Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Housemartins! Good stuff!

scotty wrote:

godber wrote:I'd never really taken much notice of this model before, but now I've got a 425 I think I would like it. I love the JG.

That's great!

Paul Heaton was touring recently, but I missed him (that didn't add anything to the conversation did it...)

kennyhowes wrote:'80s. I've been through three.

Two of them had been modified and had funky finishes, so it could be a neck thing.

Like I said, I'd love to try one again. I think they're dead sexy guitars.

If you come home for Xmas, you must try my '87. It will make you exclaim "FINALLY!!!!!" It is truly a killer neck.

I've got a 1989 610, with vibrato, MG. In the cleaner nomenclature of yesteryear, it would've been a 615, I think. A couple years back I had a lovely 660 but I discovered that the pickups were unusable at stage volume with fuzzboxes and the binding actually wore a hole in my skin during an instrumental set, due, I suppose, to the ferocious strumming involved... So the 610 really works a lot better for me! It' so cute, and so solid, as I just discovered when I sorta dropped it the other day...euuuh.

I was tempted to bid on a Jetglo 610 with all black trim that was on ebay last week. I really could use a guitar again.

rickenbrother wrote:I was tempted to bid on a Jetglo 610 with all black trim that was on ebay last week. I really could use a guitar again.

Well, we will just have to check out your geetar chops next weekend at MARF!

I have 1991 610 JG BT, that I bought very cheaply in 1993. Cost me $500 USD, as I recall. I needed it for some recording that I was doing at the time, so I didn't care what it looked like, just that it had the Rick high gain sound I wanted...

Just this year I have gotten around to ordering the parts and making it look the way I think RICs are supposed to look...

Here are some before and after pictures. I haven't changed the pickups or the Schaller tuners, so that makes it a 610 JG WT BH I guess... It is the same guitar - just the look has changed... I still have all the old parts if I want to do a reversal someday...

Brian

I originally wanted a 610 but landed a 620. I like the 620, but I prefer the look of a 610 - no binding and dot inlays. It just looks more rock and roll to me. Kind of reminds me of a sleeper muscle car that has the guts under the hood but none of the spoilers and stripes, etc. Maybe someday.

Chip:

When I started buying RIC's the 615 (or 610) hadn't been made in 17 years.. So it wasn't an option. I did have a 1977 320 though with the plainer look, and there is something to be said for it... Around 1981, the first RIC guitar I ever played was a mid 70's JG 330 for example - I couldn't buy one at the time, but I sure wanted it badly enough.

I ended up with my first RIC - a 620 because it was the only authorized dealership in Ontario that let me finance it, given that I was a high school student without much income and no parent to co-sign for me...... ($615 paid over 6 months, happily paid off on time).. and the 620 was the cheaper of the two guitars they had hanging in the store.. The other one was a 360, but was about 300 bucks more expensive... Once I got used to the solid bodies that was it for me.. They became MY guitars.

Still I always got copies of the catalogs and drooled over the various models and options.. (I still have them 27 years later)..

That's why I put the white TRC and pick guard on my 610... The guitar now looks much more like the John Lennon style that I remember so much, even if it does only have 2 pickups...

I wonder how many three pickup 610's are out there? I did see a a 620 with three pickups once, but I think it was moded by its owner rather then leaving the factory that way... The middle pickup was a toaster but the other two were the high gains that likely came with it.

Sound wise I don't think there is much of a difference other then there being no "rick-o-sound" stereo output. Something that on my 620's I have never ever used anyway - so for me it was no loss.

It seems though that the market prefers the 620's, which is why RIC discontinued them again I suppose. They keep popping up on Ebay fairly steadily if you want one... Just saw a fireglow example tonight in New Mexico if you are looking for one... They are usually sold cheaper then the 620's.

B

I have not looked at this for a while and saw how many people had posted about their 610 or love of 610s. it is good to know that despite their slightly lmore modest appearance, they are still highly appreciated.

Mitch, I think you hit the nail on the head about them. They are just so cute!!!!!

Have a great Christmas folks and a very Happy New Year!! Hope to see more of you in 2009!!

Sarah

Brian,

Nice story. Yes, someday I'd like to find that 610, but for now I can only window shop. I wouldn't mind another 480 too.

Chip and Sarah:

Thanks for the holiday wishes... (I lived in the UK for 2 years in the early 90's... Liverpool which was my Dad's home town)....

I have only played one 480 in my life. A MG from 1975 that was in a local pawnshop. To me it looked too much like a bass!

I understand they now have quite a following due to some current bands in the UK using them more and more.

Brian

Ontario_RIC_fan wrote:
I understand they now have quite a following due to some current bands in the UK using them more and more.

Brian

They have quite a following because they're terrific instruments. And the 481 is even better for harder sounds (like blooz) due to its powerful humbucker pickups. Ironic, because it's the least conventional of all Rick 6-strings, ever...

I tend to prefer my 480 over my 620 because I'm tall. The 620 looks a little small on me, as would a 610. I've also toyed with the idea of someday finding a 430. There was a JG on ebay not long ago, but again I can only dream and drool right now.

Many moons ago there was a 481 JG in a music shop that I would have loved to get, but with the unconventional slanted frets, and it would have been my only guitar, I was uncertain about getting it (I would have needed to trade for it).

I too drooled over that 1975 JG 430 that was on ebay this year...

I had never seen one before in jet glow with the white trim.. All the samples in the catalog were Black trim with natural woods. I do like the body shape, but would have preferred the R-tail piece.

If I could talk John Hall into creating a signature guitar for me - that's what I would have him create... A version of the 610/620 with High Gains and R- tail but using the 430 body shape... Call it a 510/520 I suppose! Never gonna happen I know but it is fun to dream.

BTW This is the guitar I am lusting over at the moment..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0297504639

Alas it is way out of my price range. I am pretty sure it is the same guitar that came out of my hometown here in Ontario about 4 years back... At least the first 2 pics look the same.

Oh to be independently wealthy!

Brian