Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Over the years I have had seven Rickenbackers. While I enjoyed all of them, at the end of the day I decided on two that are keepers or in today's vernacular long haulers. A 1993 six string model 350 Liverpool from J Willi which was refinished in honeyburst and modified by PW and a 12 string, 2003 model 1993 SPC in montezuma brown from the Factory.

I decided on these instruments because of Lennon and Harrison. The toasters on each instrument have that jangly sparkle that gives me the Beatles sound that roped me in from the beginning.

So let's hear it! What Rickenbackers did you keep and why?

http://www.rickresource.com/rrp/1993SPC.html

Very cool - that MB SPC looks great.

I've had only three.

I bought a '73 480 BG in 1974, my first great guitar. It was stolen in '82, and I went right out and got another, an '81 480 BG.

I also have a '04 650D; both will be with me to the end.

Jon, glad they are still with you. One of mine was a 380 in burgundyglo as well.

I’m in the opposite boat.

I sold off my original stash of guitars back in 1989 during my dammit-drumming-is-my-business period.
In that bunch was my only Rick ever up to that point, a 1961 Mapleglo 450. How I miss it.

Cut to what I call my “modern era”, when it got to where I needed (or just wanted, depending on the circumstances) to have a variety of instruments in order to record my own material. So I had to rebuild my guitar arsenal. In the course of that process, I’ve acquired every Rickenbacker that I’ve needed/wanted, totaling out to 8 of their guitars and a 4003.

But man, what I wouldn’t do to get back that exquisite 450.

Sam when it comes to guitars it seems that it is often about the one that got away. To that end, for me at least, when I have gone back and retrieved that instrument it just didn't capture the magic of the first time. I expect you have things covered.

Well,i've only ever owned 4 Rickenbackers,but my 1989 360/12V64 will be with me to the end.
I bought that brand new at the time, just a month before my 19th birthday.

Others were a 1990 325V59 mapleglo,i bought this from my uncle who had a noise abatement order from the council ,so he sold all but 2 or 3 of his geets!
I got it for half the price he paid,£600 back in 91. Traded it in for 52 reissue US Tele .

Next was my cousins 330 Jetglo,i wasn't using it much and sold it,shouldn't have.Bought a US std Strat with what i got for it,and to be fair i did use the Strat a lot more than the 330 ,but still...

Then the last Rick i bought was a 1990 360V64 6,cool geet ,but i haven't really played it much over the last 15 years i've owned it.I have been contemplating selling but haven't made up my mind yet.

What did you end up selling, Peter?

John I sold or traded a 380, 330, 360, 450/12 and a 4003 over the years.

Sorry,that was a 1999 360V64 6 ,not 1990.

In thinning the herd, I'm down to the first Ric I bought, a 370-12 RM and 2 4003s; FG and JG. These, and the 2020 were the only ones that went to work.
I'd have kept the 2020 iffen it wasn't such a neck diver.
The 4003 FG has sentimental value, it was my first Ric bass, bought just after I got home from the DCM party. I'd like to think I saw it being crafted during the factory tour. Original strings still sound great.
The JG ,bought used,changed the pg and trc with black ones, with a painted white outline. Kept it for the flatwounds that were on it. It will be the next to go, but not anytime soon.

I've got three RIcs to my name right now: a 1997 from 1996, a 360/12CW Carl Wilson signature from 2000 and a 2016 660/12. It took a long time before I got a set of RICs I was happy with, and I hope I keep this little trio for a while:

https://i.imgur.com/D53cIGA.jpg

That CW/12 is Amazing, Jake. Is it a high production number?

I'm fortunate enough to have # 500 - a CW/12 - and the grain is very similar to yours.

Very nice, Jake. Great to see you here again too!

admin wrote:Sam when it comes to guitars it seems that it is often about the one that got away. To that end, for me at least, when I have gone back and retrieved that instrument it just didn't capture the magic of the first time. I expect you have things covered.

Brutha, I like the way you think. And honestly, there’s been so much water under the Rick bridge for me since then that like you said, that 450 would just feel like one of my current Ricks that I’ve lived with for the last couple of years. (She sure was purtiful, though.) In fact, as fate would have it, the first Rick that I bought during my “modern era” was my 660/6, primarily because it could be had in my fetish gold-on-black color scheme along with its being a solid body, which I wanted to have back because of having had that 450. Then the 660 showed up and I was immediately surprised, and then spoiled, by its wider neck. I knew little enough about Ricks’ different model specs at that point that I didn’t see that one coming. But I’d like to think that my 450 forgave me for forsaking her by hipping me to the 660’s.