Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello All,

I am new to the forum, although a long time Rickenbacker admirer. I am planning to acquire a Rickenbacker 12 string over the next few months and wanted to get advice from the experts on this forum. I have large hands and very long fingers, so I find guitars with wide nut widths and deep C or U contours to be the best for me. I own a 1966 Guild Starfire XII and love the tone, but the neck is awfully narrow for the 12 strings.

To give you an idea of what I find most comfortable, two of my favorite guitars are a Nocaster re-issue with a "baseball bat" neck and a Gretsch G6122-1959 with a 1.75" neck. Based on the specifications listed on the Gretsch web site, the 660/12 would probably be the best choice for me. Is the neck truly 1.75" wide at the nut? How would you describe the neck contour in terms of depth and overall shape?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

There are a lot of folks here who can offer you their advice...My 2 cents, based on your description, is that a 660/12 is definitely what you should consider. It is 1.75" at the nut. The "thickness" of RIC necks has varied somewhat over the years, how true that is of the 660 line I don't know.

Others will certainly have their own descriptions, but with respect to neck shape, my personal opinion is that the neck on a 660 feels a lot like the neck on a Fender American Vintage '62 Hot Rod Strat. Fender claims it is a "Thick C" shape. As I recall, it doesn't feel too much different from a regular C in terms of depth (fretboard to back of neck) but the shoulders were a little more square and not as round. Not as thick as a '52 RI tele, or a '58 LP, but definitely beefier than a standard C and much wider than the neck on a RIC 360....FWIW

+1

Welcome to the RickResource Foryum, Chris. It would seem that the 660/12 is likely to suit you best.

admin wrote:Welcome to the RickResource Forum, Chris. It would seem that the 660/12 is likely to suit you best.

+1

Thanks for all of the replies and apologies for the error in my original post. Obviously Rickenbacker specs won't be found on the Gretsch web site.

Looks like the 660/12 is what I'll be getting. Thanks again.

Good luck Chris...be sure to post some pictures when you bring it home....

caliban335 wrote:Thanks for all of the replies and apologies for the error in my original post. Obviously Rickenbacker specs won't be found on the Gretsch web site.

We all do that at one time or another.

hello and welcome here! i do play 660 style a lot and have several - those from around 1999 to 2002 have big necks that you are looking for...to find the sound of typical 60's ric 12 string i'd suggest 660/12 from about 2000-2002 with 7.4 toasters than i would change tone pots to 1meg and add 0.047 treble cap where it once was and there you are. i am still waiting for one of those 660 that i have to wore out enough that i will be needing a fret job... i think i will change the fingerboard radius to compound like 7.25 to 9.5 and improve the playability for me bit further...

Well, it took me a while, but I've finally gotten the 660-12. I thought I'd share the news and post a couple of photos. It's smaller than I'd expected, but the tone is as advertised. The neck pickup sounds organ-like. Here it is.

The photos are too large to post, but I'm guessing you all have seen a Jetglo 660-12 before.

The photos are too large to post, but I'm guessing you all have seen a Jetglo 660-12 before.

Well, sure, but that doesn't mean we don't want to see another!

Congrats Chris!

caliban335 wrote:Well, it took me a while, but I've finally gotten the 660-12. I thought I'd share the news and post a couple of photos. It's smaller than I'd expected, but the tone is as advertised. The neck pickup sounds organ-like. Here it is.

The photos are too large to post, but I'm guessing you all have seen a Jetglo 660-12 before.

If you have a PC and you have Microsoft Office, there is Microsoft Picture manager, where you can resize your pics to a size, but if you don't want to overwrite the existing files, add a "_2" to the file name.

Yesssss!!!!!

Talk about visual impact! This geetar makes a statement.