Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello all, anyone familiar with these babies?

Any opinions, good or bad?

Thanks, Gary

I have a TP-34 and I really like it, but it's a big 'un. The quality is very good, and the sound is huge; if you read TP's interview in Bass Player this month I believed he described the sound as a Thunderbird and two guitars playing simultaneously, which is about right. It's as much guitar as it is bass IMO.

It's not as hard as it looks to play, although TP had the octave strings separated from the bass string by about 1/8", so the neck is pretty wide (it's even wider on the older TP-2 model), but it's really not bad once you get used to it. There's a 32" scale version too.

Hi Lindsay, thanks for the review. A couple questions if I may.

Did you shop other 12ver's?

Have a thought on the 34" vs 32" vs a Hamer short scale?

FWIW-I tried a bunch of these babies, including a Sam Trash model.

The Warriors were the best crafted (IMHO) but the fretboards were as wide as freeway.

Got a Korean Hamer ta see if I liked 12'vers. I do but my cash is going to the Big Dig...


and if the Kubota dealer knew what customer service was, it would be this;


(I don't "need" it to dig holes-its just easier)

Jared ... you forgot to black out the shoes on that baby ...

Thanks Jared, I'm not familiar with Warrior. I'll check them out.

Was that a 12'ver or a tractor?

Looks like you prefer the big bucket models. Me, I'm a small bucket fan.

No, Gary, I haven't tried anything else, although I would have liked to. I read good reviews about this one, so when it popped up on ebay I grabbed it, and I'm very happy with it. I would think the shorter scale models would be a bit easier to play, but the TP-32s are pretty rare (I think Waterstone's sold out of 'em) so you may have a hard time finding one.

I did a lot of reading at 12stringbass.com and 12stringbass.net, you might give them a try. You might also see a few familiar names while you're there.

Cool, thanks again Lindsay!

Cheap Trick was on the Howard Stern show this morning and there's a picture of Tom Petersson with his 12 string bass. Just scroll down and look on the right hand side of the page.http://www.howardstern.com/rundown.hs?month=June&day=26&year=2006&x=31&y=8

Gary, here's a pic of the neck with the string spacing I was talking about:

I don't often find myself near the 12th fret with this bass, but this should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. Don't be put off, though, the sound is worth the work.

Gary, if you want to try one out, come check out the band sometime and I will let you have a go at my 12-string Hamer, to see if you like the way it feels. The Waterstone spacing is WAY further than the Hamer, the strings are closer together in the "sets".