stephena wrote:Here's a picture of me playing mine back in 1980...
(Like the Lennon cap?)
I'm sad to say that Stephen Arthur, who posted the photo of himself above playing his 450 at Austin College, passed away last night after a long and valiant struggle against brain cancer. I was lucky enough to be in several different bands with Stephen, going back to the early 1980's. He was an extraordinary player--every bit as good on his Maple-glo Rick 360/12 as anybody I've ever seen. He will be truly missed.
That is very sad news Clifton. My condolences and best wishes to you and to his family.
stephena wrote:Here's a picture of me playing mine back in 1980...
(Like the Lennon cap?)
I'm sad to say that Stephen Arthur, who posted the photo of himself above playing his 450 at Austin College, passed away last night after a long and valiant struggle against brain cancer. I was lucky enough to be in several different bands with Stephen, going back to the early 1980's. He was an extraordinary player--every bit as good on his Maple-glo Rick 360/12 as anybody I've ever seen. He will be truly missed.
Clifton - I am very sorry to hear this even though I never met Stephan.
A number of us here were involved in finding his stolen 1980 FG 620 12 (TB 444)
Thanks for the condolences, everyone. I appreciate it, and I will pass on the condolences to Stephen's wife.
Brian, thanks for asking about Stephen's 620/12. He did indeed recover it in the springtime. It was in pretty ugly shape. Let me see if I can remember the details...
The pickguard was completely gone--both levels. I think it had been cracked prior to it being stolen, if I remember correctly. (I played it a few times in the late 80's when it was in good shape). The bridge pickup was dead, and the finish was all scuffed and dull. There was a long wood screw in the guitar instead of the tail pin. All of the knobs were missing, and the R tailpiece had significant stress fractures. The headstock had a couple of spots where the finish and part of the wood was gone, but I believe it was like that before it was stolen.
Stephen was already very sick at the time, so with his wife's blessing, I decided to go ahead and restore it as best as I could. I ordered a new pickguard and vintage strap pins through Fuller's Vintage Guitars here in Houston. I had recently changed out my Hi-Gain pickups on my 330/12 to Toaster Top pickups, so I donated one of the Hi-Gains for Stephen's guitar. I also bought a trapeze tailpiece and bracket from Fuller's, since I'd heard Stephen talking about putting one on his guitar.
I took it to Neil Sargent, one of Houston's top luthiers, and he helped me rebuild the guitar. After he was done with everything, I took it home and did the old Scratch X and Xymöl treatment to the finish.
The look on Stephen's face when I brought the guitar back was priceless. At first he didn't recognize it, but finally he did. I'm just glad I was able to get it fixed up for him.
I wish I knew how to post a picture of it--I took one of his guitar next to my 620 in AFG--they look like siblings! I just read the thread you posted above, Brian. That was very kind of you to take all of the trouble you did for a complete stranger. Both Stephen and his wife Alison were so excited when it was found!
Clifton - that was great to hear that you got it playable for him...
To share a picture on the RRF - hit reply and then at the bottom left you will see a link called "upload attachment" - browse to the file and then hit the add the file button... Once the image is up loaded then hit the "place inline" button. The image must be smaller then 1200 x 1200 pixels
So you have a 620 as well! Me I am up to 3 of them again!
I have had two 1980 fg 620 12's - it was the first year Rickenbacker made them as a regular production item...
I think I would have liked Stephen... We clearly had much in common.
Both of these pics are from 1984! Guess it is not such a long way from Houston to Hamilton...
Great picture from '84! Looks like the photo above yours is from the Graveyard Five site. It's a picture of John Ramsey who sold the 620/12 to Stephen. If you look on the same web page, there's a shot of Stephen playing the 620/12 and you can just see his 450 behind him leaning against the wall of an old defunct club here in Houston called Blythe Spirits. This shot was taken at a gig we had when we were in a band called Spock's Brain. I have a couple of pictures from the same gig and I'm playing the 620/12 in a couple of them. Here's the web address of Stephen's site:
Thanks for the info about posting pictures. I'll give it a try as soon as I can.
Yes, I was glad to get it in playable condition for him. I'm glad he still had a little function in his right hand so he could still play a little. Sorry if I hijacked the thread to talk about the 620. I certainly didn't mean to.
Yes, I'm sure he would have enjoyed meeting you. Lots of great folks in Canada--we drive through Ontario this past summer and had a wonderful time!
jwilli wrote: The 600 Series was dropped from about '70 - '78. I believe that they were reissued due to Tom Petty's popularity in '79. Somebody correct me if I am wrong.
For some reason I find that fairly amazing! It makes sense though.
jwilli wrote: The 600 Series was dropped from about '70 - '78. I believe that they were reissued due to Tom Petty's popularity in '79. Somebody correct me if I am wrong.
For some reason I find that fairly amazing! It makes sense though.
Not entirely dropped. I own a 1977 620. Just fairly rare.
The 12 string 620s were only special orders pre 1980.. Including Mike Campbell's prototype (which Petty is holding on the DAMN THE TORPEDOES LP cover) there were only 4 or so all Fireglo... Smith's book makes mention of a three pick up 12 string 620 going to Canada in 1970.
1980 saw Rickenbacker introduce the 4003 bass and the 620 12 into the line up.
I had a chance to examine Stephen's old 450 this weekend. He left it for the former drummer of the Mockingbyrds. The front is painted black--a matte black, though, and it looks like it was painted on with a paintbrush rather than being sprayed on. What's interesting is that Stephen only painted the front and sides. The back is still Maple-glo, like the picture above. The pickguard is black, but if you are close enough, you realize that it's see-through. There's also a huge chunk missing from the bottom "wing" of the guitar near where the input jack is. Close examination of the headstock reveals that the guitar was built in 1959--there are clearly holes in the headstock for the squarish metal Rickenbacker TRC.
I took a few photos of Stephen Arthur's 450 that I'm going to try and post:
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[attachment=5]image.jpg[/attachment]
Oops! I accidentally double posted one of the images, but you get the idea. It would be nice to be able to send it to Paul W. and get it restored to original (or better!) condition.
It might have been Fire-glo originally, but the oldest pictures I've seen of it are in Maple-glo. I looked over the guitar fairly carefully the last time I was at the drummer's house, and didn't see any leftover vestiges of red finish. However, the way to really tell would be to remove the pickguard or look under the TRC, which I haven't done.
The finish now (at least on top) is definitely a homemade job; I think Stephen must have sprayed it with flat black paint--I don't see any brush strokes on the finish, which is why I think he sprayed it. There's a substantial amount of wood missing from the lower "wing" of the guitar, so much so that a bent aluminum bar is screwed on to hold it together and give the end pin a place to attach. So something must have crunched it up pretty good. I don't know if it was before or after Stephen bought it from a pawn shop in Houston, but he was fairly hard on his guitars, so I'm not sure. It would be nice to restore it. It has absolutely the BEST playing neck I've ever played on a Rickenbacker. I'm not sure what the fretboard radius is--and I would imagine they would vary from guitar to guitar when this one was made--but it's simply amazing. I think the guitar would look great with gold plastic TRC and pickguard, Maple-glo neck, and turquoise "wings." The walnut strips on the edges of the headstock are a nice reddish-brown. I'd love to see it brought back to life!
My sincere condolences to Stephen's wife and family.