Tell me about your first time with a Ric 12 string

rmconner80 · Post by **rmconner80** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:06 am

Hi all, my first post. Fine forum here!

I just played my first Ric 12 the other day - a 330/12 at Chuck Levin's. I was (am?) starting to save for one seriously. I'm not sure anymore, because they are indeed quite different than a 6 string!

I've played acoustics with the 1 3/4 nut widths sucessfully, but this thing was a different beast entirely. I kept laughing at myself trying to play it.

I know setup helps a lot (this one had way too much relief), I know there is a learning curve, and I know a luthier can spread the string spacing... But even so, I'm still not sure.

I'd love to be able to get that tone...but maybe I'll just go for a 330/6. The 600s are very cool and all, but if I can only have one (yes, I can only have one!) - it's got to be a 330.

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:24 am

The first time I played a Ric 12-string it was with a band I was playing in around '76. It was a maple-glo 360 owned by the bands other guitarist and it was a bear to play!

It may have been in need of a set-up but it sure gave my hand a workout playing it. I still remember I played the guitar on 3 songs- "Song Remains the Same" (Led Zep), "Squonk"(Genesis) and "When Josie Comes Home" (Steely Dan).

I haven't had another experience with a Ric 12-string since. That guitar Kinda scared me off I guess lol!

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:25 am

Welcome, Robert! My first experience was with a 360, a long time ago, but my chops were up back then and I was much younger and not too intimidated.

I originally was gonna get a 330 this time around--finally, after YEARS of dreaming. Then I saw the 660-12 and learned about the wider neck, re-issue pickups and started getting serious. I saw a FG one on eBay with bad photos, so I missed the checkered binding detail. (Did I say I've been out of the RIC loop for decades?) I started looking for a FG and one day found a high-res picture of a MB 660-12 on the Web. Spectacular! I saw the color and the checkerboard binding close up for the first time. Another week's worth of reading reviews and searching passed before I found one 2000+ miles away. It was mine the next day.

I'll never forget opening the case after waiting 48 hours, and lifting it out. It ranks right up there with my first new car, first...(well, you get my drift...)

I'm in the process of dialing it in, but I'll state right now that I'll NEVER part with it, and plan to add several more RICs to my collection as time goes by. They are spectacular instruments.

spencer · Post by **spencer** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:23 am

Well, I was sick in hotel room bed with a cold. It was my first visit to New York City and I hadn't even been able to make it to rehearsal for our first American television appearance. I was on the phone with a radio station when John and some guy named F.C. walked in with this really gear guitar and.....

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:41 am

George!!! Is that you???

I told them those were just rumours about us...

Your pal,

J

scoobster28 · Post by **scoobster28** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:21 pm

My first time was when I walked into the House of Guitars in Rochester to purchase a 325v63. I mentioned that a 12 string intrigued me so they set me up to play a regular 360/12 and a 360/12 CW. Both were great, but the CW sounded better, and looked really sweet. And, it was only $200 more than the regular 360, and the cost to upgrade the stock 360 to vintage pickups would have made the guitars equal in price. So, as I see it, I received the checkerboard binding, the full width inlays, the thin top, and extra flamed wood, and vintage case (as well as increased value) at no cost to me. Within a week I had a down payment on my 360/12 CW and never looked back!

s_gunderson · Post by **s_gunderson** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 7:18 am

Played and bought my first RIC 12 at Macari's in central London in 2000. A 360 jetglo made in 1989 for 850 quid. Badly needed some neck adjustment, but I had no idea that this was so or how to do it. Played it that way for 6 months until I read a manual on the RIC Corp. site. Developed lotsa muscles on my left hand/fingers though.

wmthor · Post by **wmthor** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 3:09 pm

It was in the spring of 2000 when I decided to go to a guitar show in Houston to see if I could find a Vox AC-15 or AC-30 to go with my 360 and 1997. I had a few dollars to spend as I had been very lucky at the Mississippi casinos the previous weekend.

Southpaws had a booth at the show and among the left-handed RICs was a 360/12CW. Anyways, I played it at the show for a few minutes and liked what I heard. However, I was at the show to find an amp and moved on without buying it.

I never did find an amp and later that evening I started thinking about the CW. The more I thought it, the more I wanted to kick myself for not buying it as I thought it would have been sold. I called Southpaws the first thing Monday morning to see if they still had it. After work that afternoon, I made a beeline over to Southpaws and came home with this:

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/mccorp/bestlookingCW.html

BTW, I never did get that Vox amp.

Scastles · Post by **Scastles** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 12:00 pm

I had a couple of acoustic twelves and knew one day I had to have a Ric. Living in the sticks at the time I had to search all over the country until I found one, (without having to order one). It was brand new, a custom. (360/12 Mapleglo w/black hardware) some person put money down on it and failed to ever pay the rest, so the store couldn't sell it, so I took it. It was '94 and I still have it.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 3:27 pm

R.C.,

I didn't get anything on your link. Maybe it's just me...I've been know to have computer problems.

Cole

musicfan37 · Post by **musicfan37** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 4:16 pm

My first experience with a 12 string happened when I noticed a new music store had opened. I went in and saw that jetglo Ric 360/12 on the wall. I had a difficult time at first just trying to tune it. I played it for just a few minutes and then left. About and hour and a half later I went back and bought it.

gglenn · Post by **gglenn** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 4:16 am

I returned to guitar playing after a 20-year absence and bought a few guitars, one of which was a 2002 360 12. I strung it with 9s and have been playing all kinds of stuff on it... blues, Clash, originals. Great fun. Then I got a 360v64 on ebay... what a disaster, which I quickly admit is more a problem with my fingers than the guitar. After a year of frustration I've put the guitar up for sale at a local shop (I posted the message about the DiPinto Mach IV 12 in the Others section). Sometimes the reality of one's fingers intrudes on the fantasy of playing a specific guitar. But a small part of my heart will always break when I see a picture of Weller playing his 360V64 12.

wmthor · Post by **wmthor** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:44 am

J.C., try this link:

http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/bestlookingCW.html

or this one

http://home.att.net/~wmthor/wsb/media/87663/site1022.jpg