Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Then Larry made a trip out there to see some "replicas"? Larry, I'd ask for my money back!

The question begs asking, Paul, then where is the 'real' ye old V81?

I know it does, Stan.

Cute...very cute, . I'm still laughing. I guess we can all wonder where BD 122 is as well.

Now somewhere in the dark halls of the Dakota,
there lived a guitar known as 325 # 1
and one day yoko had it cloned by another guy
hit young Capri in the eye, #1 said he didnt like that.
Gonna get that clone. blah blah blah

The Ballad of Rocky Rac-Clone.

Sorry. Rocky Rick-Clone.

LOL

John, are you SURE that you and David aren't related?

I spoke at length with Chris Huston about John's guitar before pointing Tony Bacon to him for his RIC book (and subsequently Andy and everyone else.) Chris told me all the stories everyone has now heard, but in all of our conversation about John's guitar he never mentioned the back being replaced. I have only heard that theory here on this forum, never from anyone who was actually there.

Scott, you're most likely right but it is unbelievable fodder, but I still would like to know the exact whereabouts of V81?

In Japan.

While I don't want to take away from the main point of this thread, I have always wondered why Lennon had so few public things to say about his Rickenbacker guitar. Being that it was his main instrument for roughly four years, I would have thought that he would have said more about it.

Just MHO but I don't think any of those guys were equipment fanatics, I think he probably liked it and that was that, it was probably a tool of his trade for him, like mine were when I was a kid. My early basses and guitars never got polished, necks never got adjusted, I just didn't care, I just played them in bands that was all. I bought a new P bass when I was 18 and never experimented with others, I wasn't completely happy with it but it did the job for me. I have a feeling they were the same as I was.

I do know that there was a replica made of V81.

Sean Lennon has stated, in my presence, that his dad's guitars belong to him, not his mother. This may explain why a replica was necessary, if she didn't actually have the right to commit it to display somewhere.

She ran into this before when she promised all four 'Pepper' suits for an exhibit, even though she only had rights to one of them. She had a set of replicas of those suits made by the original maker, who ran off a set for his 'retirement.' We included that set in out auction last year, but Yoko's attorneys intervened by purchasing the suits from the consignor and paying the auction house an amount for it's trouble. So we know that she now has two complete replica sets of 'Pepper' suits as well as John's original.

It is becoming routine for artists to have their favorite or iconic instruments replicated. I know that Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck have both had this done with their vintage Les Pauls. McCartney has had it done with his Hofner bass, and now his Texan. Both the Page Les Paul and McCartney's Texan were later offered as limited Edition replicas by Gibson. These are just a couple of examples.

Seems I've been asleep at the wheel........ did somebody mention 'Jack Daniels' and 'Montechristo' a while back? Mmmmmm.........!