Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just spent a wonderful couple of days jamming with my best friend (a songwriter who plays an Alvarez acoustic) and her husband, who is a fantastic lead guitarist. While they were here he really took a shine to my Gretsch duo jet--and wow did it sound fantastic in the hands of somebody who could play some decent leads.... The sound of that guitar singing along with my 360/12 V64 and the acoustic was truly amazing. I am hoping that the next time the three of us get together we can do some recording, because we really play well together, and have a whole lot of fun doing it!

Does the Alvarez look like this?

That's been my main guitar for 25 years. Absolutely adore it.

Great story! I have recently taken a more personal interest in Gretsch gitboxes. I apologize if I'm stealing your thread's thunder, Melissa, but here is a recording I did just last hour of the 330/12JD, a '94 6120, and the '85 4003MG/BT. Impeccable timing! Hopefully this will enhance the message you're communicating.

http://download.yousendit.com/D190303F79AADBB0

Fantastic sound, JDog! Your song needs words....

This weekend we worked on one of my songs that was inspired by a recent trip to the ocean. I played my 12-string through the heavenly chorused preset on my Vox Valvetronix amp that they call "Mr. Clean," and Ron used a fairly inexpensive guitar processor of some sort plugged directly into my PA system, which was also clean and somewhat chorused, and made every note of the Gretsch sound liquid and beautiful. I wish we had taken the time to record it, because the sound we had perfectly matched the words to the song.

A song unrecorded is hopefully a lesson learned!

This song is "Mountain" and was recently written by my new band, It Rhymes With Orange. It has words but I don't know them since the other guitarist sings it. He wrote the words and chords mainly, and I just did this recording myself for the heck of it, and have something to practice with.

Jdog, my problem with recording is that I don't do enough of it, so every time I do get my recording unit out I have to re-invent the wheel in a very slow and painful learning curve.... I am probably one of the most technologically challenged people on the planet!

BTW, Mark, Sandi's Alvarez is different from yours.... I think it's a newer dreadnought-style guitar with a cutout. It's a golden sunburst type of finish, that fades to black at the edges, and the top looks like highly figured quilt maple. A very pretty acoustic that sounds great.

I usually don't like Chorus too much these days but that sounds like fun. I have a Duo Jet too but its and EE Duo Jet. Still I guess Filtertrons are Filtertrons.
I'm more into delay lately for some reason.
I only have a Ric six string. But one of these days I'll get a Ric twelve. You've got me looking forwards to hearing them together now.

Melissa, glad you had fun ... sounds like a good line-up for you. If the three of you are ever in South Florida together, with your equipment, I would be happy to play drums with you all. In the meantime, keep blessing the world with your choral chording and velvety voice.

Funny you should mention the voice--we also did a few songs that Sandi wrote, and she sings a little bit lower than I do, so I like to sing high harmonies to her vocals. We've been singing together on and off for years for as long as we've known each other. My friend and jamming partner Billy D. was also over to play keyboards with us on Saturday night, and he couldn't believe how good and tight our harmonies were. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I think we have to do some recording the next time we get together.... Ron and Sandi live in Duluth, where we are trying to move, if we can ever get somebody to buy our house!

BTW, Steve, I wish we could move to Florida--I love it there. Billy D. just married a lovely lady who lives just south of Orlando, and they are living part-time up here and part-time down there until they decide what to do with the business that he owns up here. I flew down to perform at their wedding about 6 weeks ago, and took a day trip to Sarasota, which I thoroughly enjoyed.... I am hoping we can take a mid-winter trip to Florida next year. My husband also has a friend who has a condo in Daytona Beach (I think?) that he says we can use any time we want to, so someday we may take him up on that.

Next time you visit FL, make sure you don't get stuck here because of a hurricane. I sure don't like those hurricanes. Good luck selling the house, and post pictures of your new 12-string. I'm a little upset that you are selling yours.

Upset? The way I see it, is I just upgraded when I got the 360/12 V64.... I have to say that I just LOVE the sound of the toasters on a 21-fret 12'er. It feels a little different to play than my trusty 330/12, and took a while to get used to; the fretboard radius feels a whole lot flatter to me. But anyway, the sound is so incredible that I was in love with it instantly, and the guitar is just beautiful to look at--it's a fireglo that has slightly ambered, and there is not a scratch on it. I took a few pictures of it when I was at the wedding in Florida, when I find them and get them re-sized I'll upload some here.

But the main reason I am selling the 330/12 is to pay for the AC30 that will be arriving at my door today--my husband saw the opportunity to snag this one, and couldn't let it pass by. I couldn't resist, when he said, "If you're willing to sell that old 330/12 I'll buy this for you!"

I was just kidding of course ... looking forward to the photos.

We just found the pics, and my husband put them up on his site....

http://www.ancientimports.com/images/upload/RIC_V64_1.JPG

http://www.ancientimports.com/images/upload/RIC_V64_2.JPG

Now you can see why I love it--and it sounds even better than it looks!

Woah, love that ambered FG. Can't wait to hear it on one of your songs, through the Vox.

Just played the 12-string through the new Vox a little bit--it sounds like heaven, and I haven't even set up the Janglebox yet!

Will have to try that tomorrow....

Also tried the 615 with the new amp--It ROCKS!