Just got my first 12-string: 98 Ric 330/12 with toasters
Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:22 am
Hi all. I've been lurking a while after having traded into an 1989 Ric 610 and quickly falling in love with the sound and feeling of the guitar. I've clearly missed an important food group of the guitar world. Being a huge Beatles and Smiths junkie, it wasn't a long way to go to want a Ric 330 or 360 of some sort. I've been going back and forth about a 330/360 6 vs 12 and just decided I have enough 6-strings around here and have zero 12-strings, so that kind of decided it.
This one, a Maple Glo 330/12, came up on CL locally about a week ago and hasn't budged, so I finally emailed the seller and set up a viewing the other day. I went by a local store that sells Rics first to demo a few others just to have a frame of reference. I played a 360 6-string and another 330/12 which was pretty challenging to play.
This 330/12 is basically new. The seller bought it for his studio, used it twice and otherwise it's lived in a case since about 2000. Based on the serial, it's a Jan 1998 build. The sticker is still on the pickguard and there's not a scratch on it. The other upside was that it's got stock toasters which I would have been curious about anyway. Evidently the seller bought the guitar with the toasters, so maybe it was a special order...not sure.
Maple Glo was low on my list of looks that I was excited about, but this one, it turns out, is really beautiful. The wood has nice depth and it's very handsome all around. The final price was $1200, which I thought was a pretty good deal considering it was like new and it had the toasters.
Sonically, it's a 12-string Ric and there's nothing else that quite does that sound. It's a little challenging to play, but mostly due to needing a little more hand strength to fret more solidly. It's fun though and I think I'm going to enjoy having it around, especially for recording projects at my studio.
Thanks for providing such a great resource. Good reading.
Here's some pics:
This one, a Maple Glo 330/12, came up on CL locally about a week ago and hasn't budged, so I finally emailed the seller and set up a viewing the other day. I went by a local store that sells Rics first to demo a few others just to have a frame of reference. I played a 360 6-string and another 330/12 which was pretty challenging to play.
This 330/12 is basically new. The seller bought it for his studio, used it twice and otherwise it's lived in a case since about 2000. Based on the serial, it's a Jan 1998 build. The sticker is still on the pickguard and there's not a scratch on it. The other upside was that it's got stock toasters which I would have been curious about anyway. Evidently the seller bought the guitar with the toasters, so maybe it was a special order...not sure.
Maple Glo was low on my list of looks that I was excited about, but this one, it turns out, is really beautiful. The wood has nice depth and it's very handsome all around. The final price was $1200, which I thought was a pretty good deal considering it was like new and it had the toasters.
Sonically, it's a 12-string Ric and there's nothing else that quite does that sound. It's a little challenging to play, but mostly due to needing a little more hand strength to fret more solidly. It's fun though and I think I'm going to enjoy having it around, especially for recording projects at my studio.
Thanks for providing such a great resource. Good reading.
Here's some pics:
It looks like you've scored a real beauty at a great price.