Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am going to buy my son a 6 string Rick for his birthday. He currently plays a Tele with 13s and he tends to break strings because he plays hard (mostly chords, no soloing). His style of playing the guitar needs 13s to get good tone--- he does not care much about soloing except on rare ocassions. Which model should I look into? My son has dreamed about owning a Rick for a long time and I want to give him the right guitar for his musical style. BTW, he wants it in black.

Thanks

J

Well, Peter Buck of R.E.M. plays a Jetglo (black) 360 6 string with 013-056 guage strings. I also play a 360 and am a rhythm player. I NEVER solo, but the fretboard is very "fast" so your son should have no problems with a solo if he chooses to play one.

13 guage strings should be fine on a Ric. I think you might just need to get the truss rods ajusted slightly, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

Besides the 360, the 330 is also a good rhythm player, and is very similar to the 360.

Thanks for the input.
How much should I expect to pay for a new 330 or 360?

J

I doubt the strings on your son's Tele break because of his style of playing. Probably there are sharp edges on the bridge or the saddle.
On my guitars (Lakewood acoustic, Peavey Wolfgang and Rick 330) a string breaks about once a year. If I'd play so hard that my strings would break more often, then I would hit them out of tune.

When you go to a shop and ask for 13s you will reallize there are not many sets available for electric guitars, and probably none without a wound g string.
It is simply not necessary to use such strings for anything, it's only common for jazz guitar players who want to have a very solid sound and very little vibration of the strings to play super-fast single note lines.

What exactly does your son play?

Well, according to Ric's site a 330 goes for $1419US and a 360 goes for $1549US. These are the "list" prices, so expect something in that price range at the store. As a side note, here in CAnada, I got my 360 for $1999CAN plux taxes, it ended up being about $2440CAN - just a glimpse into that there currency difference!

As a note on Oliver's post - I play with 13's on my accoustic for the fuller chord sound...and I would use 13's on my Ric if I wasn't paranoid about truss rod ajustment - even though there's nothing to worry about. I'm just not a "tech" guy, so I'm always affraid I'll damage my guitars somehow.

Julio, you should go and check on Pick of the Ricks web site. You just might find what you're looking for at a very good price!

I have suspected there is something wrong with my son's guitar because he is always breaking the strings. He only plays original music with lots of staccato chords. It is not metal or classic rock. It is no Beatlesque or like the Byrds, I have a hard time telling what it is because he only listens to the most obscure bands. I have set his guitar with 12s many times and he always complains. He is not too interested in bending strings and likes minimalist soloing if any. However, he does like the jangly stuff in some of his songs. In reality I think he wants a Rick because they are pretty. I thought I could pick up a 6 string Rick for about a $1000, but maybe I am wrong. Is this the kind of guitar one can mail order or should we go to a local dealer. In my area that would be GC or Chuck Levins Music in Wheaton, Maryland.

THe notches on the bridge are a suspect .I would find a repairman who uses round edge joint files to cut nut slots , and ask him to 'chase' the slots .Then I would consider buffing the saddles .
This would mean removing them and hitting them with a buffer indiviually (I would do it that way , yes it is more work to take it apart and then re-intonate the bridge , but less clean up and that is really time consuming...sort of a toss up ) .
You get a cleaner look that way , if you ask me and it takes care of the sharp edges .

If he is playing like one of these guys jumping around on MTV .......you will find that , in a studio , there is no need for that and the live show (jumping around is great ,once the material is second nature and you are trying to make things fun and interesting to look at .Starting with the jumping ....not my idea of being pro.
Get the chops together , then jump .Even Pete Townshend sits in the studio and plays!

Just for my personal interest: Could you ask your son for some band's names? Probably some sond files can be found on the web.

I bought my 330 new, but second hand (an unwanted present) for 1100 €. Probably I'd have payed less in the USA, and probably even less if it really was used. But a new one for 1000 $? I doubt you'll find that.

Corey, I also play 13s sometimes. It can make sense, it can make the guitar sound fuller. But there is no NEED to use them for ANY technique or style of playing. That's all I was going to say.

But I also remember someone on this forum said 13s might be dangerous for a Rick. I don't remember who said so and what his qualification was.

That's true, Oliver. I'm quite happy with the 10 or 11 flats I use on my 360 now.

The only known bands my son likes a lot is Blur. When he was younger he liked Echo and the Bunney Men, Nitzer Ebb, and Skinny puppy.

These are his band web sites:

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/203/winterbrief.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/winterbrief/


In a web site he listed these as favorites:

01. KLING KLANG - Rocker/Vander (Guided Missle Records)
02- ATOM & HIS PACKAGE - Redefining Music (Hopeless Records)
03- PULP - We Love Life (Island Records)
04- CICCONE - "Forget Your Flase Mess'iahs" EP (BlueFire Records.
05- KAITO - "You've Seen Us ... you must ..." (Fierce Panda)
06. FAD GADGET - "The Best of Fad Gadget (Mute Records)
07. RED MONLEY - "Get Uncivilised" Single - Troubleman Records.
08. THE GUY WHO INVENTED FIRE - I Didn't Get Where I Am Today (Intellectos Records)
09. THE RAPTURE - Out of the Races and onto the Tracks" (Sub Pop)
10. GUILLERMINE - Sol (Elefant Records)
11.THE FLAMINGO MASSACRES - Wearing your Heart on the... (TFM)


The name of his band is Winterbrief.

I don't mind buying a slightly used Rick. It seems one can be had for about $1000. I checked out Pick of the Ricks and this seems achievable. Are these folks reliable or will they sell a guitar with a warped neck?

J

THe 'dangerous ' factor is the pre 1984 /VINTAGE rods and what kind of adjustments you can expect to get from those necks .

It can be done and without any problem ....however ,They rods will need to be removed and the complete adjustement /bending thing done.The rod bar of aluminum may need to be replaced (if tortured and twisted from T Rod amateurs) and steel washers -#8 placed in front of the nuts.

Big strings = Big sound
Big strings = big calluses
Big strings = wound G /3rd string

The nut slots will need to be adjusted as most nuts are cut to allow a set of .011 to .052 to fit ...larger will need some help .
The bridge will also need to be adjusted for the same reason .

V sized /shaped slots are inferior to my thinking .
Yes any string will fit the V groove , but the sides of the notch 'pinch' the sides of the string and cause that aweful pinging sound on the wound strings.It jumps from winding to winding on the string and makes tuning difficult.

I use round edged joint files to fine tune nuts and saddles .This gives a bottom to the slot and the string always sits on it .There is no pinging from it .

I think many on the board will agree that Pick of the Ricks is a very reliable resource.

A hearty recommendation to Chris at Pick of the Ricks. This guy is 1st Class all the way.

The info has been awesome!

Couple more things---------

What is the main difference between a 330 and a 360 besides the fact that the 330 has a shape more similar to the one George Harrison used?

Either model comes with 2 or three pups. Is that 3rd pup crucial?

Apparently there is more than one model of single coil pups. The so called toaster and the other. Bear with me I am not a very techie guy. Which one is best? Which has more jangle?

Thanks again

J