1967 Rickenbacker 366/12 Convertible Mapleglo

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's a rare Rickenbacker 366/12 Convertible from 1967 in "Mapleglo" finish. Perhaps I should have included this last month in our look at electric 12-string guitars, although this one is a particular oddity and also it's only just come up on eBay - with a Buy It Now price of $5999 (for those that are interested).

Yes, it may be a rarity, but I'm afraid for me it's a beautiful guitar with a very ugly contraption bolted to the front. And if you haven't guessed from the name, the contraption isolates the second strings in each course so that you can switch from 12-string to 6-string. It's got to be a lot less cumbersome than having a doubleneck guitar slung around your shoulders at a gig. I just wish they could have somehow concealed the contraption inside the body so that it didn't look quite so awful.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

This Rickenbacker's got legs!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This 1960 vintage Rickenbacker 100 Consolette steel guitar is one of a species that could be described as a "missing link". Console guitars - essentially lap steels with legs - evolved from the more usual kind of lap steels that you actually play with the guitar on your lap, and would later evolve further with the addition of pitch bending levers and pedals into the pedal steel guitar.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Rickenbacker 330/12 White

guitarz.blogspot.com

Not a weirdo, not a one-off, not a rarity, not a vintage guitar, just a Rickenbacker 330/12 - because I love Rickies, 12-string guitars and white finish with a black pickguard... 

It's both classic and surprising with its unique crescent moon double cutaway, the famous R-shaped stoptail, the 3+3+3+3 headstock and the trade mark slash soundhole. Though it's been played by the greatests, it kept un-hackneyed over the last 50 years. 

It's my birthday-and-half today, I will heartily accept this guitar as a present.

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Early Rickenbacker electric tenor guitar with vibrola

guitarz.blogspot.com:
The Rickenbacker Model B lapsteel from the 1930s is one of the guitars I listed in the "500 Guitars" book; alas there was no accompanying photo published. The guitar was typified by its bakelite body inset with five chrome plates. In 1935 a "Spanish" version was introduced with a regular round-backed detachable neck.

The example pictured above is even more of a rarity, for this is the 4-string tenor guitar version. This well-played example is currently for sale on eBay with a starting price of $2,000.

G L Wilson
Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1930s Rickenbacker A-22 Frying Pan

guitarz.blogspot.com

No, not all the Rickenbacker Frying Pans - the vintagest amongst the vintage guitars - are safe in museums or bankers' collections, you can still find one on eBay!

For those you don't know it, this cast aluminium lap steel guitar with its characteristic horse shoe magnet pickup was created in 1931 - and is the first electric guitar in history.

Get down on your knees and adore, guitar lovers!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Pop-art Rickenbacker 330 - just like Paul Weller's

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Neal Davies writes:

Hey there,

Just saw your post about Paul Weller's "Whaam!" Rickenbacker 330 and thought you'd like to see my copy of it.

I came across it (literally stumbled across it) a couple of years ago on eBay. The artist who created it is called David Arcadian. He runs a company called Rockstar Interiors who do high-end interior design (rockstarinteriors.net) for clients including Evander Holyfield!

Like me, he's a Brit and a fan of The Jam. He's also a collector of Rickenbacker guitars. I asked him why he decided to copy Weller's legendary 330 and he said: "I had to. I couldnt find one to buy for love or money. That one you have I believe was number 3. Completely unique on red. Loved the result. Natural flow, instead of rudely abbreviated when everything ran to black, like on Weller's." (This alludes to the point that the original was Jetglo and the Lichtenstein ended up with a stark black frame. This one was originally red). Its so beautiful even my wife didnt complain when I brought it home!

Thought you'd like to see it.

Best,

Neal

Thanks Neal. You are correct in thinking we'd want to see your guitar. In fact we NEED to see guitars like these. It's what the blog is all about.

I'd heard that Weller's original was just about unplayable. I hope that yours functions as it should. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1985 Rickenbacker 620 limited edition white

guitarz.blogspot.com

My main reason to show here a white Rickenbacker 620 is that I love this guitar ever since I bought one more than 20 years ago - I spent more time with this guitar than without, and it's been my first serious guitar.

The 620 is a brilliant guitar, the 6-string equivalent of the legendary 4001 bass, but the 80s short lived white finish/black hardware emphasize perfectly the supreme elegance of its line, the ultimate expression of the historical modernity that exists in a few human productions of the 20th century... And I don't even talk of the sound.

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Rickerbacker 4001FL fretless bass from 1976

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Here's another 1970s vintage fretless bass that the collectors wouldn't want me to "spoil" with roundwound strings (see previous post).

It's a Rickenbacker 4001FL in "autumnglo" finish and is on eBay right now with a Buy It Now price of $3200, so all Rickenbacker collectors can breathe a sigh of relief - I'm not going to be buying it any time soon.

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Watch this eBay listing get pulled...

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Rickenbacker are known to be particularly zealous when it comes to copyright infringements based on their brand name, designs and trademarks. They are known to trawl the eBay listings looking for cheaper copy guitars listed in conjunction with the Rickenbacker brand being mentioned. The best a seller of a Ricky rip-off can do is to display good clear photos so the buyer can see what they are getting, and avoid mentioning the R-word anywhere in the text. Even derivatives of the name, e.g. Ricky, aren't advised, as these will get pounced on too.

With a feedback score approaching 1000, you wouldn't have suspected the seller of this Greco of being that green in this respect, but he or she is really asking for it when listing this guitar thusly: "1984 Greco Rickenbacker Vintage and Rare COOL!"

They are only making matters worse for themselves when they say:

If you have been craving a Rickenbacker but don't have the funds then this might just be for you, it's a made in Japan 1984 Greco Ricky copy with 3 toaster pick ups and the all important blend knob which helps give it it's (sic) distinctive sound, it plays nice and looks the part, in fact you only need change the tail piece and truss cover to rickenbacker ones and nobody will know it's not the real thing.

Shooting yourself in the foot or what?

Anyone want to bet how long it is before this listing gets pulled?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Rickenbacker 481 guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Another "bass-shaped" Rickenbacker guitar has turned up on eBay, this time it's a Rickenbacker 481.

The differences between this and the Rickenbacker 480 we looked at the other day are subtle. The 481 does not have the contoured edges of the 480, instead it has a bound body. You'll also observe that it has different pickups (humbuckers) mounted on a larger pickguard.

The pickups, in fact, are set at an angle. Look closer and you'll see that the bridge, nut and the frets themselves are also angled, but not like on a modern "fanned fret" guitar (such as the Novax system); these frets are angled whilst remaining parallel with each other. (In other words, the scale-length is contant for each string, unlike on fanned-fret instruments).

I believe (at least I'm pretty sure I read somewhere) that this was an early attempt a left-hand ergonomics. In reality, it didn't play any better or worse than regular "straight" frets, and so the idea was abandoned. At least, that's how I remember the story. If you know differently, then - as ever - please let us know with a note in the comments below.

G L Wilson

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Rickenbacker 480 guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

There's a very nice example of a Rickenbacker 480 on eBay right now. Yes, this is the guitar that looks like a diminutive bass, for it was modelled after the Rickenbacker 4000 series. It's funny, but whenever I see one of these I can't get it out of my head that there's something wrong about it, despite the guitar's obvious coolness. It's just that in my mind I immediately associate that shape with the bass guitar.

Considering they were in production for 10 years (1973-1983), these guitars are relatively rare and this particular example is rarer than most in that it has black pickguard and Rickenbacker nameplate as opposed to white.

G L Wilson

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1936 Rickenbacker Premiervox Spanish Model B

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This is not vintage anymore, this is history! A few days ago I was posting about Kay claiming that they made the first electric guitar, but this 1936 Rickenbacker Spanish Model B is (probably) the real one - actually the first mass produced solid body.

This one is British assembled from Californian parts, but the pickup wounded in the UK with local specs. It has a bakelite body and is not completely solid body, but enough to suppress the characteristic hollow-bodies feedback problem. Bakelite (early plastic) is heavy, hence the reduced body - a more standard format would have proven much too heavy. It has the very Ricken covered pickup, a bolt neck and a chrome top that strangely didn't create a trend in guitar custom...

Rickenbacker is one of my favorite guitar makers. At 19 when I got myself enough money to buy a serious guitar, I thought Gibson and Fender were boring and common (I still think so thought I have now a Jaguar and wouldn't say no to a Flying V) and thought the only real challenger was Ricken and bought a 620. I still have it and didn't regret it any moment since (brm, brm, sorry to be so voluble about myself...).

Bertram

NB: There are a lot of blogs STEALING content and bandwidth. If you read this anywhere else but on guitarz.blogspot.com then you are reading a blog that STEALS content. Please support original bloggers!

Nick Page's new model Baron

I didn't check Nick Page Guitars website for a while so I just found out about the release of the Baron and I looooove it! I saw its prototype in their workshop months ago and I was impatient to see it achieved - and I'm not disappointed at all.

I was told then that they started from the idea of merging a Fender Mustang and a Rickenbacker 4000 and if the references are clear and honest, the result is just excellent, sexy, classy and original without being eccentric. Even the "Sherwood Green" finish - though this kind of color is ordinarily not my cup of tea - contribute to its aristocratic line... I should go soon to listen how it sounds!

I first noticed Nick Page's guitars for their aluminum front tele-style Lucid model, that is also something to check...

Rickenbacker Lightshow Guitar

If you have $20,000 dollars to spare, you might want to buy this 1971 vintage Rickenbacker 331 Lightshow guitar, currently on eBay, and possibly one of the oddest guitars that Rickenbacker ever built.

It's surprisingly unsophisticated under the hood. The perspex front panels merely conceal a bunch of fairy lights and baco-foil. I'm assuming that the pot near the tailpiece of the guitar controls the lightshow.

The only time I remember ever seeing anyone use one of these was a contestant on "Opportunity Knocks" (a 1970s talent show on independent television in the UK), and the impression I got was that the lightshow on the guitar made me feel sick. Or perhaps it was just a really crappy song. I don't recall.

For a more uptodate take on guitars that incorporate a built-in lightshow, Bell Guitars make some very tasty semi-acrylic/semi-timber bodied guitars with this feature.

Nice looking Rickenbacker

I prefer this Laguna's natural walnut finish to any other Ricks that I've seen - though some of the new blue ones are very eye catching too. I've never played a Rick, even though I was in a band (Dead Messengers) with a guy who had 6-string and 12-string Ricks - I never got to try them out. Another friend a long time ago had a Shaftesbury copy of a Rick 12-string and that was a lovely guitar. I'd give either version a good home!
here

Objects of Desire. #1: Paul Weller's Ricky 330

This is the first in an occasional series of blog items, basically for when I'm experiencing a slow news day in the guitar world and for when I haven't found anything particularly alarming on eBay to show you.

Here's a guitar that Paul Weller used in The Jam. It's a Rickenbacker 330 finished in a pop-art design borrowed from Roy Lichenstein. Allegedly this guitar was actually quite unplayable, and was mainly used for promotional purposes such as TV appearances (i.e. when the band were miming). Nevertheless, it's a fantastic looking piece. If it were mine I'd take it to a luthier and see about making it fully playable again.

Apparently there's no truth in the rumour that Andrew Ridgely of Wham! offered to buy the guitar from Weller, although perhaps having that other band's name plastered over the front of it was what prevented Weller using the guitar with the Style Council.

Rare Left-handed Guitars Stolen in Oxfordshire: Keep an eye out for these. There can't be too many left-handed Rickenbacker 360 12 and Gibson Les Paul Black Beauties out there.

Rickenbacker Doubleneck project: here in pictures is a very brave project by members of this prog rock tribute band, who take a saw to two perfectly good Rickenbackers and then stick them together as a doubleneck!