Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well...It's done. The 330 & pickups from Mike at RicsRUs, the Bigsby from Mike Parks, the pickguard from Tony at Pickguardian & the extra pickup routing & Bigsby fitted by Tim at Mansons. Worth the effort I think!







I came across a gold on black TRC (totaly legitematly, I might add!) & thought that it would be nice to echo the pick guards. I know some of you will smirk at me putting toasters on a 24 fret neck, but they are for looks only & are being wound to 13k ohms. With luck, they won't sound much different to hi-gains.

A big thankyou to Mike, Mike, Tony & Tim for their superb service & skill.

A fabulous result, Tony! You've obviously thought it out in great detail and the combination of features is brilliant! Congratulations!

BTW, how does it play??

Thanks Howard....if it didn't play like a dream, I would never have had the work done!

WOW, that is awfully snazzy! Way to go Tony, you da man.

Gorgeous, Tony. I love the two-tone guard and of course the grain is fabulous.

I love that gold and black pickguard combination. I've often thought about doing that with my Monty Brown 370/12, but the white binding always puts me off. Too much colour clash. That combination looks fabulous on your 340, though. Nice going, Tony.

Looks great Tony.

One of a kind tone machine, Tony!

I'd love to have a bash on it. Some mild breakup on the amp, reverb set at 10 o'clock, pickups full-on - hit Em at the 7th fret and make the world shake with the Bigsby.

Nice work.

I'm glad you all like it...I must admit, I'm very pleased with it. Normaly I don't really go into this type of customising, but I have played nearly every type of Ric, from the most basic to the 'glamour' models & I keep coming back to the 330. It basicaly gives me all I want from a gtr, so I thought I'd bring a couple up to 'my' spec by adding a couple of usable features (third pickup & vibrato) & making them a little more personal.

Tony - I love it all! But I've got a big question here...

Is that a refin from a solid color? Just asking because I always thought the fronts of MG's and FG's were carved out of a single piece of maple, and this one is clearly 2 pieces (flamed on the right/lower half and "normal grained" on the left/upper half).

Don't get me wrong - it looks stunning and I really like it. But I can't see Ric making a MG or even a FG finish on a body made of such mismatched pieces of wood.

The 330/360 bodies are always two pieces.
In the Big Rickenbacker book you can even see Capri's built from 5 or more seperate pieces.
this Maple is exceptionally beautiful for a standard 330 though.

Just a superb job Tony. A classy pickguard and a classy guitar for a classy guy.

Thanks again all, I really apreciate your comments. Thanks to Peter particularly, for the pickup discussions which really gave me the idea for this pickup arrangement, which I would never have tried otherwise. When the pickups have been wound to strength, I will be in a position to give a pretty healthy post regarding various pickup comparisons....hi-gains, hot toasters & 7.4's.

Wim is right Steve. This is a factory MG & even has MG written in the neck pickup route. I have seen many 381's like this, with an apparent mis match of grain. The top part is flamed as well, but just not as deeply as the bottom half.

Wow, Tony, that guitar looks beautiful with its new guards, pickups, and Bigsby! Congrats!

Well done, Tony!