First Rick

bluemonk · Post by **bluemonk** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:23 am

I've loved Rickenbackers since I was 6 and the Beatles hit America, but I've never owned one. Yesterday, on John Lennon's birthday, I got my first Ric, an '81 burgundy-glo 620. The playability and the sound of this guitar astound me! Just had to share...

bear · Post by **bear** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:48 am

Welcome to the Rickenbacker Forum Susan, enjoy your dream guitar.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 5:49 am

Susan,
Congrats on your first Rick! I know the feeling when I got my first one, it was unbelievable! I still have that one (a '73 4001 MG) and I think I will take it with me to the afterlife!

I love the 620's. Please post a photo if you can. We all love to share pictures of our guitars here. And....welcome to the forum! There is a lot of great information to be found here.

bull30 · Post by **bull30** » Sun Oct 10, 2004 7:32 am

Congrats on your 620/6... I recevied my first Rick when I was 16 (1966) and I still have my 1966 Rick 360/12 today... I recently bought a 620/6 with vintage toaster pickups also and love the feel & sound of this guitar so much I just ordered a 620/12... Here's a picture of my 620/6... Please post yours, I'd love to see it...

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:01 am

Susan, welcome to the Forum, and congratulations on your acquisition!

It is interesting that yours dates to 1981, the same year as my 460 BG (UG 23xx):

If your 620 has high-gains like mine, it will make some really sweet jingle-jangle! I currently have D'Aquisto flat wounds on it, but it still has incredible treble to it.

Here's a picture of my 1999 620 ("623") FG, with its unusual high-gain/high-gain/humbucker triple pickup arrangement:

paul_shover · Post by **paul_shover** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:06 pm

Gary,
That is very nice 620 with the triple PU arrangement. I have never seen this model before and I couldn't find it in The Rickenbacker Book by Tony Bacon and Paul Day. Neither could I find it on the Rickenbacker homepage. It would seem like you could cover a lot of bases with this guitar. How does it sound in the bridge humbucker going through overdrive pedal or lead channel? This guitar sure has raised my curiosity.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:27 pm

Paul, I've only played it clean, and then not much. I'm planning on getting into my recently acquired Vox AD120VTH that has overdrive capability, so I'll try the 620 with it and post on update.

The story I got about the guitar was that it was built that way at the factory by a Rickenbacker employee who bought it as a personal guitar (I got it from a second owner or intermediary). I haven't looked at the wiring to see whether it looks all original (i.e., no extraneous soldering points), but being that the guitar is nearly mint except for the missing bridge cover (and even has the "Made In America" sticker still on the pickguard), I have no reason to think that it is otherwise as was stated.

I liken it to the Model 483, the three-pickup version of the Model 480.