Model Identification
Moderator: jingle_jangle
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Marcel_Daguerre
Model Identification
I've recently purchased a Rickenbacker (used) and am puzzled, even worried, about which model it is. It appears to have a 325 body (no f-hole and pointed rather than rounded edges at the top of the body). It has three pick-ups and appears in all aspects to be a 325. But a visit to the RIC web site shows 325s with 21 frets and the one I have has 24. Also, there is no serial number and it says "Made in USA" on the "Rickenbacker" plate. The bridge plate is the "R" variety. The cord receptical says "CO 9457". The knobs are black with silver face plates. (Sorry if I'm using incorrect terminology - I'm a drummer by trade). The tuning gears say "Grover". Can anyone tell me by this description what I have here? Thanks.
This soundsto me like a non vintage style 350
"Liverpool", what with the 24 fret description.If the pickups have rounded "buttons" [6 0f them]
on the tops, I'd say that's what you have.An actual 325 is a Short scale guitar, vs. the 350, which is regular scale like all other std. Rick 6 & 12 strings.
"Liverpool", what with the 24 fret description.If the pickups have rounded "buttons" [6 0f them]
on the tops, I'd say that's what you have.An actual 325 is a Short scale guitar, vs. the 350, which is regular scale like all other std. Rick 6 & 12 strings.
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Marcel_Daguerre
It does have the rounded button pick-ups so the 350 "Liverpool" must be it. The RIC web site doesn't list a 350 in their 300 series so that's why I couldn't find it, I guess. Do they not make them anymore? It just occured to me that this forum is for technical questions and I'm probably in the wrong place. So thanks for the info and sorry to have bothered you.
No you did come to the right place.
Between Don ,Terry,Myself ,Peter,and all the other guys that frequent this site...you have found the best of the loonies that have a good overview of the company.
I donot say that I or anyone of us are the knowledge master ...but rather we are a vault of personal knowledge that sometimes even the factory has no knowledge of.Nor sometimes do they want the knowledge ,as it gets pretty trivial.sometimes I wish I did not have it.
But ....ask away.
I am reminded of a David Crosby song off the 1977 CSN LP/CD....Anything At All
Between Don ,Terry,Myself ,Peter,and all the other guys that frequent this site...you have found the best of the loonies that have a good overview of the company.
I donot say that I or anyone of us are the knowledge master ...but rather we are a vault of personal knowledge that sometimes even the factory has no knowledge of.Nor sometimes do they want the knowledge ,as it gets pretty trivial.sometimes I wish I did not have it.
But ....ask away.
I am reminded of a David Crosby song off the 1977 CSN LP/CD....Anything At All
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!
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Marcel_Daguerre
Well I hope you realize that you've invited a neophyte on board. But since you are being so generous with your knowledge and experience, I'd love to hear your views on which amps sound best with a RIC. A local shop is trying to sell me on the Line 6 amps so if you have anything to add about those, I'd love to hear it. OH, ditto about strings. Thanks Guys.
This thing that there is a BEST string for this guitar ...I do not agree with.
I have a house full of guitars ,so I will explain the models/brands and why I use the strings that I do use.
A goldtop 1957 Les Paul -Ernie Ball or D'addario .10-.046
They have a high nickel content and give me the dark sound that I want out of it.
A1962 Fender Stratocaster. -Ernie Ball or D'addario .009 to .046 strings.I want the bendability of the plain strings to feel like the same tension of my Les Paul and I want a similar feel.plus Strats are just a little on the crisp side for me so again the nickel content is to my liking.
1956 Gretsch 6120 -.011 to .050 GHS
I want to be as crisp as I can get it.This guitar I never play with any distortion and although I don't play Rock-a- billy ....I do want to get the Buffalo Springfield tone .
Rickenbacker 360-12 (old style)1966.On this I use the Pyramid strings .This removes some of the clank and is easier on the fingers than round wound strings.It also gives me less finger noise .
Gibson Flying 'V' in black Limba.
I use .010 to .052 Ernie Ball to get as much bottom end out of this as I can.
This is a rebuilt guitar that was smashed and I removed the Kahler tremelo system and actually made the black limba body for it.
I dare someone to tell me it's not stock.George Gruhn would be hard pressed to be able to tell .
My Gibson firebird III same Ernie Ball .010 to .052 string and the same bottom end issue.plus it gets played as a slide more often than not.
Fender 1952 Esquire Ernie Ball .009 to .046 or .010 to .046 ,Both work for me...depends on how many sets of strings I have around.
Fender 1959 Telecaster -burgundy Mist Stock color
GHS .010 to .052 a nice crisp guitar that needs more/better bottom end definition ,so GHS is a crisper string (the Boomers)
1957 fender Precision Bass GHS Brite Flats.
I'm not really a Bassist but like Jack Casady's tone and flats sound like a bass to me.I appreciate the Chris Squire thing ,but it's not for my taste/band.I'm not knocking it ...just going somewhere else in tone.
My acoustics .....................
CF Martin D-35 d'addario phosphor bronze
Guild D-50 and D-25 both get Martin Marquis.
The Martin is my finger picking guitar and the Guilds need to have a clearer bottom end .Even with my bracing mods and the bridge reshaping to allow the top to move more...I still need a non -phosphor bronze string to cut through.
My own guitars that I have made use a variety of brands and types of strings.
hope this gives you some insight as to what and why.
By the way...this is only a sampling of my gear.My wife thinks that I'm crazy and should get rid of some of the least played guitars....Which ones?
I have a house full of guitars ,so I will explain the models/brands and why I use the strings that I do use.
A goldtop 1957 Les Paul -Ernie Ball or D'addario .10-.046
They have a high nickel content and give me the dark sound that I want out of it.
A1962 Fender Stratocaster. -Ernie Ball or D'addario .009 to .046 strings.I want the bendability of the plain strings to feel like the same tension of my Les Paul and I want a similar feel.plus Strats are just a little on the crisp side for me so again the nickel content is to my liking.
1956 Gretsch 6120 -.011 to .050 GHS
I want to be as crisp as I can get it.This guitar I never play with any distortion and although I don't play Rock-a- billy ....I do want to get the Buffalo Springfield tone .
Rickenbacker 360-12 (old style)1966.On this I use the Pyramid strings .This removes some of the clank and is easier on the fingers than round wound strings.It also gives me less finger noise .
Gibson Flying 'V' in black Limba.
I use .010 to .052 Ernie Ball to get as much bottom end out of this as I can.
This is a rebuilt guitar that was smashed and I removed the Kahler tremelo system and actually made the black limba body for it.
I dare someone to tell me it's not stock.George Gruhn would be hard pressed to be able to tell .
My Gibson firebird III same Ernie Ball .010 to .052 string and the same bottom end issue.plus it gets played as a slide more often than not.
Fender 1952 Esquire Ernie Ball .009 to .046 or .010 to .046 ,Both work for me...depends on how many sets of strings I have around.
Fender 1959 Telecaster -burgundy Mist Stock color
GHS .010 to .052 a nice crisp guitar that needs more/better bottom end definition ,so GHS is a crisper string (the Boomers)
1957 fender Precision Bass GHS Brite Flats.
I'm not really a Bassist but like Jack Casady's tone and flats sound like a bass to me.I appreciate the Chris Squire thing ,but it's not for my taste/band.I'm not knocking it ...just going somewhere else in tone.
My acoustics .....................
CF Martin D-35 d'addario phosphor bronze
Guild D-50 and D-25 both get Martin Marquis.
The Martin is my finger picking guitar and the Guilds need to have a clearer bottom end .Even with my bracing mods and the bridge reshaping to allow the top to move more...I still need a non -phosphor bronze string to cut through.
My own guitars that I have made use a variety of brands and types of strings.
hope this gives you some insight as to what and why.
By the way...this is only a sampling of my gear.My wife thinks that I'm crazy and should get rid of some of the least played guitars....Which ones?
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!
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Marcel_Daguerre
Thanks for the insights, Mark. I figured I would have to experiment for myself, but this not only gives me an informed starting point but also a way to evaluate what my fingers are feeling and my ears are hearing. Thanks for taking the time to write all this out. Re: your wife's evaluation of your mental state - kind of like asking which of your children you like the least. I've got a '65 Slingerland 5-piece drum set that comes out for the ocassional jazz gig but now sits in the garage in lieu of my new DWs. But you could take the car and all the furniture before I'd hand over that baby.
Just as there is no one ultimate guitar ,this can be said for strings as well and amplifiers.
I think of my guitars and gear like an artists pallet of colors to choose from.
Some times red is really great but other times I have to go with a crazy dayglo lavender to fit the mood.
Its' all in taste and I like to rotate my colors/tone of gear.
I think of my guitars and gear like an artists pallet of colors to choose from.
Some times red is really great but other times I have to go with a crazy dayglo lavender to fit the mood.
Its' all in taste and I like to rotate my colors/tone of gear.
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!
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Marcel
Thanks cook-c. I went to the site and found the 350V63 Liverpool. What's puzzling is that the description says 21 frets and that's what the picture shows, but my guitar has 24 frets. The description at the site also says "full scale size" which makes me think it should be 24. Have they made two versions of this model?
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Gary_Cost
Mark the MD;
You have just sank my ship! "There is no one ultimate guitar"!??? Don't tell my wife that cause I keep telling her "This, IS the ONE"!
Marcel;
Mark is right in saying that each guitar sounds different through different amps. My personal choice for the 'Beatle' sound is VOX! I have an AC-30 and a Ric, but even it would sound different through lets say a VOX AC-100. It's all personal preference.
You have just sank my ship! "There is no one ultimate guitar"!??? Don't tell my wife that cause I keep telling her "This, IS the ONE"!
Marcel;
Mark is right in saying that each guitar sounds different through different amps. My personal choice for the 'Beatle' sound is VOX! I have an AC-30 and a Ric, but even it would sound different through lets say a VOX AC-100. It's all personal preference.
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Andy_Cripps
Hi there guys, seeing as you all seem friendly enough I hope you will be able to help me with a query I have. I have what I am pretty sure is a Model 1997, it does seem to fit the description on the Ric website but it does have an "R" tailpeice, and when I contacted their support guys they said that the Model 1997 had a bigsby or the "Trapieze" tailpeice. Any thoughts on that? Also is there any way to tell what the serial number is other than on the jackplate, as it looks like the jackplate has been replaced at some point because it just has 4 XXXX's on it. I bought it secondhand and I am trying to find out some info on it. It also has major tuning problems, but I think that is because some joker fitted the nut with his eyes shut.
Anyway, thanks in advance
Andy
Anyway, thanks in advance
Andy
Some one took off the original jackplet and this is a factory replacement .The XXXX are the code for that.They don't want bogus Ricks running around and then having a customer say ..."Hey !I thought it was a real Rick!" sorry ....no way !
So that is the plate story.
The pots have a coding on them,they should have a 7 digit number starting with 137 the next two digits will give you the year.
Guitars are like Volkswagen Beetles...they all look the same ...but they really are not from year to year .Little things change .Some one needs to look at your guitar to nail down the year.
So that is the plate story.
The pots have a coding on them,they should have a 7 digit number starting with 137 the next two digits will give you the year.
Guitars are like Volkswagen Beetles...they all look the same ...but they really are not from year to year .Little things change .Some one needs to look at your guitar to nail down the year.
So you too want yours "ALAPWOB"?!?!
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merle_mink