Rickies from the Forrest White years

blazer · Post by **blazer** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:29 pm

I guess that the oddball in the Rickenbacker line has to be the 430 series and the 3000 series bass. From the time that Former Fender man Forest White worked for Rickenbacker.

I guess he tried to widen the appeal of Rickenbacker by offering a guitar line with Bolt on necks and simpler electronics.

But now I want to know how these stand up to the 600 series and the 300 series.

Any love for the most Fender-like Rickies?

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:36 pm

I always found them to be very...boring.

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:42 pm

These types of Fender style Ricks came out in 1974 when I worked there. Forest White was no longer with the Company to my knowledge. From what I know an Ex Fender employee, Terry Deason and Brian Carman had a lot to do with these designs.

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 12:43 pm

...yaawwwnnn....

Too many Fenders around to get the least bit excited about Yet Another Lookalike

Not when the classic Rossmeisl and other shapes are around to outshine and outperform these oddballs by a mile

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:04 pm

Not exciting in the least, though a 430 in Mahogany is my lowest-purchase-price Rick (not "Ricky"---he was Lucy's husband) to date, at $325.00 plus postage.

It might not be exciting to look at, but it's very sturdily-made and the sound is hi-gain heaven. Mine has a B5, and was abused for many years by a punk rocker, but keeps on tickin'.

It seems to be a child of the union between a Tele (the square edges) and a pregnant Strat (the silhouette, sorta), filtered through the eyes and ideals of a Bulgarian hydroelectric plant engineer.

gellkeller · Post by **gellkeller** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:06 pm

Aesthetics aside, how do they actually play? I have a 230GF and it is an absolute dream to play.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:10 pm

This was most certainly WAS the brainchild of Forest White! And I had no problem to resurrect the basic body shape in subsequent guitars like the System 490 and 200 Series.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:16 pm

I have to say that some of the prototypes, the 220/260, and especially the System 490, with bound bodies, do look MUCH better. I'm not a fan of the natural mahogany (not the prettiest wood IMO) or some of the basic plain bodies.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:43 pm

The mahoganies are supposed to be rarer than the maples in this model...my plan was to bind this puppy and paint it something outrageous, as a bit of dressing does the shape a world of good, as some of the later 200 series prototypes show.

Oh, how does it play? You're referring to the neck, I suppose. It does feel like a bolt-neck guitar, and not like a Rickenbacker. And at least on mine, the neck feels about like a Tele or Strat, generally speaking.

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:45 pm

Sounds like a cool project, Paul!

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:54 pm

Bulgarian hydroelectric plant engineer.

???? That mental movie is gonna keep me up tonight! ????

I can't really complain, y'know. I just bought a nice 260 and a 450/12 myself (numbers 99 and 100 in the collection so far). I believe in Equal Opportunity RAS.....

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:44 pm

I bought one and gave it to my daughter about 5 years ago. She's 20 now and still loves it. Its Mahogany. I thought about having it finished in Pink but changed my mind, lol. It will stay stock.

jimk · Post by **jimk** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:50 pm

...yaawwwnnn....

Too many Fenders around to get the least bit excited about Yet Another Lookalike

That's about the way I feel about it, Elys. And truth to tell, one of the biggest reasons I never even half seriously considered plugging in until I discovered Rickenbackers.

JimK

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:40 am

The Mahogany body instruments might have looked somewhat better if they'd used a different species or grade. As it was, it looked like the outhouse door of a tuna clipper. The remainder of that one and only load of wood currently resides in the workbench in my garage.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:57 am

It does resemble that Weed of the Orient, "Phillippine Mahogany" (Lauan), which is bettered in appearance by nearly every other species, including printed woodgrain. Hence my desire to cover it up.