What drew you to Rickenbacker?

[Nightbrigade]

For me it was the jangle pop sound.
But what made me stay is the fretboard - I've never played anything smoother and it's the first thing people bring up when they try out my guitar.

[JakeK]

The fact that no one else where I live has them...at least the ones I got.

[Clint]

The neck; for three reasons. First, that seems to be the chief complaint of most guitar players. Which leads to reason two, after the player discovers they don't like the skinny neck they end up selling the guitar, to me, cheap. Three, I like the skinny neck.

Oh yeah, two more reasons. They sound good and they look good.

[berth]

My bass-guitar hero (Lemmy) played and plays one . When I finally had one I found out they really sound very good. I just love the sound a Rickenbacker bass gives and I did try several other brands. The Warwicks got sold, The Fender P gets no use at all. Etcetera....

[opticnerve]

The movie, A Hard Day's Night...and the Maximum R&B poster.

[winston]

The cool factor of the guitar itself and the fact that not too many other local guitar players used them at the time that I started using mine on stage.

Photo taken in 1966.

[whojamfan]

Watching all those cool Pete Townsend promo clips and looking at the pics as a young Mod in the early 80s. Seeing Paul Weller with his really sealed the deal for me, I had to have one.

So here is a classic case of the looks being the most important thing. I didn't know or caqre how they played or whatnot, just had to have one and be in the right. Thankfully, Rickenbacker made and makes a quality instrument that I still appreciate and own.

I still love looking at them though, just like a proper SX200 Lambretta!

[johnnysain]

One winked at me from a window on 48th st, new york city in the summer of '78.

[bartyclue]

Two reasons:

Reason #1 - Chris Squire (I know this has been said to death here but the sound of that bass resonated with every cell of my being)

reason #2 - Geddy Lee (A fellow canadian and a true inspiration that spoke to my harder rock tastes)

Having said this and notwithstanding the differences in the two, whom do you all think is the better player? I mean just the bass playing alone. Not singing, composing etc? Your thoughts?

[jdawe]

I kind of stumbled into it. When I was in high school in the early 1980s a friend who I played with in a band had a Rickenbacker 430. I got play it and liked the way it felt and sounded. At some point my friend was trying to raise money to insure his car and offered to sell me his 430 for a good price, and I jumped on the chance. My favourite band at the time was the Who, but the fact that Pete had once played a Rickenbacker was coincidental, as was the John Lennon connection. What I liked mostly about the 430 at that point was the feel and playability.

I went off to university with my 430 and it was for many years my only electric guitar. For those who haven't played a 430 before, it has an unusual neck -- skinny like most Rick necks, but with a completely flat unlacquered fretboard. A lot of people who have played my 430 hate it, but I grew accustomed to it and other guitars felt awkward in comparison. Also, while in university I discovered REM and became a huge fan, and my playing evolved to incorporate a lot of Peter Buck-style jangle, which conveniently sounded pretty good on the Rick. At some point a bit later I discovered Johnny Marr, and a lot of the other bands I got into over the years (e.g., the Smithereens, the Church, Teenage Fanclub) also had Rickenbacker-playing guitarists. However, I liked these bands primarily because of their music, and for the most part only realized after the fact that they featured Ricks.

Although I've been playing guitar for 30 years, for much of that time I played only sporadically, picking up my guitar a few times a week but not really developing my playing very much. A few years ago I discovered home recording, got hooked and began playing more regularly, working on improving my chops and starting to write my own songs. At some point I began jonesing for another guitar. I bought a used Korean Fender Tele with split-coil humbuckers, which is a decent and versatile guitar but which I never really bonded with the way I had with my 430. I also found myself graviting towards a jangle-pop sound in my playing and writing. It eventually dawned on me that the guitar of my dreams was one that (i) played like a Rickenbacker and (ii) sounded like a Rickenbacker. It took about a year to convince myself to spend the money, but a few months ago I saw a used 620 for sale on Craiglist locally and gave into temptation. I then liked it so much that a few weeks ago I took delivery of a new 620-12 from POTR.

In short, I started out playing a Rickenbacker more or less accidentally, got hooked on the feel and playability, and essentially independently developed a love of the Rickenbacker sound, and eventually the two converged.

[cjj]

I tried one once...

And just had to buy it...

It's been a love affair ever since that day in 197? (can't remember anymore).
So, I'd have to say, the sound, the feel, the looks. Probably in that order, but feel might be on top...

[wim]

this couple.
They look very surprised by the sound of their ricks

[weemac]

The gravely sounding bass that looked almost impossible......

Eden.

[eatswodo]

The Beatles - and a picture on a Cornflakes box back in 1963 or so... only took me 38 years to get there

[johnallg]

I was aware of Rickenbacker (that German guitar maker ) when a young tween because of the Beatles. Then McCartney got his 4001, and then I saw and heard Mike Rutherford on the Ed Sullivan Show. When I heard Squire on his, it was all over (Brian states it very aptly). It was amazing to me after I finally got my first in 2005 and participating here, to find out just how many of the songs and artists I was attracted to over all the years had Rick basses on them.