Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello. My name is Chuck

[audience; "Hello Chuck"]

I'm here because I have GAS, I admit it. I want to stop. I say I'll sell something when I buy yet another guitar. And I swore I was finished. My wife has been an enabler. She only shakes her head. No tough love here.

So here I am.

I became absolutely mesmerized with the sound of a Tom Petty Rickenbacker 660/12 through a Vox AC15 played by Paul Moak behind Griffin House at the Nashville City Winery last November. So when I'm not at work and my family leaves me to myself, I found myself surfing the web, gazing at Tom Petty 660/12's, researching what caused that great tone. And wondering what the difference is between the TP and the regular production 660/12?

As best I can tell, the magic of the TP was the toaster PUPS. Check that on the new one.

And from what I think I know, the current model's neck is a scootch wider?

In any event, while drooling over many an example on the net, I came across one of Musician Friend's offerings classified as a "scratch & dent. "

From what I could tell from the pictures, the only visible issue is the cracked lower pick guard at the bottom screw. A quick search found plenty of available replacements at doable prices.

Despite owning over a dozen very nice other guitars, I couldn't resist. I rationalized my way into it. Yeah, I have three 12 strings, BUT, I don't have an ELECTRIC 12! OK I have electric, Les Paul Classic (fitted with SD Bonamassa PAF clones), G&L ASAT Semi-hollow Bluesboy Tweedy SG. Ah...but none are 12 strings and none are Rics! Plus I already have a little ol' Vox tube amp (AC4TV), and then the price made me do it..... insta-fill on the CC fields, shipping to my office so I can introduce discretely in to the Wife-infested home environment. Monday cannot come soon enough.

Details:

Rickenbacker 660/12 - Fireglow
Condition: New "Open Box Scratch & Dent" via Musician's Friend
Price: $1,663.36 (to my door)!!!!
Year: Not sure

Expected delivery (per UPS): Monday Jan 7, 2019

Notes: I examined the photos provided and it appears the only thing "scratchy or denty" with the guitar is that the lower pick guard is cracked around the bottom screw. Easy and cheap OEM part. Even if there are other finish blemishes, at the price I paid I am willing to live with them. MF has a 45 day return policy so I'm good to go if there are other than cosmetic issues that my guitar guy cannot remedy reasonably.

Now a questions:

1. So other than finish issues, is there anything particular about a Ric, and the 12 sting solid body that I should inspect or test for? Any latent issues that sometime are missed by QC that I (or more likely, my guitar tech) might look for. PUP's?

Thanks for listening.

Spec-wise, there’s no difference between the 660/12 and The TP sig model except for TP’s name on it and only 1000 of them were made IIRC. I have both 660’s (6 & 12) and I love them to death.

And TP's had a silver case, not molded.

jdogric12 wrote:And TP's had a silver case, not molded.

My 660/12 came in a silver Tolex case.

So did mine. I'm not aware of any sort of issues to be looking for, but expect it to really sound fantastic.

Yep, they shipped 660's with reissue cases for a while after the limited run ended. Not sure when it went to SKB's.

jdogric12 wrote:Yep, they shipped 660's with reissue cases for a while after the limited run ended. Not sure when it went to SKB's.

I'm expecting the SKB as depicted in the ad. The silver cases are cool though.

Guitar arrived at my office today. Other than the cracked pick guard, the piece looks almost perfect. I won't get to try it out for another 5 or 6 hours when I can get it home.

All tuned up- played it a bit through my USA Fender Blues, Jr. Sounds great, but it will take awhile to dial-in. Took me a bit to figure our the PUP configurations with that 5th knob. Guitar is mint except for the pick guard issue.

I'm a cappy hamper.

ChuckNOS wrote:Took me a bit to figure our the PUP configurations with that 5th knob.

Think of the 5th knob as a secondary volume control for the neck pickup, except that it works backwards and does not fully ground out (totally kill the volume) of that pickup.

The 660-12TP also had more highly figured wood.

Just loving this guitar especially once I installed the Celestion Blue 12" Alnico speaker in an old Univox cabinet and plugged it into my little Vox AC4TV amp. Opened the sound right up.Now to upgrade the tubes and this thing will shine even brighter.

Yeah I had a Tom Petty Limited Edition Fireglo with beautiful birdseye maple body. I bought it in 1991 but like an idiot sold it in 2016 in mint condition apart from a little wear on the 2nd and 3rd frets to the gloss finished fretboard. But to be honest the new fitted cases are far superior to the Tolex ones as they hold the guitar more firmly. They are just not as flash.