If possible explain the diff in sound between the 660/12...

[Dr.Tom]

and a 330/12. I have owned a 360/12v64 in the past but got rid of it because I couldn't get used to the narrow width at the nut.I just bought a 1998 330 FG and am just loving it . I never considered the 660s but now the idea is starting to grow on me. I'm just so used to a hollowbody Ric sound that I need a little convincing that I can still get the Ric jangle out of the 660/12. Even though the answer must be positive, since there are so many happy customers, I still need some encouragement!How does the 660/12 compare to a 330/12 or 360/12 if it can be described? Thank you.

Regards,

Tom

[tennis_nick]

[Danotron]

Nice one Nicolas! What a perfect answer.

Well, to my ears they both jangle in all of their Ric glory, but there is a difference in tone. I thought the 660 was a bit sharper and the 360 had a more rounded tone.

Is that a vintage 360?

[Dr.Tom]

Nicolas,

Yes, an absolutely perfect reply.Thank you very much. That was much more than I was expecting; but truly the answer I needed.
And I agree with Danotron in that they both sound very Ric and jangly. The 360 does sound a little more mellow than the 660 but if I wasn't A/B'ing them, I'd say they were both very nice representations of what I'd expect from a Ric 12. Is it just the hollowbody vs the solidbody that I'm hearing ? Thank you again; much appreciated.

Regards,

Tom

[tennis_nick]

Can't take credit for that, John Biscuti made the videos!

[sloop_john_b]

Is it just the hollowbody vs the solidbody that I'm hearing ?

Yes it is. Both guitars had the same bridge (6 saddle), the same strings (TI Flats) of roughly the same vintage, and the same bridge pickup (7.4k scat).

[sloop_john_b]

Dan: It is a '66 360/12 which was re-necked with a McGuinn-spec neck at the RIC factory in the late 80's.

[jps]

Is it just the hollowbody vs the solidbody that I'm hearing ?

Yes it is. Both guitars had the same bridge (6 saddle), the same strings (TI Flats) of roughly the same vintage, and the same bridge pickup (7.4k scat).

Hmm, I thought the difference was down to the MG vs. BB.

[sloop_john_b]

Hmm, I thought the difference was down to the MG vs. BB.

Nope, one's a hollowbody, one's a solidbody.

[jps]

Hmm, I thought the difference was down to the MG vs. BB.

Nope, one's a hollowbody, one's a solidbody.

Um, that was tongue in cheek.

[JakeK]

Who's that real good looking boy in the videos?

Oh...John, I see you answered...never mind...



These days, I'm a full-out hollowbody man when it comes to Rickenbackers. The solids have bodies almost as small/large as the 325/350 models.

Rickenbacker and Gretsch make the best hollows and Fender makes the best solids, in my opinion.

[jps]

I used to have a 660/12 and a 660 DCM but in the end I decided I like bigger body guitars, so now I have a '98 360V64 and a '67 330.

[Barris]

Super A/B videos!

The semi-hollowbodies demonstrate more resonance while the solid bodies demonstrate slight increase in sustain.

[Janglyman]

Dr. Tom,

Do you really hve a PRS 12 string? How does it compare to a Rick?

[fireglo67]

Bear this in mind......

Before you play a note on either guitar the room you're in contains a huge number of air molecules (about 1.6x1027) that collectively weigh 160 pounds.
Air is actually fairly substantial stuff. But there is still a lot of empty space between the molecules in the room, if you think of these molecules as a cube then the diameter of a human hair is about 6000 times larger than that cube. 78% of those air molecules are nitrogen, and almost all of the rest are oxygen. Both molecules are shaped like tiny dumbbells. The molecules are moving in random directions at an average speed of over 1000 miles per hour. Each molecule has about 5 billion collisions per second. The little dumbbells are also spinning frantically. The total kinetic energy in the air molecules in the room is astounding - more than the kinetic energy of seven 4,800-lb Mercedes hurtling along at 100 MPH! This is difficult to comprehend in a dead-quiet room.
The molecules are furiously colliding with your eardrums, exerting a pressure of over one ton per square foot. But the collisions on one side of your eardrum are precisely balanced by collisions on the other side; your eardrums don't move, and you hear nothing. (The eustachian tube equalizes the pressure on either side of the eardrum as long as pressure varies slowly, such as for changes in barometric pressure). Sound is typically described as a small rapid variation in pressure.

Now strum a chord on either guitar and the motion of the air molecules is no longer totally random.
There are three changes:
1. There are bands about 3-feet apart where the molecules are slightly bunched up, separated by bands where the molecules are slightly thinned out.
2. The temperature is higher in the bunched up bands (temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy per molecule). This, plus the first change, represents a pressure variation.
3. The average velocity of the molecules in the bunched up bands causes a net drift of molecules towards you; in the thinned out bands there is a net drift away from you. This is the velocity variation that is usually ignored in the description of a sound wave.

The ensemble of these bands will be moving towards you at 770 MPH, the speed of sound. This is your basic sound wave. (Here I am lying a little. Your room is full of reflections from walls and the ceiling which complicate things greatly. To keep things reasonable, I am describing a wave propagating in an unbounded volume).
It is at first hard to understand that the wave traveling towards you at 770 MPH does not mean the molecules are traveling towards you at 770 MPH.
If you stretch out a garden hose straight for about 20 feet and rapidly shake one end back and forth a snaky wave will travel away from you down the hose. The hose isn't going anywhere, but the wave is.

Now as you strum different chords on either guitar that would produce sound waves at different frequencies. The molecules in the room will no longer align in simple bands, but form a complex and ever-changing pattern - like the surface of the ocean, but in 3-D. About the only thing that stays the same is that the whole wave pattern still travels as a unit at 770 MPH.

To summarise, the only way to tell the difference is to walk into a guitar shop and play the two guitars for yourself.


Hope this helps.