Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I think it's a 220.... I have one in Midnight Blue:


But it might be a 230.... I can't remember exactly what the differences are.

Same model as the one Joe Walsh played at the Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival, Dave!!

Howard: Wasn't that a Model 230GF that Joe Walsh played? You will find information on the 200 Series here. You will find a left handed model of the 230GF at Bjorn's Site.

Yes, you are right, Peter. I was really only going on the abbreviated set of controls. It sounded pretty awesome, too!!

A 230 has no pickguard, a bound neck & 4 controls....

My 230.

Pretty hard to get a shot of the telly, but here's the one in question:

That one JW is playing is almost certainly a 230GF:

If you do a search on 'Glenn Frey' in the gallery section if the RIC site, you'll find it.

The ones that Dave and Melissa posted are 220 'Hamburg' models.

Melissa wins the cupie doll!!

Thank you all.

Funny, I couldn't find a 220 on Bjorn's site.

For the record, since in another thread somebody said we don't talk enough about the personalities of our guitars, the 220 is a very interesting little Ric.... With its unfinished maple neck it hardly feels like a Ric at all; it's more like a Strat and can make some very Strat-like sounds, too.... but doesn't quite have the same "quack" as a strat.... I've never played a Telecaster, but maybe it's a little more Tele-like?

My best friend's husband, who is a guitar nut, absolutely loves my 220, and when we jam together he plays some scorching leads on it.... I'm not a very good lead player, so it is fun to hear it when he puts the 220 through its paces.

I recently played a 230, and my impression of it's clean sound was Tele-like. Distorted, it sounded nothing like a Tele - it had sound of it's own. Not too thick, not too thin, with a nice bite.

They are odd gtrs when judged by Rickenbacker standards. The 230 sounds quite Fenderish with both pickups on, but if you wind the neck pick up down, so it's just influencing the tone, it actually sounds unmistakeably Ric! That is with the single coil pickups, I haven't tried the later humbucker equipped 230's.

Those Ric humbuckers are REALLY hot. Does not sound very Rickish to my ears, but it's quite the hard rocker!