Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Friends told me that I ought to have an electric guitar among my instruments. Then I saw a video clip of this guy
and I said to myself "This is it. I just have to have a Rickenbacker 12 string." It's the sound. Nothing else is quite like it. And they look cool, too. And mine is just plain dead easy to play. Love that!
JimK

John, Paul and George, of course!

it's a 3 way tie between Looks , Feel and Sound.
the only thing that kept me away so long was the price. Not a bad thing, in fact it just made me want it more. Now I have 3 and want more... back to square one

fluffy wrote:it's a 3 way tie between Looks , Feel and Sound.
the only thing that kept me away so long was the price. Not a bad thing, in fact it just made me want it more. Now I have 3 and want more... back to square one

The thing that kept me away for so long was that I didn't even know they existed until '06. And yeah, now I want another one. Obviously, I needed to get out more Better late than never!
JimK

What "drew" me? Funny you put it that way, since it was my habit for years, following the first Sullivan appearance, to render scores of drawings of the Beatles and their instruments. John and his 325 were my favorite subject. How could I not want one when I got old enough to play?

The unique sound, probably from listening to the Beatles, The Who, Yes… and a few others out there at that time. I’d hear a tune and made a note to self – "Self that is one great sounding bass". Then find out that it was a Ric…

The Beatles. The Ricks just looked so much better than anything out there. Then when I had the opportunity to buy one, a new '68 4000JG, I found nothing else played like them. I was bitten by the Rick bug and haven't found a cure yet.
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jimk wrote:Friends told me that I ought to have an electric guitar among my instruments. Then I saw a video clip of this guy
and I said to myself "This is it. I just have to have a Rickenbacker 12 string." It's the sound. Nothing else is quite like it. And they look cool, too. And mine is just plain dead easy to play. Love that!
JimK

2:19 to 2:31 in this video shows Roger's technique of playing most of the lead work on the "G" string. I see now why his 7 string Martin was designed that way. A split screen showing both hands up close would have been interesting. Thanks for the link Jim.

1960- Born

1972- Sees pic of Roger Glover with a way cool looking bass, can make out 'Rickenbacker' on the TRC. Can't afford the bass, gets a hat like his instead.

2010- Buys first musical instrument, an '09 MG 4003. Can't find the hat.

2010- Takes lessons from the 16 year old neighbor kid who gives me sheet music asking if I've ever heard of Pink Floyd, The Ramones, etc.

2011- Life is good.

Wow, John! I didn't realize you were such a newbie to all of this!

Hope you'll be able to make it down to Milwaukee in June for the Confluence!

At the tender age of 19 or so, I saw some stills from the inside of the Magical Mystery Tour album, and saw Paul McCartney with some other kind of bass that wasn't violin shaped. In fact, my initial impression was that it was kind of funny looking. I eventually saw Magical Mystery Tour (the movie) and acquired the Beatles Anthology, both of which featured video clips of Paul playing his Rickenbacker. What a funny name for an instrument manufacturer!

I soon realized that the Beatles albums of that time period featured that bass. I loved the tone he got, so I just had to have one! I unfortunately could not pony up the $1000 that it cost to get one brand new then (about 2001 or so), so I started my indefinite wait.

It took me until I was 27 (early last year) to finally acquire one, my fireglo 4003. I was hooked, both on the sound and the action!

About two months ago I acquired a 4001C64, finally realizing my dream of copping Paul's tone!

bassduke49 wrote:Wow, John! I didn't realize you were such a newbie to all of this!

Yep, I'm a greenhorn!

coolingitdown wrote:.......What a funny name for an instrument manufacturer!

I always thought they were a European company until I was able to buy one!

George Harrison's 360/12. I used to draw it in my high school notebooks during class; thought it was the coolest looking guitar I had ever seen, but I had actually never seen one in person, just on TV. Growing up in Philly, none of the music stores had them, just the standard selection of G's and F's. When I finally saw one for real, many years later, I just had to have one. And another, and another.....! The mystique and beauty of the instruments was just too much to resist.

kiramdear wrote:What "drew" me? Funny you put it that way, since it was my habit for years, following the first Sullivan appearance, to render scores of drawings of the Beatles and their instruments. John and his 325 were my favorite subject. How could I not want one when I got old enough to play?

Kira, any chance of seeing some of your drawings? I think that would make a fine addition to the forum

Same thing that first drew me to Yes: Chris Squire playing "Sound Chaser."