75th Anniversary 330 Owners

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 11:44 pm

Excellent point, Ron. I'd rather clean and polish up a classic Rickenbacker than plain old glass!

I may have missed the boat there, Melissa. The pics I took are medium resolution, so they may not be good enough for the calendar. I had to do a fair bit of shrinking and cropping to get them down to 35k or less. If you're interested I'll send you some via email. Just let me know.

OK, Brian, here's the deal.... I promise not to have the 330 behind glass and available any time you want to play it. In return I expect nothing! How's that, mate?

rick_ovic · Post by **rick_ovic** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 12:19 am

Aitch, It looks superb. I bet it's the only 75th 330 DCM south of the equator.

wmthor · Post by **wmthor** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:30 am

Howard, it's a beauty!

I actually feel a little guilty having mine when so many 'locals' are still waiting. Luck of the draw, I suppose, but it does feel odd......

I don't think the JDog or John Biscuti feels guilty about getting their 75th DCMs before some of the others and therefore, you shouldn't either.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:03 am

Here's some more - tried my best to get some of the red to pop out:

squid · Post by **squid** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:34 am

Boy, that's pretty. Dark cherry is the perfect name for this colour. Sometimes I look at it and see brown. Other times I see black. In John's shots I see burgundy shading towards red. I can't wait to see it in person.

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:10 am

Here's another attempt...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:33 am

Very nice, John and Jason. I must say that the 'metallic' aspect of the finish on mine doesn't jump out at me. Must study it again.........

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:15 am

Thanks Gary. Update - yes, the crack on mine is also in the lower PG. But, sorry, I don't understand how that is better. Seems more to take off to replace than the upper.
Speaking of which . . . the problem with the pots was than the knobs were not "attached" to the posts. The screws were not tightened, the knobs were just placed on.

As far as the color goes - to those who haven't seen the finish yet, it does look in some photos (like Aitch's) as brown or or very dark plum. Jason's is closer to the real color. I also agree with Aitch, that the metallic does not jump out.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:47 am

I wonder if we haven't been conditioned by the omnipresent Japanese cars finishes, to think of metallics as having large, ragged, sparkly bits of pigment, so that the finish really "jumps" out.

Prior to the Japanese domination of the automotive market, metallics had smaller sized pigment particles, and as a result, a much smoother, more elegant appearance (IMO). Mercedes and other European high-end manufacturers used paint suppliers who actually went through the trouble of rolling their pigment in a ball mill, to turn the jagged particles into microscopic marbles. The effect is an appearance akin to liquid silver.

We are getting back to that "liquid" appearance with our use of synthetic pearls; however, these look best and smoothest at a glance in lighter colors under bright light conditions. The deeper pearlescent of the special RIC75 finish, only really reveals itself in brighter light; under lower lighting conditions it is sort of mysterious but no less elegant.

Under halogen spot lighting, my DCM actually breaks the light into a full spectrum, with a reddish and violet middle hue on a very dark reddish black background.

Jason's photos capture the effect under bright light very well.

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:18 am

Thanks Paul.

I drank sake for the first time this weekend and it looked like a milky metallic substance.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:23 am

I'm with Squid. Nice photos John, however, I hope you don't let it play in the yard too much.

notviceversa · Post by **notviceversa** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:02 am

Jason, that was unfiltered sake. Filtered sake is clear. Either way I love the stuff.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:17 am

Yes but celebrating at this time of the year "look out for goodess sake."

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:33 am

Thanks Paul, you're probably very correct. But I think that is just what we're describing. That it's not the kind of bright blindingly shiny kind of finish.

And, btw, Aitch, you said: " ... it's probably going to end up behind glass anyway, so no real problem."

Really? You just intend to show it? That's a shame. This topic sort of came up over at the RIC forum ... whether people were going to play their 75th instruments or not (another choice was selling them).
My main guitar to play for fun (besides the 12s of course) is my Ibanez Artcore semi-hollow with the humbuckers. Love that deep warm fuzzy tone. I am going to see if the 330DCM will replace it and become my main blues guitar.

Can't you just imagine showing up to a blues jam or to a workshop with that baby. Awesome.

[Update #3 - RIC is sending over a replacement PG.]

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:36 am

I feel you, Mark. I still have first-ding-a-phobia though.