Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

OK, so I saw an ElDorado on eBay last week and couldn't resist when nobody else bothered to bid on it. It arrived today and what a cool little guitar! It's like a Ric Telecaster. Sounds great, plays great and really has a nice, solid feel and balance. A little buckle rash on the back and a couple nicks in the headstock to work on, but it's going to be a good one to keep within reach for those times when you just want to pick one up and play. Now if I can only figure out what you guitar guys do with those two little skinny strings on the high side....

Todd: I noticed what looks to be a Vox SMR in the picture. What do you think of them? I think they're great. I've got one like yours (2x10")and two of the limited edition (4x8") with the brown grille cloth. I use one of those through a recent Vox 2x12" cabinet and it sounds terrific to me. I like the overdrive and reverb. At 15 watts it's perfect for my living room and has a great vintage look.

Nice get, Todd! The skinny strings are for slicing Jarlsberg when you get hungry!!

Jarlsberg turns your frets green. But I understand this can be corrected...

I think I'd prefer blue frets, Paul. A large slab of your finest Stilton, please garcon!!

Randy, The Mini-stack is a pretty respectable little amp and a lot more powerful that one would think for a 15-watter. It works well for practice, yet would be plenty for a lot of small-venue gigs as well. The headphone jack is also handy at 3:00 in the morning. Even if it sounded like ****, the thing is still so darned cute that it would be hard to pass up - kind of like a tabel-top-Super-Beatle.

Sound-wise, it's quite clean and chimey with my 360/12 for playing old Byrds tunes. The Traynor YCV40 sitting next to it will blow it away when it comes to bluesy, woody tone, but that's to be expected. I'd rate the overdrive on the Vox as pretty decent, though I don't use a lot of it. Back when I started playing that's what your amp sounded like just before it blew up. I'm the kind of person who walks into the music store where there is always a young guy sitting there playing as loud, fast and furious as he can with the distortion cranked way up. It sometimes take all my willpower to stop myself from walking up, switching his amp to the clean channel and saying "There, now let's see if you're really any good." Within reason though, I think the overdrive, tremolo and reverb on the mini-stack are all quite good. I don't know how long I'll keep it as I use the Traynor a lot more and I really am, and always will be, a bass player at heart, but it's been a lot of fun to have. Another 2x10 cabinet would certainly make a cool looking stereo system though....hmmmmmmmmmmm

Howard, I figured those other two strings were pretty much just there for show. If man had needed more than four strings he would have been born with more than four fingers.... Plus they're so....so...shrill. I already have tinnitus from the old days which rings at just a bit above the 24th fret on a high E-string and that's what the world sounds like 24/7, not much reason to amplify those frequencies.

Paul, any readily available base paint that's a good color match for jetglo (headstock - a small spot where the finish lifted, probably from reacting with plastic pads on a cheap guitar stand or hanger)?

Four strings??? Tell that to a harpist or sitar player!!

Re: "I'm the kind of person who walks into the music store where there is always a young guy sitting there playing as loud, fast and furious as he can with the distortion cranked way up. It sometimes take all my willpower to stop myself from walking up, switching his amp to the clean channel and saying "There, now let's see if you're really any good."

We must be twins separated at birth, although I hope not at least not for your sake.

That's exactly the reaction I have. Too funny!

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Oops - bad form!! Forgot to welcome you, Todd.

Triplets, Brian!! Wherever possible I avoid music stores like the plague at weekends (Saturdays especially), unless I just have to buy something. Seems to me lots of dads drop their son and his best pal off at the store for an hour or more just to give mum a break from the bedroom or garage 'thrashing' that's sending her bonkers!!

Then they try eveything they can get their hands on (salespeople permitting) and show off! Is my jealousy showing??

I've got nothing against them at all but putting out a few gentle jazz progressions on something really nice and enjoying it is a bit difficult with all the loud, distorted, blurred fingerings of a band of pimply thrashers going on next to you!! And on guitars their dads would never buy them in a pink fit!!

I save my shopping for weeknights between about 5.30 and 7pm. Thankfully my favourite store is open then and all the little beggars are having dinner or (should be) doing their homework.

Maybe there should be set times for age groups - like 2am to 6am for the curly-haired power chord freaks!!

Did I hear somebody use the word 'curmudgeon'??

Todd, go to a Kragen or Trak Auto or some sort of chain auto store, and pick up a small bottle of brush-type lacquer touch up paint, in black. This can also be bought at a car dealer's parts department. Tell them you just want ordinary BLACK.

There will be a brush in the bottle, like nail polish for dames. Apply in thin coats; let each coat dry an hour. Leave it as is, or sand back flat with #1500 or so on a small block, wet, and buff out with Perfect-It III, then Scratch-X, then Zymol to wax the whole beauty up so it'll play better.

Brian: Yes, welcome to the Rickenbacker Forum and congratulations on your Rickenbacker.

The YCV40WR, of which you speak is a fine amplifier and if you get the matching cabinet you will be amazed at the bottom end.

I have a Traynor just like that.

Chris: The Traynor YCV40 series amplifiers are fantastic quality for the price and in my opinion out perform the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, especially if they have the Celestion Vintage 30 onboard.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm....he pondered...."Add Traynor sealed back "extension" cabinet and get amazing bottom end"......

How's this?



Oh yes!! Wonder if the neighbors are still awake? Oh well, they are now... I did try to get Traynor to build that one in wine red and wheat, too, but they wouldn't go for it. The matching red extension cabinet for the YCV40 is on the list of things to pick up as it does make a really great sounding amp even better.

I gotta' tell you though that this morning I was doing my rounds (360/12 followed by 360/6 followed by the new ElDorado, then fretted bass and finally fretless bass) and this new little guitar just blows me away! The 360/6 through the Traynor puts out some pretty darned nice sounds, but when you switch to the ElDorado it's such an energized, lively sound that you start to wonder what's wrong with the 360? That little black "economy" guitar can really cook and makes a really nice, and very different, addition to the arsenel.

By the way, there is a "new" (old stock, I assume) model 230 coming up on eBay today (9/21). It's the same basic guitar, but chrome trim instead of gold and contoured edges instead of bound edges. If the price stays reasonable, it will be a steal. If you're looking to add a little Ric that's hotter than a firecracker to your collection I guarantee that ten seconds after you plug it in you're going to have a big smile on your face, regardless of how many fancier models you own.