Rickenbacker 670/12? (Also: Pictures of my new 660/12AFG!)

[dustymurphy]

Hi all-

First off, my 660/12 got here today and I'm love. It's beautiful, flamey, and sounds fantastic! As a surprise gift, my family gave me the Roger McGuinn Rickenbacker/ 12-string DVD, and I was wondering if a compressor and adding a third pickup would help with a Byrds-y sound and give me some more tonal options. Has anybody ever done this? Or considered doing it? Also, how does the pickup switching work with a X70 series?

Thanks guys!!!

[steverok]

Don't mess with success, and please don't cut up your new Ric. Have fun!

[dustymurphy]

I'm not about to cut this one up. It's an Amber FireGlo, and it's going to stay stock, and mint for as long as I can possibly keep it that way. However, I am thinking about getting another 660/12, but in Mapleglo and doing the McGuinn thing. Has there ever been a 670? I've never seen one.

I'll post pics as soon as I can, I only have a phone and it doesn't have a flash and they won't come out. It's a beauty though.

[deaconblues]

On a three-pickup Rickenbacker, the neck and middle pickups are wired together, so flipping the switch up engages neck and middle, the middle position selects all three, and flipping it down selects just the bridge.

I've seen a few 620's with a third pickup added...I think a forumite has one, and Tom Petty famously played a three-pickup 615. Never seen a three-pickup 660, though. It's probably not worth the money and time unless you like the look, because according to most people the difference in sound between a two-pickup and three-pickup Rickenbacker is pretty slight.

If you decide to go ahead and add the pickup, the 5th (or 'mystery') knob can be turned into a volume knob for the middle pickup, enabling more tonal options.

[dustymurphy]

Excellent, thank you. It's kind of pie in the sky right now considering the cost involved in a new Rickenbacker. I'll have to start saving again, and with the economy the way it is and my aversion to credit cards, it'll be awhile. At the moment I'm only able to squirrel away about $100 monthlyafter all my bills, but I definitely want another Rick 12. I'd really like to have a Carl Wilson. Or a Susanna Hoff, even though it's a 6-string. But realistically, that'll never happen on my budget. I'd like one of the 360/12C63s, so that'll be my next aim. The 625/670 is a long way off, unless I win the lottery happen to find one at a yard sale that needs a TLC. Thanks for the interest and help though!

Now for the pics!





I'll post more (and better) pictures tomorrow when my sister brings her camera.

[jwilli]

Now that is purty!

[dustymurphy]

Thank you, good sir. I haven't shown it around yet, but I have a couple of friends whose Les Pauls will be weeping over the beauty of the burst and the flame.

[ken_j]

Congrats on the 660!

...I was wondering if a compressor and adding a third pickup would help with a Byrds-y sound...

I think McGuinn only used the bridge pickup.

[dustymurphy]

Thanks Ken, that actually helps more than you know. I realize that getting his tone without the RM compressor and the hollowbody is impossible, but I love the Byrds so much that I want to get a similar tone even if it's not using a Byrds song. Like even on my own songs, I'd LOVE to get a Byrds-y tone going on.

[steverok]

Awesome looking axe.

[JakeK]

Nice one...makes me want to change my TP from JG to FG.

[dustymurphy]

Thank you, gentlemen. Funny story, I saw a TP 660/12 on my 16th birthday but it was a MapleGlo. (I assume it was a TP guard on a MapleGlo 660/12. I still have a picture of me playing it somewhere around here.) And this guitar was WAY beyond my reach, and the first Rick I had ever played, and it was amazing. It was just like heaven. And as we left the store, I told my grandparents "I'll have one of those within ten years, I promise you." and they kind of laughed (I had seen Petty in concert a couple of weeks before and knew his was sunburst, didn't know it was called FireGlo at the time. I'd REALLY wanted a Ric from the time I was 12 and saw The Beatles Anthology, but didn't know much about them. at all.) and I said "But I want a sunburst finish on mine." and when I opened it today my grandmother said "Do you remember when we saw a plain one like that on your birthday?" And of course I did, but it's just incredible that not only do I have one but that I was able to make good on my promise to myself. I love having it. I've been looking at all night and it's impossible for me "get" that it's actually mine and that it belongs to me. I guess you guys are the only other ones that understand how much it means, and just how it feels. It's more than I could explain to a person.

[jimk]

... I love having it. I've been looking at all night and it's impossible for me "get" that it's actually mine and that it belongs to me. I guess you guys are the only other ones that understand how much it means, and just how it feels. It's more than I could explain to a person.

Yeah, I think I get it. Because I think I'm going to feel exactly the same way when my 360/12 string arrives.

JimK

[dustymurphy]

Trust me; you will. I'd played a few Rics before (only one 660/12 though, and as I mentioned, that was years ago) but it's a completely different game to have one. I have a 6-string 330JG but there's something so magical about the 12-strings and being able to see the grain through the finish. You couldn't make a wish to have a better experience with a guitar. It's probably like when you meet your Waterloo and know that's the lady you're going to spend the rest of your life with. I can't liken it to any other feeling in the world. (Although I have yet to meet my Waterloo )

[doctorwho]

... I've seen a few 620's with a third pickup added...I think a forumite has one ...

That probably would be me:

620 FG 'SPC' and 350SH

According to the person I bought this 620 from, he bought it from the original owner, a former RIC employee who had it specially made for him. The wiring does look all original and factory-spec.

The 660 will not disappoint. My friend from whom I bought my 370/12RM MG, when he heard my 660/12TP FG, said something like, "that sounds more like McGuinn than the McGuinn!"