All in all...very pleased!

[tony_carey]

Well...It's done. The 330 & pickups from Mike at RicsRUs, the Bigsby from Mike Parks, the pickguard from Tony at Pickguardian & the extra pickup routing & Bigsby fitted by Tim at Mansons. Worth the effort I think!







I came across a gold on black TRC (totaly legitematly, I might add!) & thought that it would be nice to echo the pick guards. I know some of you will smirk at me putting toasters on a 24 fret neck, but they are for looks only & are being wound to 13k ohms. With luck, they won't sound much different to hi-gains.

A big thankyou to Mike, Mike, Tony & Tim for their superb service & skill.

[ozover50]

A fabulous result, Tony! You've obviously thought it out in great detail and the combination of features is brilliant! Congratulations!

BTW, how does it play??

[tony_carey]

Thanks Howard....if it didn't play like a dream, I would never have had the work done!

[steverok]

WOW, that is awfully snazzy! Way to go Tony, you da man.

[jingle_jangle]

Gorgeous, Tony. I love the two-tone guard and of course the grain is fabulous.

[squid]

I love that gold and black pickguard combination. I've often thought about doing that with my Monty Brown 370/12, but the white binding always puts me off. Too much colour clash. That combination looks fabulous on your 340, though. Nice going, Tony.

[ken_j]

Looks great Tony.

[longhouse]

One of a kind tone machine, Tony!

I'd love to have a bash on it. Some mild breakup on the amp, reverb set at 10 o'clock, pickups full-on - hit Em at the 7th fret and make the world shake with the Bigsby.

Nice work.

[tony_carey]

I'm glad you all like it...I must admit, I'm very pleased with it. Normaly I don't really go into this type of customising, but I have played nearly every type of Ric, from the most basic to the 'glamour' models & I keep coming back to the 330. It basicaly gives me all I want from a gtr, so I thought I'd bring a couple up to 'my' spec by adding a couple of usable features (third pickup & vibrato) & making them a little more personal.

[steve_hershberger]

Tony - I love it all! But I've got a big question here...

Is that a refin from a solid color? Just asking because I always thought the fronts of MG's and FG's were carved out of a single piece of maple, and this one is clearly 2 pieces (flamed on the right/lower half and "normal grained" on the left/upper half).

Don't get me wrong - it looks stunning and I really like it. But I can't see Ric making a MG or even a FG finish on a body made of such mismatched pieces of wood.

[wim]

The 330/360 bodies are always two pieces.
In the Big Rickenbacker book you can even see Capri's built from 5 or more seperate pieces.
this Maple is exceptionally beautiful for a standard 330 though.

[admin]

Just a superb job Tony. A classy pickguard and a classy guitar for a classy guy.

[tony_carey]

Thanks again all, I really apreciate your comments. Thanks to Peter particularly, for the pickup discussions which really gave me the idea for this pickup arrangement, which I would never have tried otherwise. When the pickups have been wound to strength, I will be in a position to give a pretty healthy post regarding various pickup comparisons....hi-gains, hot toasters & 7.4's.

Wim is right Steve. This is a factory MG & even has MG written in the neck pickup route. I have seen many 381's like this, with an apparent mis match of grain. The top part is flamed as well, but just not as deeply as the bottom half.

[melibreits]

Wow, Tony, that guitar looks beautiful with its new guards, pickups, and Bigsby! Congrats!

[doctorwho]

Well done, Tony!