Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

collin wrote: For some reason---the immediate post-CBS era is my favorite for Fenders.....people can pay big bucks for pre-CBS, fine with me! I love transtional stuff- Paisley & Rosewood Telecasters, Competition Mustangs, Jaguars/JM's with neck binding and block inlays......."leftover" guitars like the Maverick/Custom, Swinger/Musiclander.....Electric XII, Coronado (especially the wildwood and antigua finishes), the LTD looks super cool to me (never played one though), and I actually dig the Fender-headstock acoustics.

I guess there are differences in the build, but almost every one of the above guitars I mentioned has been a superb playing/sounding guitar--much cooler and well-playing as plenty of guitars sold today. I can't be alone in thinking that these are some very cool instruments?

I too have a taste for the quirky, transitional, and underdog models from all the makers. But then I've always been that way myself, guess that's why Right now I'm focused on short scale guitars.

Here is the LTD in color . . . http://www.strat-central.com/ltd.htm

1965 wrote:

jingle_jangle wrote:They are wonderful players and address one issue that some players have with the original Teles--weight.

I thought it was more of a fix for the fact that post-CBS Fender was using very heavy (cheap) wood for teles, and the thinline was a design solution to that problem.

Sorry, Wes--by "original", I intended the meaning to be the heavy Teles that were in production at the time. I know--I owned one (a '67) for a brief period and was greatly disappointed in its sound and feel compared to my early '50s Tele, which preceded it.

Collin, I agree that we're influenced by the instruments we saw when growing up, but I continue to be influenced by the instruments that I see...I suppose I'm not grown up yet! My post was speaking more to the out-of-step nature of the manufacturing community when they tried to read the taste of a customer base fully 30 years or more younger than their management. Toss in a wild card like Rossmeisl, trained in Europe and with an esthetic sensibility based in traditional German luthiery, and you're destined to get some weirdness.

I love offset-waist Fenders (and miss my old bound-neck, block-inlaid '69 JM), Duo-Sonics, Mustangs (though the "competition stripe" was a SMT (Stupid Marketing Trick) that was supposed to tie them in with the bestriped supercars of the day, and IMO failed visually). And the other oddball Fender leftovers all ring my bell, too. I've passed on a couple of Customs; still looking for a real nice one. I'm due to work on one of the Marauder factory prototypes (and the owner has asked me to build a couple of replicas) sometime in the near future, too, so you can believe that I'm going to photograph the heck out of it...neat stuff. And I do own an Antigua Jag, though it's CIJ.

But I am not too crazy about RR's Fender stuff; it just seems to be the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong company.

Wow. Here's that LTD again:



And here's the back of my Jazzbo, built in late 2007:



Some similarity, huh? I don't recall seeing the back of the LTD until just now, but the RR DNA is evident in both instruments.

Paul, it's absolutely stunning!!

I don't know...............that LTD looks pretty good to me. Of course so does that Jazzbo! I guess I'm a fan of Mr. Rossmeisl's design style.

I know I LOVE the classic Rickenbacker shapes.

I think Collin is right here, a lot of it is what you grow up seeing. There are people who are actively collecting those pointy '80's guitars that were popular with the Metal guys because that's the music they remember and like. They don't do anything for me.

I got into Rics because I saw REM, Tom Petty, and the Smiths playing them and we all know about the effect the Beatles and Byrds had on Rickenbackers.

Paul, everything you wrote in reference to the popularity of LTD's and Coronado's was right on (and thanks for all of that information, better than I've seen in any book!). There were some other guitars that were commercial flops when they were released and became popular later. The easy examples are the Flying V and Explorer. Even the original Les Paul got phased out for the SG in the early '60's until they brought it back. So you never know.................most people can't afford a Vintage Strat or Tele but they can afford a Coronado and it is a vintage Fender.

And Collin, the other one you saw at my house was red. If I can find a white one I'll have them in Red White and Blue. Then I'll have to find a good 4th of July gig!

ric340JG wrote:Paul, it's absolutely stunning!!

And the Jazzbo front is even better!

(I'm sure Paul will oblige with a body-front photo.)

libratune wrote:

ric340JG wrote:Paul, it's absolutely stunning!!

And the Jazzbo front is even better!

(I'm sure Paul will oblige with a body-front photo.)

Is there a similar comparison shot of the front of the LTD too?

Those are both beautiful, but I have to say I really like that grain on the LTD (but I'm a confirmed figureaholic). What sort of binding is on that LTD? The checker on the Jazzbo shows up, but I can't quite make out what the LTD has...

Danotron wrote: I think Collin is right here, a lot of it is what you grow up seeing. There are people who are actively collecting those pointy '80's guitars that were popular with the Metal guys because that's the music they remember and like. They don't do anything for me.

I got into Rics because I saw REM, Tom Petty, and the Smiths playing them and we all know about the effect the Beatles and Byrds had on Rickenbackers.

This is a very strong factor in my psychology, and the reason that the c64 headstock and smiley TRC looks just "right" to me, for example: Paul's bass (don't we have a pet name for his famous 4001?) had the wave on the bottom and a nice smile and that's what says Rickenbacker to me. I can't help it.

Good-looking LTD, but a bolt-neck on a guitar that nice is all wrong, IMO.

dpowell wrote:Good-looking LTD, but a bolt-neck on a guitar that nice is all wrong, IMO.

I totally agree!

dpowell wrote:Good-looking LTD, but a bolt-neck on a guitar that nice is all wrong, IMO.

EXACTLY! Nut Fender had stuff to prove (CBS management thought that they could make a jazz guitar with a bolt-on neck that was just as nice as classic, glued-neck archtops.

And, they succeeded! The LTD is just as nice as any set-neck classic artchtop, except for the bolt on neck.

LTD front:



Jazzbo front:



1959 Roger, built by Wenzel Rossmeisl, Roger's father:

What fabulous pictures!!!

What I really like about the German Carve on the 381 is that the "outside border" appears like a 330 and the the "inside border" is like a 325. Well, you know what I mean . . . it's like a 330 and 325 in one guitar!! Ingenious!!! That is probably the ultimate Rick electric guitar.

I designed the 330 model.

steverok wrote:I designed the 330 model.

I broke the dam.