Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi guys, new member here signing in for the first time, having just purchased my first Rickenbacker from a dealer here in the UK; a 620/12 immaculately finished in fireglow, set up beautifully and plays a dream; this guitar will now be my "go to" instrument, will be well gigged and not be hung on a wall just to look at ! I am absolutely delighted, it is TRULY superb!!

First job was a restring to my preferred, slightly lighter 6th/8th/10th & 12th (.018/.024/.034/.044) and I have to say that, even with the new fully slotted headstock, it was without doubt the most difficult and time consuming re-string I have ever done!! The good thing is that I love this guitar, it ticks all the boxes for me and so all positives make the re-stringing; although a ball ache, it's a ball ache I can live with!
I quickly discovered that a capo was a really useful tool to help the restring but any further advice and help from you Ricky avids regarding re-stringing a slotted head 12 string would be GREATLY appreciated.

Also if I may, a quick mention of that peculiar "fifth knob". I have experimented with the three different suggestions of use in the owners manual and checked out comments on the forum here and on you tube. My initial preference is to use it as a complete equalisation control between the bridge and the neck pickups (both volumes & treble tone up full / bass tone fully down) to get the full spectrum of the tones available (quoting the owners manual). I would be interested to hear advice from all users of "the fifth knob"!

Cheers......... Brian

theonemanband wrote:Hi guys, new member here signing in for the first time, having just purchased my first Rickenbacker from a dealer here in the UK; a 620/12 immaculately finished in fireglow, set up beautifully and plays a dream; this guitar will now be my "go to" instrument, will be well gigged and not be hung on a wall just to look at ! I am absolutely delighted, it is TRULY superb!!

First job was a restring to my preferred, slightly lighter 6th/8th/10th & 12th (.018/.024/.034/.044) and I have to say that, even with the new fully slotted headstock, it was without doubt the most difficult and time consuming re-string I have ever done!! The good thing is that I love this guitar, it ticks all the boxes for me and so all positives make the re-stringing; although a ball ache, it's a ball ache I can live with!
I quickly discovered that a capo was a really useful tool to help the restring but any further advice and help from you Ricky avids regarding re-stringing a slotted head 12 string would be GREATLY appreciated.

Also if I may, a quick mention of that peculiar "fifth knob". I have experimented with the three different suggestions of use in the owners manual and checked out comments on the forum here and on you tube. My initial preference is to use it as a complete equalisation control between the bridge and the neck pickups (both volumes & treble tone up full / bass tone fully down) to get the full spectrum of the tones available (quoting the owners manual). I would be interested to hear advice from all users of "the fifth knob"!

Cheers......... Brian

Congrats on the new guitar! 620/12's are great little guitars.

One thing I try to do when changing strings is to just change one at a time. This keeps constant tension on the R tailpiece. Otherwise, it will fall off!

As for the blend knob, I usually leave it at halfway and don't mess with it, especially when playing live. But who knows, have fun and see what sounds you can get. Oh, and I usually leave all volume and tone knobs all the way up. I use pedals to change volume, especially a compressor for the 12string.

Hi and thank you.

Yes, I did re-string one at a time, but I found a capo helpful after I had located the string in the tailpiece, to hold the string in place on the fretboard while I fed it through and locked & wound it on to the tuner.