Hey!
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kennyhowes
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Welcome Ezra. Your interest in Rickenbacker instruments is appreciated.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm
Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
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aladams
WELCOME, EZRA! Hope you enjoy the elequent, bright-witted, awe-inspiring, mind-boggling and factual discussions of electronics, elaborate commercial design, electronic musical instrument and musician history, and truely "charismatic" individuals who add their 2 cents. In other words, E N J O Y!!!!! Peace....AL A.
Hi John...yes I still have it! It's a 360 double bound of course, mapleglow S/N 2T052. Original case, strap and all. All original, exactly as I took it out of the cardboard box. This guitar never hung on a wall and the last gig I did with it was in 62'so it's still in excellent condition. It does need some maintenance though as it is in the case for years at a time. Recently, I noticed that there is some finish checking starting but it's just barely noticeable in the front top. Just a little wear on the back of the neck near the 2nd fret. Time to drag it out and go through it!
Dave
Dave
I've had 4 wives but I still have my 60' 360!
Wow!! Dave, keep us posted. If you can post some pics, please do!! It's not often when you meet someone who's the original owner of a 1958 360!!
Do you recall what it was that swayed you to a Rickenbacker rather than other brands of the time??? It would be very interesting to hear about this on the Forum....
Do you recall what it was that swayed you to a Rickenbacker rather than other brands of the time??? It would be very interesting to hear about this on the Forum....
David: I agree whole-heartedly with "Lefty" here. Please email some pictures or post them under the Rickenbacker Guitars topic so that we might discuss your instrument in detail.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm
Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
Ok...here's the story. I lived in Tulsa Ok. at the time and I saw James Burton with a Ric on Nelson's TV show. Suddenly my black Gretsch Duo-Jet was put away and I bought the 360 Mapleglow from Christian Music in Tulsa for $299 with case etc. Much later, I discovered that Burton had a early 381 prototype (see pix elsewhere and notice the really sharp point on lower bout) that he used for show on TV. He used a Telecaster on all Nelson's recordings. I took lessons from Dick Gordon and Leon McAuliffe in Tulsa and I think Leon was a Fender dealer at the time as there were always a LOT of steels and guitars laying around his studio...all Fender of course...I remember clearly what an impression the Telecaster made on me..the neck and action was fantastic, I knew right there that I had to have one SOON! Then I saw Burton with that fantastic guitar on TV...what was that thing anyway??? It took a few weeks to finally see what the nameplate on the head said so I blasted to the nearest music store and the guy had never heard of Rickenbacker. I finally found a 360 and played it and immediately forgot about the Telecaster. I paid the nice man and gnawed my nails for a month or so until it came in. I'll never forget that day...when I opened the case for the first time I couldn't beleive something so beautiful could actually be mine. It literally took my breath away. Please remember that this was a looong time ago and very few people had ever heard of Rickenbacker much less actually seen or played one. Especially a Mapleglow. There were a FEW earlier models around..they were the Turquoise and Gold 850..they were nowhere near the level of fit, finish and sound of the 360 and my impression of them was that they were really pretty ******.
On to a few snapshots...one night at the Cimmerron Ballroom, David Gates needed some help so some frends and myself backed him up. David used a green Gretsch and I used the 360. Charles Gilliland with another 360. Chas and I used his Magnatone 280 amp. Bill Raffensperger used his Fender bass. Tom Roney on drums I think. Bill's brother later married my neice. At this time, Gates was known only locally but everyone just knew he would do well. Tommy Crook may have been there too. Tommy was a high school friend and guitar prodigy. He still gigs nightly in Tulsa.
There is a small amount of red paint on the side of the slash of my 360 so I suspect that my guitar was originally Fireglow and refinished to Mapleglow at the factory. I understand that this was done occasionally in those days. I moved to Calif in 60' and used the 360 on a few sessions at Goldstar Studios in Hollywood....then reality kicked in and I had to discover a way to make a living...well, I did but that 360 has never been far away from me. When they kick the dirt into my face as I lay in a hole in the ground, my skeletal hand will burst through the surface, grab my Ric and yank it under.
In 63' I bumped into Burton in a coffee shop and introduced myself and told him how I discovered Rickenbacker. He was very nice. Bill Pair was another Oakie that that I knew in Calif. Man, he could scare you with his licks...really good and tasty. http://theregents.net/billpairIV.html
Thats all I can think of right now.
I'll get some pictures and post em here.
Enjoy!
Dave
On to a few snapshots...one night at the Cimmerron Ballroom, David Gates needed some help so some frends and myself backed him up. David used a green Gretsch and I used the 360. Charles Gilliland with another 360. Chas and I used his Magnatone 280 amp. Bill Raffensperger used his Fender bass. Tom Roney on drums I think. Bill's brother later married my neice. At this time, Gates was known only locally but everyone just knew he would do well. Tommy Crook may have been there too. Tommy was a high school friend and guitar prodigy. He still gigs nightly in Tulsa.
There is a small amount of red paint on the side of the slash of my 360 so I suspect that my guitar was originally Fireglow and refinished to Mapleglow at the factory. I understand that this was done occasionally in those days. I moved to Calif in 60' and used the 360 on a few sessions at Goldstar Studios in Hollywood....then reality kicked in and I had to discover a way to make a living...well, I did but that 360 has never been far away from me. When they kick the dirt into my face as I lay in a hole in the ground, my skeletal hand will burst through the surface, grab my Ric and yank it under.
In 63' I bumped into Burton in a coffee shop and introduced myself and told him how I discovered Rickenbacker. He was very nice. Bill Pair was another Oakie that that I knew in Calif. Man, he could scare you with his licks...really good and tasty. http://theregents.net/billpairIV.html
Thats all I can think of right now.
I'll get some pictures and post em here.
Enjoy!
Dave
I've had 4 wives but I still have my 60' 360!
Dave, what a GREAT story....from what you tell us it appears that the design of the Capri appealed to you a great deal....Were the Combo 850's available for you to try in the store before you ordered your 360?? It would be neat to hear what you could recall about what the dealer had 'laying around'....
What was your amplifier of choice when you first played your '58??
Again, thanks for the account. Really cool
What was your amplifier of choice when you first played your '58??
Again, thanks for the account. Really cool
Thanks John...James Burton's style and tone was forever burned into my brain and I just HAD to have one of those 'mysterious' Rickenbacker's. In the 50's, his sound and style was out of this world, however, he claims that he used a 53' Telecaster on all of Nelson's recordings. Today, most people are rather used to seeing the Roger Rossmeisl 'Capri' basic shape but 44 years ago it was very unusual and futuristic...wild and crazy would be a better description. I was used to looking at Gibson and Gretsch while the old geezers playing 'western' were spanking their Fender planks. The Gibsons & Gretsch's were boring, huge, 5 or 6 inches thick and very expensive. Gibson L5's and Gretsch White Falcon's we common. All music stores had stocks of these guitars and I didn't want to sound like Bill Haley with his P90 powered doghouse around his neck. That is another reason why I was so attracted to the Telecaster...until I found out about Rickenbacker. I looked in every store in Tulsa and finally found ONE 360...played it, couldn't beleive it and ordered a Mapleglow. I hardly saw any Fenders in stores back then...probably because the largest store was a big Gibson dealer and hardly had anything else. Another store had mostly Gretsch and McAuliffe's had Fender. Leon did not have a 'music store', he had a recording studio and gave lessons and was a dealer. Fender had not yet taken over the industry with their guitars so there was not too many around. The younger crowd liked the Strat/Tele because it looked 'younger' and was a hellova lot cheaper than G&G. I never saw a Combo in a store but I knew a guy who had one. I tried it but was unimpressed with the tone. It was the single horseshoe pup model. I liked the neck though. After moving to Calif, a bandmate had a combo as a backup and I tried it again. As I recall I could only get one tone out of it that was anywhere near the 360 but it was not anything I would have paid money for. Oh...trying to play it with that monstrous HS pup was uncomfortable...weird. There was no way I was going to get used to it. Generally, I liked the look of it though. Nice big chrome pup, small box...looked pretty cool.
In Tulsa, mostly I used a Magnatone 280 Twin V amp that was sort of a one trick pony....but what a trick! The stereo vibrato would just nail your brain shut to anything else. Really a wild sound. That amp was not very powerful and the tone was so-so but that vibrato...YEOWW!! It was unbeleiveably expensive too..about $700 in 59' as I remember. I also used a Fender tweed Bassman and I really liked that amp. Not only did it have power but with that 360 I could cut through Godzilla on the drums! In Calif, I bought a Fender Brown Bandmaster 3x10 speaker amp. I still have it too and it is as new. I picked it up at the factory in Fullerton in the fall of 60'. Cost was $323.
I used an Ampeg in 62' for awhile..cant remember the model but it had one 12" speaker and was loud as hell and looked like a Tweed Deluxe. I think i 73' I was at Rickenbacker and saw some of their amps. I always wanted to try one of their big tube amps but have never seen one since. Lately, I have convinced myself to make a Fender high power tweed Twin replica...I have most of the parts located so I'll probably get started on that one of these days.
Dave
In Tulsa, mostly I used a Magnatone 280 Twin V amp that was sort of a one trick pony....but what a trick! The stereo vibrato would just nail your brain shut to anything else. Really a wild sound. That amp was not very powerful and the tone was so-so but that vibrato...YEOWW!! It was unbeleiveably expensive too..about $700 in 59' as I remember. I also used a Fender tweed Bassman and I really liked that amp. Not only did it have power but with that 360 I could cut through Godzilla on the drums! In Calif, I bought a Fender Brown Bandmaster 3x10 speaker amp. I still have it too and it is as new. I picked it up at the factory in Fullerton in the fall of 60'. Cost was $323.
I used an Ampeg in 62' for awhile..cant remember the model but it had one 12" speaker and was loud as hell and looked like a Tweed Deluxe. I think i 73' I was at Rickenbacker and saw some of their amps. I always wanted to try one of their big tube amps but have never seen one since. Lately, I have convinced myself to make a Fender high power tweed Twin replica...I have most of the parts located so I'll probably get started on that one of these days.
Dave
I've had 4 wives but I still have my 60' 360!