Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

LoL - don't feel bad, George used to wear his guitars hanging up around his nose. Los Beatles did lots of sitting while recording in the studio.

Yeah standing up while playing is a lot tougher (for this novice anyway)& defintely takes some getting used to.

Howard, I have inched up the guitar over the years. Be comfortable not cool!

I remember the first time I saw Gerry Marsden on TV with his Rick--He wore it somewhere around his Adams apple. My bandmates and I--all as "cool" as 15 year olds could be at the time--thought this was hee-larious.

I have communicated with Gerry Marsden through email on a couple of occasions.

He mentioned that he received a "stereo ricky" that had temporarily gone astry during its shipping from the US to the UK.

He also reputedly made a shipping case for it himself for its trip to New York for the Ed Sullivan show. In making this case, it was a tad short and he apparenty cut part of the headstock to make it fit. I am still looking for a closeup photo of this handy-work.

You're kidding? He cut part of the headstock off? Good thing it wasn't waayyy short.

That is the story. I do not know if this is true. I recall seeing a photo of that guitar with trussrod cover chewed up. Gerry no longer owns this guitar.

according to what ive heard, he just kinda gave it to someone

Interesting Alex. I don't think that there is a single Gerry and the Pacemakers recording in which they used this Rickenbacker 12 string. Using the 360/12C63 photo from the official site, as a reference, I think that Gerry did cut the end off as there seems to be little space about the D and G string tuners.

The headstock does look shorter to me compared to the 360/12C63 above.

Think you're right Peter, notice the proximity of the machine heads to the top of the headstock in the B/W photo, compared to the color photo you posted before it.

Well this will make it easier to identify Gerry's guitar when it turns up on eBay.

Amazing. How can you cut a headstock, figurativly ? Better yet, what did he use to cut it? The guitar looks like it is a centimeter away from one of the tuners.

I'd heard this story, too, and looking at the photo, it can be seen.

My guess is that he used a saw! Maybe the same saw that he used to build the case. Evidently he made a mistake that all tyro woodworkers encounter--he measured the length of the guitar, then built a case that length. In doing so, he forgot about the thickness of the wood...

The question was rhetorical, Paul. Doi. Bet he used Zymol where you couldn't notice.

OK, OK. Call me Mr. Literal.

They didn't make Zymol then, smart guy...