Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Thanks Paul, should we use the American or Portuguese spelling since most of us are Gringos.

Ha ha!!! You guys go right on doin' what you do!

It's just my own personal thing; kinda ties me to my wife and little girl, who are down there until June.

Her name is Juliana and she's 8. Here's her pic.

You've got a beautiful daughter, Paul! Does she show an interest in the guitar yet?

I began to study French when I was 15. I probably learned the word "Brésil" earlier than the English version "Brazil" haha! I've not paid attention to how the Brazilians call their own country. Now I know, thanks to Paul.

As a recording/mixing engineer that mainly work in the pop/rock field, I feel that an acoustic guitar with maple back and sides very easy to record and mix for pop/rock songs that consist of drums, bass and other instruments. The bright sonic character of such guitar which is used as a rhythm component provide the shimmer for the songs and cuts through easily. The slight lack in the low frequency boom is actually a good thing because it does not interfere with the bass and low frequency contents of other instruments like electric guitars, pianos and organs, etc.. You'll even find me cutting the lows of a "very warm" guitar most of the time when mixing it in rock/pop music. However, in songs (eg. New Age stuffs) where there's not many instruments and that the acoustic guitar is featured as the main/solo instrument, a rosewood bodied acoustic guitar is much welcomed for its low-mid warmth. So practically, there's no acoustic guitars that can handle all situations. That's why we see professional studio guitar players own more than one or two acoustic guitars that have very different tones. Although I've never seen and heard a RIC Jazz-Bo, I actually believe it makes a very nice rock/pop acoustic guitar with its maple neck, sides, back and spruce top.

Thanks, Paul. Someday I'd like to own a Jazz-Bo. Everything I've heard makes it sound like a pretty special instrument.

mmm ...jazz bo

As a guitar player who also has a lot of experience in sound recording, I totally support what Paul Yan is saying - and other useful posts about the characteristics of woods.

The caution I would add is: these are generalisations. The scope for variation in an acoustic instrument's sound is immense, Not all guitar designs are equal and not all timbers that bear the same name will produce the same tone.

What I'm really trying to say is that you have to judge every single guitar on its merits .

If you're shopping for an acoustic, ideally, don't just go to a dealer to see if it's right for you but take a playing friend, so you can stand back and listen to the way the tone is out front.

Right on, Simon.
Even 2 guitars of the same model from the same batch can have slightly different tones. Really good advice on bringing a friend to play for you too. Actually, some of my friends asked me to accompany them to the store to help them decide which ones to buy---them playing and me listening from a few feet back and telling them what I heard.

Simon Croft says: "If you're shopping for an acoustic, ideally, don't just go to a dealer to see if it's right for you but take a playing friend, so you can stand back and listen to the way the tone is out front."

Amen! IMHO, that's the single best piece of advice you can give to someone shopping for an acoustic.

A nice overview of tonewoods:
http://www.musicfolk.com/docs/Features/Feature_ToneWood.htm

I wanted a 12-string jumbo RIC with maple sides. Couldn't wait any longer, so I bought a nice Taylor 455ce. Great guitar. *sigh* maybe someday on the RIC.

I've had both the Rosewood Shasta and Maple Comstock 700 model. Though I'm sorry now I sold the Shasta, it didn't compare to the Maple Comstock. I have several vintage acoustic guitars, but find myself playing the Comstock more often than the others. As I've said here before, it sounds like the best J200 you've ever heard. Now if only I could find a Comstock 12 String. Hopefully they'll be available again soon.

...speaking of Jazzbo's; has anyone ever seen one? Do they exist outside the "museum" at RIC? I've heard that the one on the web site is the only one besides the NAMM Jazzbo.

Cole

The one on the Website is not really a Jazzbo per se', but is actually a 390 that was made back in the '50s. If you compare it to the Jazzbo that is shown at NAMM and is in the catalog, you'll see immediately that they are very different guitars. I believe that the picture on the website is of the very same guitar that Sam Cooke has been pictured with. There are two of these, that exist, pretty similar but not identical, and then the NAMM Jazzbo, which I will call a prototype since I think it is the only one. These 3 guitars are the only RICs like this that I know of. There may be more somewhere, who knows?