sound and the 360/12 with the AC30 creates the "jangly piano+harp" type sound.
the crescent soundhole on most ricks are cool too.
some trivia: did u know that the Mapleglo 325 which Lennon bought from Hamburg in 1958 was a rare one which did not have a soundhole like majority of the market-produced ricks?
where in singapore can u get the AC30? i tried one out in Hong Kong but not with a rickenbacker at all. i went to listen to some old Beatles records just now and figured that the 325 with the AC30 creates the "twangy" sound and the 360/12 with the AC30 creates the "jangly piano+harp" type sound.
the crescent soundhole on most ricks are cool too.
some trivia: did u know that the Mapleglo 325 which Lennon bought from Hamburg in 1958 was a rare one which did not have a soundhole like majority of the market-produced ricks?
Alas, AC30s, like Ricks are rare animals in Singapore. I believe City Music brought in some solid state Vox amps (the AC30 is a tube amp) before but I don't know if they are the exclusive dealer. I got mine from Swee Lee a long time ago (just a one-off unit that they brought in).
For fans of the Rick, yeah, sure it's gonna cost you, but hey, explore different ways to bring them in ... through different dealers, friends overseas, etc, to get the best deal.
For fans of the Rick, yeah, sure it's gonna cost you, but hey, explore different ways to bring them in ... through different dealers, friends overseas, etc, to get the best deal.
4004
well im the only 4004 bass owner ive seen so far haha was damned lucky to walk into a cash converters one day and see a fireglo 4004 going for a 1600. needless to say i walked out of there 13kg heavier and 1600 bucks lighter.
one of a kind looks and one of kind sound, took a while to get used to the weight and neck shape but what can i say, no other bass sounds like it.
check out http://www.roninriot.com/PHOTO.htm.
well im the only 4004 bass owner ive seen so far haha was damned lucky to walk into a cash converters one day and see a fireglo 4004 going for a 1600. needless to say i walked out of there 13kg heavier and 1600 bucks lighter.
one of a kind looks and one of kind sound, took a while to get used to the weight and neck shape but what can i say, no other bass sounds like it.
check out http://www.roninriot.com/PHOTO.htm.
brundisium
New member
quite sometime back, there was a AC30(either tb or tbx) at davis. And the price wasnt too scary either. Wonder who bought that or is it still there......
if i m not wrong.. davis still bring them in.. but it's been awhile since i asked them last August n i havent seen one yet.. maybe if u order, it will b a whole lot faster.. they told me it's $1850 then..
well u can try a Laney VC30.. it super nice soundingly clean.. i got mine used w the reverb down n it's stilll worth it.. it's made to look n sound like an AC30 anyway n it's half the price, so it's good.. mine was $450 w reverb tank spoilt.. u can get brand new ones at either luthermusic or u can call the distributor in Tannery lane (macpherson) .. slightly cheaper..
regarding ricks.. davis used to bring them in once but they said it didnt sell well so that's the end of ricks..
well u can try a Laney VC30.. it super nice soundingly clean.. i got mine used w the reverb down n it's stilll worth it.. it's made to look n sound like an AC30 anyway n it's half the price, so it's good.. mine was $450 w reverb tank spoilt.. u can get brand new ones at either luthermusic or u can call the distributor in Tannery lane (macpherson) .. slightly cheaper..
regarding ricks.. davis used to bring them in once but they said it didnt sell well so that's the end of ricks..
BleedsNoMore
New member
the guitarist from AUM uses a rickenbaker.. i must say, with a three piece band, they pulled it off REAALLLYYY WELL!
faizal_rocks
New member
I`m a Beatles fan too, so it will be a dream to own a rickenbacker but no $$$..so I have my Epi Casino to make up for it...the Beatles started using the Casino from `65 onwards..haha..
I know where to get a Rickenbacker copy..
its not in Peninsula though..: )
I know where to get a Rickenbacker copy..
its not in Peninsula though..: )
snuffleupagus
New member
Chris said:
On a sidenote, just curious, I had always thought that leaving your guitar in its hard case would be the best way to fight the humidity as opposed to leaving them out in the open.
Can somebody please share your thoughts about this?
On a sidenote, just curious, I had always thought that leaving your guitar in its hard case would be the best way to fight the humidity as opposed to leaving them out in the open.
Can somebody please share your thoughts about this?
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