Happiness is a fifth knob

[Wizz]

Hello, my names Will, I'm Canadian, I really love 60's garage rock, 70's punk rock and power pop and probably much like everyone else here the bands of the British Invasion, I'm a vintage rickenbacker owner and lover and this is my first post to the forum.

I remember the first time a Rickenbacker ever made an impact on me, I was very young maybe 6 or so and didn't know how to play guitar yet but I was already in love with the Beatles and I was watching a VHS of the Shea Stadium concert and I just remember being in love johns little black guitar. I memorized the teardrop shape of the pickguard and knew that that's what I wanted to look for when I was going to get a guitar someday.

By 9 I had my first acoustic guitar and was eagerly learning how to play. I went on a family trip to Seattle to watch a baseball game and at some point we were going past a music shop and I begged my parents to let me go in. It was Emerald City Guitars. That's where I saw my first Rickenbacker in person, it was a white 330 with a black pickguard and black TRC, it made the whole trip for me, I even had my mom take my picture with it.

A year or two later I found a black Jay Turser 325 copy hanging on the wall in a pawnshop I remember running from the pawnshop to my dads construction site to tell him about it. "It's just like the Shea Stadium Ric!" I was so bummed out the next time I went in and it was gone but when Christmas rolled around that Ric copy became my first electric guitar. Still have it to this day.

Now almost two decades later my main guitar is a fireglo 1966 335 that I bought of board member chucksimms last January. It was a 30th birthday present to myself and was probably the greatest purchase of my life. The first time I ever saw this 335 was when I was about 12 years old and it was also the first time I'd really experienced FIREGLO, the first time I ever saw it I distinctly remember thinking "F**k black guitars!". For some reason the pictures had just never done fireglo justice in my young mind because all of a sudden I was obsessed just like that. It means a great deal to me that this guitar found its way into my hands all these years later.

Well those are my little Rickenbacker stories. Sorry if it was a bore. Glad to be here though.

Will "Wizz" Dziadyk

[Kiddwad57]

Hey, Wizz, nice story. Congrats on your fireglo. Sounds like that jay turser 325 copy changed your life! Got any pics of the both of them? What type of amp(s) do you play your guitars through? On my early nineties fireglo 610 I mostly use the fifth knob to move between the neck pickup full bassy and the bridge pickup full trebly.

[electrofaro]

welcome, Wizz! not boring, but rather interesting read on how you got into rickies

[Wizz]

Thanks, I've got a few amps when I record or play around the house I usually use a 70s fender champ and a newer vox AC15, when I play live with my band I almost always A/B/Y between the ac15 and my Marshall era Vox AC30, but I do also have a '67 Fender bandmaster that just rips too.

Here's a few pics of the favourites in my collection including one of the '66 along with a handful of copy's I have. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos I resized them on my phone to fit the attachment requirements and they look a little fuzzy, will try and get some better ones up later.

What's the best way to add pics to the registry after the guitar has been listed? I tried to hit "edit" but it told me I couldn't.

[collin]

Welcome, Will.

Nice story there, glad to hear you were bitten by the Rickenbacker bug - and also appreciate the vintage models too. Gorgeous '66!

(and also nice to see others in the <35 age group around here, gives me hope!)

[rkbsound]

The ‘66 335 never gets enough love - I have one and it’s great. It’s pretty beat up but is well made and still sounds great. Enjoy!