Are Rickenbackers pop guitars?

General Rickenbacker discussion

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scott_s
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Re: Are Rickenbackers pop guitars?

Post by scott_s »

Are they pop guitars? Yes.

They're also whatever you care to do with them. :P
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drumbob
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Re: Are Rickenbackers pop guitars?

Post by drumbob »

There's no doubt that Rickenbacker guitars, due to their popularity in the '60's and later with bands like REM, etc, have been pigeonholed as jangly pop machines. When I had a 360-6 a while ago, I found it be quite a nice sounding hard rock guitar with the distortion set to crunch levels on my Hot Rod Deluxe. I don't think I ever really played it with an overdrive stompbox, but I could do a convincing "Born To Be Wild" with it right off the amp. I remember one rehearsal in particular where I was wailing some lead guitar on the 360 and thinking to myself, "Man, this thing kicks ***. To hell with all that preconceived stuff about Rickenbackers."

I sold it because I had other guitars for that purpose that worked a little better, such as my Les Paul Junior, and because I found it hard to bend strings due to the shiny surface of the fretboard. I should have sent it in to a techie and had the lacquer removed.

I will have another Rick 6 someday, and if it's a good player, I'll explore its possibilities. :)
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