What's YOUR attraction to Ricks?

[walker]

Tom - Good analogy: Rickenbacker being the "Thor's hammer" of basses!

And yes - the jobs that led to the acquisition! For me it was a dish washing job at a seafood restaurant that I had in high school. I bought my first Rick bass (a '79 JG) and amp with that money. The amps have been replaced, but I still have the bass, of course. Here's a repeat of the 'then & now' photo: (1982 - 2009)



Wow... save for a few family relics, that bass may be the object that I've owned for the longest time!

[ram]

Wow... save for a few family relics, that bass may be the object that I've owned for the longest time!

Yeah I think my '74 might be mine as well!!

always love the before & nowish shots....

[doombuggy]

I was a big beatle head and I plus I had started getting into indie college rock, buying imports, bought The Jams All mod Cons in the import bin and bands like the long Ryders at Cats Records because they had Rickenbackers on the covers. so I saved up and started looking for a rick about 1983, I wanted a 320 Lennon, looked in the paper and someone had a rickenbacker for sale for $350. when I got there I offered $325 and the man sold it to me, I didnt know what model it was for a while but found out it was a 69 or 70, 381 FG, it had the early hi gains without buttons, at the time there wasnt a lot of information available on Rickenbackers or guitars in general so I sent a letter to John Hall and he wrote back with information. I kept the guitar for a year but it bugged me that it didnt look like the beatle version pickguard, so I decided I wanted a 320 (pre reissues) sold it to Gruhns for $550 I tried o trade it for a 320 to him but he pulled a fast one and told me he didnt have any...the next month he had 2 in his paper for $700 , I ended up ordering one I dont think it was much more to order a new 320, seems like it was $795
at the time Rickenbackers were not very popular and extremely rare in my town, it was all jimi strats and kramer Van Halen land....

[myfretless]

I just like the sounds I can get out of them.
The cool finishes and designs and RicOSmell are just cherries on top.

[drumbob]

My attraction is simple: They're beautiful, classy guitars that look like nothing else out there, and they have an amazing vibe that screams, "1960s."

I grew up in the mid-Sixties and I saw Ricks everywhere during the British Invasion era. Pete Townshend played Ricks in the early days, and he was a huge influence. Roger McGuinn played one and still does. The Who and The Byrds are my two favorite bands of all time. George Harrison played one. I love The Beatles. Having a Rickenbacker 12 string was a foregone conclusion. I also play a Les Paul Junior because of Leslie West. I have a Flying V, Explorer, and a Moderne simply because I love the shapes. I have a Gretsch 6118 Anniversary just because it's so darn cool looking. I have a Telecaster because it's so versatile.

But the Rick 12 is iconic to me.

[Dave12]

In addition to all the above reasons... it just feels so high-quality in your hands. Nothing compares to the "feel" of a Ric!

[RutleDirk]

1. The sound.
2. The feel.
3. The quality.
4. The look.
5. The smell.
6. The sound of the name.
7. The taste.

OK, so that last one isn't exactly an attraction. In fact, most Ricks taste horrible, in my opinion. Overall, better than the flavor of "The Others," though.

[westaussie]

They're a really great chick magnet

[Trav]

Weller, Townshend, Harrison, McGuinn & Lennon for me! Also our band all played Rickenbackers because we knew they were cool (bass & 2 guitars) even though we were fairly electronic.

[pocaloc]

I think they are beautiful, not to mention all the guitar heroes that have used them. I love the jangle. I remember when I saw my 1993 330 at The Trading Musician in Seattle. I traded my drum set and all my cymbals, and my Gibson SG. There was just something about owning that piece of history. You see a Strat everywhere you look, but a Ric is a rare Byrd.

[chuck_king]

I had heard of Rickenbackers from way back---probably due to the Beatles connection---but I didn't really focus on them until R.E.M. hit. There was a feature in Musician magazine about them, probably around the time of Reckoning or so, and I don't remember the title of the article (something about angels) but the subtitle was "...and they play Rickenbackers!" As I became a big fan of R.E.M., that always stuck in my mind. But at that time in that place (central Illinois) they were just not to be found in music stores, so I didn't have a chance to actually play one for years after that. Finally in the mid-90s, I found a used 360 (red with black trim) that I owned for several years, but I never really bonded with it, and sold it.

But fast-forward ten years. After mainly playing bass for a long time, I got back into playing guitar in a band, and started buying guitars again. I had in the back of my mind the idea of giving Rickenbacker another try, and by that point with the advent of on-line forums and eBay, they were much more available. So when I saw a nice Jetglo 360 on a forum for a good price, I took the plunge. (The Pete Buck association may have encouraged me in that particular case!)

I'm not sure what was different about this 360 compared to the red one I had before, but from the first time I strapped it on, it was just incredibly comfortable to play. It quickly became a solid favorite, and coincidentally it turned out to be a very versatile guitar as well---it was the only guitar I had that I thought I could use for every song in our eclectic cover band set. It's still one of my favorite guitars I have ever owned. My happy experience with that guitar launched me on a frenzy of Rick buying, and over the next eight months or so I ended up getting five more Ricks: a 330, 340 (w/toasters), 650D, 660/12, and a 4003. That may not have been entirely prudent, but I'm sure most of you will understand.

Interestingly enough, the 650D, which doesn't look, feel, or sound anything like my 360, has become another "go-to" guitar. Between the two of them, they cover a lot of sonic space.

[cestlamort]

1. Peter Buck (REM)
2. Guy Picciotto (Rites of Spring, Fugazi)
3. Neil Halstead (Slowdive, Mojave 3)
4. Ride
5. sounds, plays, feels, and looks "right."

[rikk]

For me is was sound and playability. My first 4001 I bought as a spare bass because it was reasonably priced. The day I bought it I played it at a gig. NEVER went back.

[TheyMightBe]

It's all about the jangle.

[suedehead71]

Ricks truly stand out from the 'rest." strats are a dime a dozen, and quite frankly, IMHO, hideous. i do Not get people's attraction to them at all, but obviously, i'm in the minority on that one, as it is easily the world's most popular and copied guitar.
as a kid, i used to love the way Rickenbackers looked, (thanks to beatles and byrds) but knew nothing about guitars. when i hit my teens, the glut of horrid guitars in my price range dictated the scope of my vision for instruments, and it wasn't until the mid 90's that i saw a Rick in person and fell in love. it's like it just Leaped from the wall screaming :here i am, baby! of course, it was a right handed model, and there began my nightmare of finding the right Lefty model for me. over the years i've been through a 560 Colorado, a 330FG, a 360WB-FG, a 325 JG, and a 360V64 (the only one i still have, which wasn't sacrificed in a sad succession of ebay sales to make the monthly payment of $2,000 rent on a house in san francisco when my wife at the time lost her job).

they are classic, made withoput compromise in an age of slapped together dreck, timeless, infectious, and for a guitar synonymous with The greatest and most influential band of all time, shockingly absent from a more prominent role in the guitar scene. OH WELL, world; the loss is yours and the gain is the Rick brotherhood's.