Rickenbacker...rhythm only?

[grinch]

So I was at Sam Ash the other day, playing a fireglo 330. It felt really nice. The salesman came up to me and said, "What kind of music do you play?" I replied, "Sixties stuff, mostly Beatles," and I began to play the guitar solo for All My Loving. At that point he said, "Why bother? Ricks are horrible lead guitars, people use them for rhtyhm. If you're going to play lead you're better of with a Fender or a Gibson."

What does everybody think of this? I thought the 330 felt great for lead playing, but apparently the salesman did not. Is it a common conception that Ricks are rhythm guitars only?

[tony_carey]

I think it is Nick & it is patheticaly wrong. In the intro to Bacon & Days Rickenbacker book, there is a quote by Tom Petty "It's not really a lead instrument, it's more of a rythm guitarists kind of thing". A totaly bizarre & inacurate thing to say & the type of quote that does nothing to haul Rickenbackers reputation into the present.

I have said this time & time again, but Rickenbackers are totaly relevent to todays contemporary sound & are FANTASTIC lead guitars.

[jingle_jangle]

It's a common MIS conception among the Great Unwashed.

Of course you were getting the famed canned sales pitch from yet another pathetically ignorant SA cannon fodder salesman (and I use the term loosely).

They push belly-button guitars to belly-button (pierced) thrashers.

We know better.

(grumble)

[Scastles]

It is too much of the 'perception is reality ' take on things.
Gibson is perceived to be this...
Fender this...
Rickenbacker that...

BS.

[kcole4001]

I know players who have their own sound regardless of which guitar they play, & most of these guys have played A LOT of different guitars over the years, in search of...what I don't know.
In the end, the sound is largely in the player, not the guitar (another sweeping generalization).

Of course, a Strat sounds like a Strat, an LP sounds like an LP, etc., but the informed & enlightened know better than to subscribe to popular myths like that.

[steverok]

What a great salesman that guy is, huh ? Go up and tell the guys he's playing the wrong guitar. No, wrong, you tell them "wow, awesome Ric, eh?" Only goes to show that Sam Ash is loaded with imbeciles, from the sales-people to the clientele. I did buy my Guild there, though ...

[grinch]

As far as I'm concerned, music stores are becoming more and more useless everyday. You can't walk into Guitar Center or Sam Ash without some punky kid playing the loudest, most distorted **** out of some huge Marshall. The salesmen are just dumb teens with no real knowledge of guitars, and you can't buy anything without either haggling or paying some kind of extra fee.

I go to guitar stores to try a guitar, that's it. Internet is the best way to buy...Musician's Friend, I think. Cheaper, easier, better all around.

[beefandbones]

Oh yeah, over the years the sales boys at Guitar Center have told me that Rickenbacker is going out of business, that Rickenbacker no longer makes threesixties, that John Lennon did not play a 325c58 but a similar model with a full scale and they never understood why RIC makes useless short-scale guitars anyway, that Rickenbackers are 'rhythm-only' instruments, that I'm saying 'Rickenbacker' wrong it's actually pronounced 'RickenBOCKER'... etc and so forth.

But the sales kids aren't entirely to blame... if you pay a decent wage, chances are you'll get a decent employee.

[grinch]

When I went to Ed Roman's Guitars in Las Vegas, the salesman tried to convince me that Lennon played a natural 350...

When I told him they didn't make them at that time, and that substantial evidence suggests that he played a 325...he came back with the response, "If he didn't play a 350, why do they call it the Liverpool model?"

[mdbuck]

"RickenBOCKERS are for old people." That's what I was told by the sales toad at one of my local GC's. (I ain't no spring chicken). "Pretty much useless, huh", I says. "Yeah, pretty much for the non-pro", he says. "Well, I'm pretty much a non-pro, can you tell me anything more about'm?", I says. "They're a rythym guitar, not much use for anything else", he says. Yeah, I was actually looking for a guitar made by the company who invented the electric guitar, can you tell me what company that is?", I says. "Oh, yea, your thinking of FENDER, they invented them", he says. "Oh, of course, Leo", I says. "What's LEO", he says. "Oh, LEO STRATOCASTER TELEFUNKEN, the guy that invented the Strat and the Tele", I says. "Oh,yea, sure", he says. "Uh huh", I says. "Where are these Rickenbackers made", I says, "Oh, they make them in Japan now", he says, "But, originally, they were made in Germany, hence the name", he continues. By this time, I can hardly contain myself and not wanting to embarrass the guy, who, by the way was not a kid as such, twenty something, but obviously clueless, in the most humane way I can, I proceed to tell him the story of Ric and Fender. I also, told him if he did a little research to gain more knowledge, he might sell a few more of what you sell here. This of course, was a little while back as Ric no longer sells their gear through GC anymore. One of the biggest reason for this, I believe, was the lack of knowledge of Ric products. However, it was nice to see and play a Ric at a place where they were sold. It's no longer necessary for me to have access to a Ric to try out now though, I can buy them sight unseen now and have confidence of what I'm getting.

[longhouse]

Should I stop playing lead on my Rickenbackers? Yikes! Rhythm only -what a jackanapes. A clod once said to me, "Rickenbacker?!?! You might as well be playing a tambourine!"

Leave the cookie-cutter players to their cookie-cutter guitars.

Great story, Michael. Leo Stratocaster Telefunken!

[kkm]

i think it depends a lot on which model rick.

i used to love to play lead on my 360/6 when i had it. it had an awesome woodsy strat-like lead tone. it sounded great but i had to let it go to make some room

my 350v63 sounds BEAUTIFUL as a rhythm guitar but its not too fun playing lead on it. but ofcourse thats just my opinion.

[sowhat]

the sound is largely in the player, not the guitar
Yeah, methinks Kevin hit the nail on the head here...
As far as i am concerned, being a rhythm player, i don't mind - and if a RIC is the best thing a rhythm player can get, then i'm entirely happy!

[wolfgang]

the sound is largely in the singer, not the mike
Guitars do sound differently, even electric ones

[ol_reb]

Well....the age old argument rears its head once again.

I have approached this argument before. While I agree that you can play lead on Rickenbackers and that the sound is largely in the player, not the guitar......

....I think what all guitar players look for is TONE.

(Disclaimer: I like all guitars be they Ricks, Fenders, Gibson etc.)

So, having said that, please all the Rick stalwarts don't flip out on me here....

Lets look at history when regarding tone.

When dealing with tone, how many times have all of us referred to Ricks as "jangle", "chime" etc.??

Who has a tone like this? Beatles, Byrds, REM, Tom Petty etc. = jangle. True? Absolutely.

Who doesn't have a tone like this? Allmans, Cream, Rory Gallagher, Mountain, Hendrix etc. = None jangle. Correct? Absolutely.

Now, I'm not saying you can't play lead on Rickenbackers, but the historical evidence pretty much speaks for itself. And there are PLENTY of exceptions whether it's the Who, CCR or the Stones who have played all kinds of different guitars.

Sometimes the song itself dictates what kind of guitar you play regarding the tone you want for a particular song.

Fogerty, Harrison were great at playing lead on their Rickenbackers. How many tunes has Clapton played a Rick? The Allmans? None probably.

The Rick tone was not their tone. Can you play their songs with a Rick, absolutely, but I doubt Mtn. Jam or Pretending would sound quite the same.

It's ALWAYS all about tone.

Depending on your tastes, remember, you can't get in that zone if you ain't got that tone.