Johnny Marr playing a 330/12 in 1984

[egosheep]

Just saw this cool video for the first time:


It's short, it's mimed, but it's still really cool. I've never, ever seen him with this guitar, or any Ric 12-string for that matter(with the Smiths).

Any idea what model/year this one might be?

[kennyhowes]

Morrissey's rockin' the Jack Nance coif there...

[collin]

God.....Marr is so cool without even trying.


I've never seen that guitar before, surprisingly. I wonder if it was his, as if he did own it, he never played it out much. It's also not listed on his guitar site (well, a fan's guitar site for him) : http://smithsonguitar.blogspot.com/2008 ... -gear.html

His famous JG 330 is a six string.

[chronictown]

God.....Marr is so cool without even trying.

You said it, man!

Haven't ever seen Marr with that guitar, either. Looks like a '70's 330/12FG (21 frets, high gains).

Thanks for posting the vid

[godber]

God.....Marr is so cool without even trying.


I've never seen that guitar before, surprisingly. I wonder if it was his, as if he did own it, he never played it out much. It's also not listed on his guitar site (well, a fan's guitar site for him) : http://smithsonguitar.blogspot.com/2008 ... -gear.html

His famous JG 330 is a six string.

Nice vid Thomas, and interesting site Colin. Cheers.

Here's a few of shots of his 360-12 JG, plus another FG 360-12 I've only seen once - from his time with Talking Heads.

[egosheep]

Cool photos, Mark. I've seen him with his recent 12's, but I have never seen a single photo or video of him actually playing his Rickenbacker 12's with the Smiths or in the time he was in the band.

I think the guitar is his, Collin. For one thing, it doesn't seem like Belgium would have been overflowing with Ric's in the mid-eighties. Andy is playing one of his usual basses, so they had to have brought some gear to this appearance.

Also, there are several of his Smiths Rickenbackers that no one has seen. One is the 360/12 he bought from Phil Manzanera, who said it had belonged to Roger McGuinn. I've always thought of this as a new style 360, from the way it's described.

The other is a 330 that he describes as being his favorite to use live, with a Bigsby. Seeing as how he was never seen with such a guitar, this has to be a misquoting, but who knows?

The relevant quotes are here:

[chronictown]

I'd bet your right in that the Bigsby-thingy is a misquote....Marr's workhorse is that simple 330/6JG that he still plays after all these years. I've always wondered about the "Roger McGuinn" 360/12 mentioned in that article. Perhaps another misquote? Maybe he was actually referring to the '64 1993 that was once owned by Pete Townshend. Who knows....

[egosheep]

I'd bet your right in that the Bigsby-thingy is a misquote....Marr's workhorse is that simple 330/6JG that he still plays after all these years. I've always wondered about the "Roger McGuinn" 360/12 mentioned in that article. Perhaps another misquote? Maybe he was actually referring to the '64 1993 that was once owned by Pete Townshend. Who knows....

The McGuinn guitar is definately not a misquote, because it's mentioned in several interviews:




And these interviews range from 85-89, so he definitely believes it. He also mentions his 1993 coming from Pete Townsend in one of these same articles, so he's not confusing the two.



Since he describes his 360 as the "classic" McGuinn model, it's fair to assume its a 360/12 MG. But yeah, who knows. He has shown off a lot of his guitars in the past few years for various articles or for his web site, but he has a pretty large collection. It's probably in a case somewhere in a Manchester studio. ; )

[chronictown]

Interesting....thanks for the info. Well, hopefully this elusive McGuinn Rickenbacker will see the light of day at some point! I did a quick Google Images search to see if I could find a photo of Phil Manzanera with a 360/12, but nothing came up...

[egosheep]

On a previous thread here about this, someone pointed to this post at the RIC forum: "Phil Manzanera hired a 330 12 FG to use on the Roxy Music album Country Life in 1974."

So in light of the video, maybe this 70's era 330/12FG was the one Johnny bought from Phil? Since there's not a lot of info about him playing one, it seems unlikely that Manzanera would have had a second Ric 12 to sell. Anyone ever seen McGuinn with a fireglow 330/12?

[chronictown]

I've seen a clip of REM playing with Roger back in the '80s...he was playing a new-style 24-fret 360/12 FG with high gains. Not sure if the guitar was actually his or just borrowed. At any rate, Marr's interviews where he mentions his McGuinn Rickenbacker probably predate that REM/McGuinn concert footage anyways.

[kennyhowes]

Well, hopefully this elusive McGuinn Rickenbacker will see the light of day at some point!

It's the Jetglo guitar he's holding in godber's photos here (the blue background photos and leaning against the Fender amp). Changed top pickguard.

[8mileshigher]

Interesting bit of history as to which celebrity Rics he allegedly owned/owns.
Nice pics posted.

[suedehead71]

love this thread. seen him play a rick only once live. was the black and white 3-pickup model.

[egosheep]

Doh! He also plays it on their TOTP performance of This Charming Man:



I had never seen this video, either.