A few questions about Rickenbacker 620

pinkfreud · Post by **pinkfreud** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 6:18 am

Hi all,

I am thinking to buy my first Rickenbacker guitar and I have my eyes set upon the Rick 620.

I remember I was able to test this guitar a few years ago in a shop and I remember having a serious problem with the string bending.
Who owns this guitar please can you tell me how you deal with this matter? What strings do you use?

This guitar is quite expensive for me and I would appreciate any good piece of advice before making the great leap to the Rick world.

Thank you!

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:01 am

I use my 620 a lot. Use 10-46 DR nickels. String bending techniques took me a bit to work out because you tend to fret out with very low actions and the small frets. I managed to learn the bend limits tone wise and found the most intervalic change by bending up on the GBE strings and down on the EAD strings.

I could never bend as far as I can with my higher action/ larger fret guitars though, so I had to use other techniques to get the intervals. Turns out that made me a much better guitar player.

jdawe · Post by **jdawe** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:34 pm

I also use 10-46 round wound nickels on my 620-6 (D'Addario XLs). My 620 is my main guitar (I'm a basement noodler, not a pro) and while I can't bend quite as far as I can on my jumbo-fretted non-Ricks, it works for my playing style, which does involve a fair bit of blues-based lead playing.

However, I should point out that for most of my guitar-playing life the only guitar I owned was a Rickenbacker 430, which has an even narrower neck and similarly small frets (although a completely flat fretboard and no finish), and my playing style developed accordingly. If you're used to playing something else you may find the transition takes some getting used to.

To sum up: I love my 620 and strongly suspect that if you get one you'll love it too, but there are some unavoidable tradeoffs in the design and I recognize that the skinny neck/small frets/low action combination isn't everyone's cup of tea.

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:39 pm

Another alternative you might consider would be a Ric 650 model, with the wider fretboard that gives you plenty of space for big string bends .

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 9:52 pm

8mileshigher wrote:Another alternative you might consider would be a Ric 650 model, with the wider fretboard that gives you plenty of space for big string bends .

Jumbo frets too.

pinkfreud · Post by **pinkfreud** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:18 am

Thank you, all, for your feedback.

bitzerguy wrote:I could never bend as far as I can with my higher action/ larger fret guitars though, so I had to use other techniques to get the intervals. Turns out that made me a much better guitar player.

Bitzerguy, what do you mean by learning a new technique that made you a better guitar player? What is there to relearn about bending strings?

Thank you,
Dan

jdogric12 · Post by **jdogric12** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:00 am

Dan wins new username of the week! pinkfreud lolololol

cjj · Post by **cjj** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 10:29 am

Yes, great username!

Welcome to the RRF!

bitzerguy · Post by **bitzerguy** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:47 pm

pinkfreud wrote:Thank you, all, for your feedback.

bitzerguy wrote:I could never bend as far as I can with my higher action/ larger fret guitars though, so I had to use other techniques to get the intervals. Turns out that made me a much better guitar player.
Bitzerguy, what do you mean by learning a new technique that made you a better guitar player? What is there to relearn about bending strings?

Thank you,
Dan

I took up learning Chet Atkins hybrid fingerstyle to get the large intervals without bending. Not the same sound at all, but I am now able to handle banjo rolls and other really neat techniques, which has opened up a lot of styles of music I would have never tried before. Thus I am a much better player as a result of finding ways to get the large intervals on the 620. Had I been able to bend away, I would probably not have been so focused on learning hybrid picking.

Gotta keep an open mind!

pinkfreud · Post by **pinkfreud** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:41 am

It sounds terrifying to not be able to bend strings on such an expensive guitar.

Eithery way, there's hope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdSgFABwtiw

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 10:09 am

pinkfreud wrote:It sounds terrifying to not be able to bend strings on such an expensive guitar.

It's not as though you can't bend strings - it's just not the ideal guitar for that Clapton/Hendrix school of guitar.

jps · Post by **jps** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:00 pm

sloop_john_b wrote:
pinkfreud wrote:It sounds terrifying to not be able to bend strings on such an expensive guitar.
It's not as though you can't bend strings - it's just not the ideal guitar for that Clapton/Hendrix school of guitar.

Unless you're Unknown Hinson.

pinkfreud · Post by **pinkfreud** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:52 pm

Everybody, thank you very much for your feedback.

In the next few days I will make up my mind if I will make the jump.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:01 pm

Here is some bending for you on a 620!

chronictown · Post by **chronictown** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:10 pm

That bassist has a great look

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