650C Impressions
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:23 pm
I took delivery of my latest Ric on Friday. It's a 650C in Mapleglo with the high performance vibrato option. The first thing that struck me once I opened the case was the size of the guitar's body. All of my other guitars (Rickenbacker and otherwise) are hollowbodies, so the small profile of the 650C is a big change for me. Despite the small proportions, it's still got some good heft to it, so the balance is perfect. No neck diving here.
The next thing that struck me was how, um, maple-y the whole guitar is. Maple body, maple neck, maple fretboard, maple wings on the head stock ... it makes for a really unified aesthetic package. Looks great. Coupled with the extra contours on the body, it's a really sleek looking instrument.
The neck is fabulous ... maybe one of the best I own at this point. It's really wide, but the shape is sort of a flattened C that lessens the depth of the neck, if you know what I mean. I've got small hands, but I have no trouble hitting every string, and my fret span isn't compromised either. If anything, I'm playing a lot cleaner because I've got lots of room to work with. I can see why the lead players among us might favour this model -- you can really work the strings without worrying about bumping up against less sympathetic notes, and bending is a breeze.
The vibrato is crazily responsive. Just touching the bar drops the note like a dive-bombing bigsby. I haven't done any verification with any electronic tuners, but it seems to me that the maximum drop is enormous -- way more than I'd ever use. The action is smooth, and once the strings are sufficiently stretched, it returns to pitch perfectly. The vibrato can be set up to bend upwards, too, but I haven't played around with that yet. The tension is definitely robust (it seems to be stiffer than my Accent) but a little does an awful lot. For those who haven't seen one, there's a fulcrum that's fastened to the body of the guitar with four screws. The back portion of the bridge lifts when the bar is hit, shortening the scale and dropping the pitch. It's a slick, smooth running unit. The tension can be adjusted via the spring cavity in the back of the guitar, much like a Stratocaster. I plan on experimenting a bit with this later on just to see what happens.
Now for the sound. I expected this guitar to respond a lot like my 380L PZ, which has a chunky, Les Paul like tone that I always attributed to the Ricbuckers. Turns out I was way wrong on that score. The Ricbuckers in the 650C are clean and jangly with a tight, percussive, articulate bass response. It's just a delight through a Fender Twin Reverb. No flab at all. I'm really surprised by the brightness of the sound. I expected something much darker and rumbling, so the clarity and definition from string to string is a real bonus. Sustain is excellent.
All in all, I think I've found another "modern" Ric that I'm going to find indispensible ...
The next thing that struck me was how, um, maple-y the whole guitar is. Maple body, maple neck, maple fretboard, maple wings on the head stock ... it makes for a really unified aesthetic package. Looks great. Coupled with the extra contours on the body, it's a really sleek looking instrument.
The neck is fabulous ... maybe one of the best I own at this point. It's really wide, but the shape is sort of a flattened C that lessens the depth of the neck, if you know what I mean. I've got small hands, but I have no trouble hitting every string, and my fret span isn't compromised either. If anything, I'm playing a lot cleaner because I've got lots of room to work with. I can see why the lead players among us might favour this model -- you can really work the strings without worrying about bumping up against less sympathetic notes, and bending is a breeze.
The vibrato is crazily responsive. Just touching the bar drops the note like a dive-bombing bigsby. I haven't done any verification with any electronic tuners, but it seems to me that the maximum drop is enormous -- way more than I'd ever use. The action is smooth, and once the strings are sufficiently stretched, it returns to pitch perfectly. The vibrato can be set up to bend upwards, too, but I haven't played around with that yet. The tension is definitely robust (it seems to be stiffer than my Accent) but a little does an awful lot. For those who haven't seen one, there's a fulcrum that's fastened to the body of the guitar with four screws. The back portion of the bridge lifts when the bar is hit, shortening the scale and dropping the pitch. It's a slick, smooth running unit. The tension can be adjusted via the spring cavity in the back of the guitar, much like a Stratocaster. I plan on experimenting a bit with this later on just to see what happens.
Now for the sound. I expected this guitar to respond a lot like my 380L PZ, which has a chunky, Les Paul like tone that I always attributed to the Ricbuckers. Turns out I was way wrong on that score. The Ricbuckers in the 650C are clean and jangly with a tight, percussive, articulate bass response. It's just a delight through a Fender Twin Reverb. No flab at all. I'm really surprised by the brightness of the sound. I expected something much darker and rumbling, so the clarity and definition from string to string is a real bonus. Sustain is excellent.
All in all, I think I've found another "modern" Ric that I'm going to find indispensible ...
