"Rickenbacker Jangle"

[theonemanband]

"Rickenbacker Jangle" is, I believe, a broad term regarding tone that is itself a very subjective issue.

I absolutely love my 620/12 and the wonderful sound it produces!! It is my preferred, regular "weapon of choice" gigging instrument; it is a fantastic guitar that I truly cherish!!

That being said, I also have a Danelectro DC59 12string that on a "one to one" comparison has far more "jangle" than any Ric. The guitar was as cheap as chips, costing about a fifth of my 620/12 and made from hardboard (Masonite in the US I believe?) on a plywood frame!!

Apart from the obvious inferior build differences and its cheap pots & switches, the other Dano variables are the "traditional" 12 string layout, "lipstick" pickups and an aluminium nut.

I'm sure all these factors contribute to the fantastic tone of the Danelectro but which, and to what degree, give it so much more bright jangle than a Ric.

Just interested in this so called "Jangle" issue

Brian.

PS.......Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin) played a Dano, so that's SOME endorsement!!

[Ric5150]

Danelectros are good at sounding like Danelectros. I've always wanted to want one, but never came across one I couldn't easily walk away from due to overall playability, and I'm not overly fussy in that regard. After buying a Jerry Jones 'sitar', I bought a Jerry Jones 3 pickup DC-something 6-string replica and have been quite happy with that. I wouldn't consider it similar to a Rickenbacker in any regard, though - other than both being guitars.

[Tommy]

For years I thought some Smiths songs were jangling Rickenbackers. Found out later that Marr was using a Telecaster.
Many guitars can jangle. All I know is that when I want to jangle I grab my Ric. It's genuine jangle.

[LenMinNJ]

I've got one of the Danelectro 12-strings too, and I agree: they sound just as jangly as my old 660-12TP or 370-12RM, especially with a compressor in the loop.

[jdogric12]

More highs does not equal more jangle. That term betrays the characteristically strong midrange frequencies of a compressed Rick 12 string (with the octave being struck last in downstrokes). A Fender Electric XII (and possibly your Dano) has what I'd call instead "shimmer."

[Folkie]

The jangle quotient all depends on how you attack the strings. I use a very thin flatpick on my Rick 12's, and I make an effort to sweep through each low course and land emphatically on each octave string. I've played three of four new Danelectro 12's, and none of them even came close to the jangle (or shimmer) of my Ricks. No matter how they're dialed in, to my ears they tend to sound "muddy" in comparison with my Ricks. Not to mention the fact that every Danelectro I've played has had tuning issues and/or sour notes due to intonation problems. I'm not sure why this is. I guess you get what you pay for. I've also played several Fender Stratocaster 12-strings (although I've never gotten my hands on a Fender XII) and a Gibson ES-335 12-string, among others, and none even approached the sound of my Ricks.

[sloop_john_b]

I think a switch to toaster pickups (post-2000) or an electronics upgrade (stock pot values for Ricks are often less-than optimal) will get you in the ballpark of what you're looking for.

[jfine]

I have a Dano DC-12 (purple sparkle!), and the trick to getting a good tone out of it is to have both pickups on, with the neck pickup tone all the way down, bridge tone and both volumes all the way up. Since Danos are wired in series, there's more output on the two-pickup setting, and turning the neck pickup tone down effectively cuts its volume down a bit as well (the cheap pot acts more like an on-off switch than a pot--there's no taper). The bridge pickup by itself sounds a bit thin, and with the tone rolled off the neck pickup by itself is so muddy as to be unusable, and with the tone wide-open it's not much better. As little as I play the 12-string, I really only need the one sound anyway, unlike on a 6-string where I need everything the guitar will give me. The Dano's definitely not a Rickenbacker (duh!), but it's not bad. Someday if I can afford it I'd love to get a Ricky 660-12.

[parker_knoll]

i think by "jangle" we probably mean the opposite of "woolly" or "mellow" so basically we're talking low bass frequency response and high upper mids. Usually when we struggle for phrases to define speakers, guitars, amps we're basically talking about EQ and the unique EQ signature of that instrument or that setup.

I did find a frequency response chart for both the Higain and the Toaster once. The resonant spike on the Toaster was significantly higher up the frequency band than the Higain. Lipsticks similarly have a bright response. It's really interesting when you see this stuff visually because it tends make a lot more sense that finding words to describe it. I wonder why guitar reviewers don't bother with a bit of science. There might be be a lot less snakeoil-style guitar products around if they did.

Other things such as aluminium bridges, maple wood etc. do contribute, but I suspect not as much as pickups and, at the other end, speakers to overall tone.

How much difference the nut makes is debatable. In the 70s brass nuts were a popular upgrade, but mainly because they were supposed to hang up less on the strings rather than for tone. I did contemplate making a Ric nut out of aluminium at one point, inspired by Danelectro, but I'll get on and finish my Ric vibrato project before then.

[squirebass]

Just wondering if any of you have tried stringing a Dano or a Fender the Rickenbacker way, or even if they come that way stock these days?
I own a 660/12, and once seriously considered buying a Dean 12, and I was surprised to find it was strung the "traditional" way. Does having them strung rick-style do anything positive for the jangle?