Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Thanks for responding to my previous thread. Most of you agreed that my new Scatterwounds would be best served on my 360/12. I took heed of your wise counsel and installed them. Here is the result. (1.5 MB).

http://www.coe.unco.edu/jeffbauer/360-12vp.mp3

Did I get "The Sound"?

Sounds right by me!

You sure you didn't get Mr. McGuinn to play that?

One quick question...was I supposed to remove the nuts from the small screws on the corners of the pickups and insert the screws directly into the rubber spacers sans nuts? I just placed the spacers under the screws with the nuts intact.

Thank goodness my nuts are still intact:-)

Sounds great....makes me want to change the pickups on my 360/12! Both of my 12-strings have the higain pickups.

I recently picked up a 330/6 JG LH on eBay for my great-niece's birthday (shhhhh... it's not 'til December!) and it has vintage reissue toasters on it. I hope to get back to Illinois (I had the guitar sent to my sister's house there) to check it out before too long. One thing... I'm right-handed, so checking it out will be quite a challenge!

Sounds good, Jeff. A little more treble maybe...
Why do moving bass lines sound so good on Rics?!

Gary, my birthday is September 14. I'm right-handed. =->

Cheers, Noel

Gary: Wow, you certainly are a generous great-uncle! That should be a gift that she will remember for the rest of her life.... How old is she?

Great stuff Jeff, what strings are you using?

They are Rotosound .009-.046 round wound pure nickel.

Jeffrey-
Did you go from the standard Rick 10's to the rotosound 9's? If so, did you have to reset the neck?

Melissa, if memory serves correctly, my niece will be 8 in December. She actually showed interest at quite an early age; her grandfather (my brother-in-law) had an old no-name acoustic guitar sitting around, and she started 'playing' it when she was only 2-3 or so. When she was 4, I was between jobs and drove back to Illinois with a 1967 450 MG that I had (refin in nitrocellulose, changed tuners [open-back Grovers instead of Klusons], non-orignal non-RIC case, but otherwise nice, original toasters that sounded great) and gave it to her (along with a small solid-state Alamo practice amp). At that time she was showing some ambidexterity, so I thought a right-handed guitar would be OK, but since then, as she has gotten older, she has shown a left-handed preference, so that's why I figured I'd get her a RIC (of course) LH so she could learn how to play correctly.

I probably will not take the 450 back in the event one of the other grand-nieces and/or my grand-nephew wants to learn to play. My great-niece used the 450 as part of her 'rock-&-roll star' costume last Halloween; maybe I'll post a picture if I can find the one they sent me.

Wow Gary, that is so cool! Would love to see the picture.... what a GREAT uncle!

Jerry:

I just tweeked the truss rods a bit and the 360/12 sets up fine with the .009's. I am amazed at how much easier it is to play with the lighter strings. I can be much more accurate with my left hand since I don't have to put so much pressure on the fingerboard. I use a Sabine compressor to compensate for the loss of tone inherent in the lighter guage strings. The compressor gives the treble strings a slightly more prononced attack and evens out the dynamics very nicely. The MP3 clip on this thread was done without the compressor...straight into my Fender Deluxe. I should post another clip with the compressor so that you can hear the difference. I recently ordered a set of strings from JustStrings.com--I took Peter McCormick's advice and purchased individual strings so that I can use Elixers for the wound strings and D'Addarios for the plain strings. I was a total skeptic about the Elixers until I did an extended live engagement with my Martin acoustics awhile back. The wound strings really hold their tone! I have had breakage problems with Elixer's plain strings, though. I am going to install my custom set just as soon as my wife has an hour to help me. As you know, stringing the Rick 12 is a fiddly affair, but with another pair of hands to keep tension on the tailpiece, it goes quickly. In return for her help, I am required to do something spectacular in the sack (oops, too much information:-)

Gary, ever since my nephew was able to talk, he wanted a red guitar like his Dad's. I found a RIC 1000 at a garage sale in LA and gave it to him as a Christmas present in 98 when he was seven. Now four and half years later, I think he's a better player than I am.