Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ok, I have discussed this quote here before, about a mysterious Rickenbacker Johnny Marr had that was previously owned by Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, and before that(supposedly), Roger McGuinn.



But I have never actually seen a photo of Manzanera playing a Ric of any kind, until this:



Not the best photo, unfortunately! But it begs the question, could the guitar above the same guitar we see in these photos/videos?






I have to say, looking at the details of where the pickguards are on the body, the TRC's, the fireglo pattern, as well as the circumstantial evidence, I am intrigued to say the least. I'm very curious to see what the other critical opinions here will be, as my screen is kind of snowy right now. What do you guys think? Johnny's Ric has a bound neck, does Phil's?

Very interesting and if its the same guitar thats cool.Hard to say from the photo if the neck is bound Keep digging Sherlock!

ah guess what i found!!!!!!!!!!!!! a bound Neck!!!!
looks like you have solved it Thomas!!!!!!!

Very cool guitar. Nice work chaps.

Isnt the internet a wonderful thing...........

Mr. Marr is available for questions: http://johnny-marr.com/contactjohnnymar ... nymarr.php

Interested parties could find out whether Mr. Marr still owns the guitar, and recalling an earlier thread discussion regarding the bound fretboard, whether the guitar has 20, or 21, frets.

It's interesting that in the B/W photo of the guitar, the b/w effect of the film, along with the vivid contrast in the FG finish tones, make the guitar appear to have a "Tobacco Sunburst" finish.

scotty wrote:ah guess what i found!!!!!!!!!!!!! a bound Neck!!!!
looks like you have solved it Thomas!!!!!!!

Scott, that is amazing!!! YOU solved it!

There it is, same FG pattern, bound neck, and 20 frets! I zoomed in on the fretboard in photoshop and compared it to a 21-fret board... It's identical to Marr's.

Now the question becomes, has anyone seen McGuinn with a FG 330/12 of any kind? Also, does anyone see anything that would date this guitar? It has to be previous to 1974, and it has hi-gains. I forgot when those were introduced.

paologregorio wrote:Mr. Marr is available for questions: http://johnny-marr.com/contactjohnnymar ... nymarr.php

Interested parties could find out whether Mr. Marr still owns the guitar, and recalling an earlier thread discussion regarding the bound fretboard, whether the guitar has 20, or 21, frets.

I have never contacted him there. I have asked a few questions on his twitter but I don't think he relishes answering Smiths questions... he's more of the here and now. He is writing a book, so I hope it has a lot of geeky details when it comes out!

As for 21 or 20 frets, I think it's pretty clear from the close up photo that he doesn't have a 21st fret flush with the end of the board, so I think it's 20.

I wonder if the scaling was slightly changed then, when the neck was bound (later on?) I can't imagine Rickenbacker would sell a 21 fret guitar with only 20 frets.

Larry Davis changed the scale on "Big Red" to 25"; the result was that the 24th fret is at the very edge of the fret board.

paologregorio wrote:I wonder if the scaling was slightly changed then, when the neck was bound (later on?) I can't imagine Rickenbacker would sell a 21 fret guitar with only 20 frets.

Larry Davis changed the scale on "Big Red" to 25"; the result was that the 24th fret is at the very edge of the fret board.

The scale must have been changed when the fretboard was replaced.

Although Ric did make 20 fret basses, right? Maybe this was a transitional oddity. We have seen them before, certainly.

paologregorio wrote:I wonder if the scaling was slightly changed then, when the neck was bound (later on?) I can't imagine Rickenbacker would sell a 21 fret guitar with only 20 frets.

Maybe it was a Friday afternoon guitar.

egosheep wrote:
Now the question becomes, has anyone seen McGuinn with a FG 330/12 of any kind?

and the search continues.......

scotty wrote:and the search continues.......

Your tireless research is almost always appreciated, Scotty!

Wow. Nice detective work.

That is a beautiful guitar. I can't wait to read his book.

I love this thread as I'm a huge Johnny Marr fan. Marr has mentioned in several places that he played a Rick 12-string extensively on the song Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before from the Strangeways Here We Come album. Does anyone know if the Rick on this song is the same one discussed in this thread? Thanks!

stsang wrote:I love this thread as I'm a huge Johnny Marr fan. Marr has mentioned in several places that he played a Rick 12-string extensively on the song Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before from the Strangeways Here We Come album. Does anyone know if the Rick on this song is the same one discussed in this thread? Thanks!

It could very well be this one, but he also owns a Rick 12 that once belonged to Pete Townsend. I believe he used it on Headmaster, personally.

Ain'tGotNoPokemon wrote:
It could very well be this one, but he also owns a Rick 12 that once belonged to Pete Townsend. I believe he used it on Headmaster, personally.

Thanks. I found this link that mentions the 1964 Rickenbacker 12-string that belonged to Pete Townsend. Might be of interest to some folks.
http://johnny-marr.com/guitarchestrajoh ... ymarr.html
Great collection of guitars!