Review of 700C/12 and 700S Shasta
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2001 3:20 am
Rickenbacker 700C/12 Comstock and 700S Shasta MGQuote:These Rickenbackers mark a huge new departure for the California-based company. New, because they’re solid-wood, made-in-USA acoustic guitars from a company known as a pioneer of electric guitar design. And huge, because they’re large instruments.
The Comstock is a maple twelve-string and the Shasta is an acoustic six-string, so these are two very different guitars. Let’s run down what they have in common before we look at their individual qualities.
With 17-inch lower bouts, these are guitars to be reckoned with. A standard dreadnought is 15 5/8 inches, and most instruments labeled "jumbo" don’t get much past 16. And these big boys top out at 4 5/8 inches deep.
The review models arrived in molded urethane cases. Visually, they clearly belong to the Rickenbacker tradition with characteristic swash truss rod covers and triangular fingerboard inlays. The hefty maple necks are laminated, which serves both decorative and strengthening functions. Although both (to my taste) are strumming guitars, neither has a pickguard. Both have a plastic top and soundhole binding in a rectangular black and white pattern. Nut width is standard: 1 11/16 inches. They have a standard dreadnought scale and compensated saddles.
Top bracing is short and stout and well sanded, as is the top underside. Neck heels are asymmetrical—a little less deep on the treble side, perhaps to facilitate reaching the upper frets. The review models shipped with Rickenbacker’s standard electric guitar manual, offering little guidance.
Now let’s treat these guitars as individuals, as they deserve to be. It’s no surprise that Rickenbacker included a twelve-string among its first acoustic offerings. George Harrison’s electric Rickenbacker twelve livened up many Beatles songs, especially "A Hard Day’s Night." And Roger McGuinn’s electric twelve was crucial to the early Byrds sound.
The 700C/12 Comstock twelve-string certainly profits from its size. A twelve-string should be about big sound, and this one makes the grade. But "big" can mean several things. It can mean having a strong, punchy bass like the legendary Stella played by Leadbelly, the foremost twelve-stringer among early bluesmen. Or "big" could mean the broad, lacey sound of twelve-strings favored by John Denver and other performers of the folk era. This sound covers a lot of space without being overpowering.
The Comstock has the more lacy of the two sounds. To me, that makes this a guitar for a performer aiming for a solo singer-songwriter sound, and also for a guitarist aiming to set up a exciting undercurrent of thrumming rhythm in a band situation.
In appearance, the Comstock features sunburst finish on its spruce top and flamed maple back and sides. The top is dramatic, moving abruptly from a broad yellowish center to reddish edges. It’s more like a lava lamp than a Nevada sunset, and would fit in well among brightly colored electric instruments.
The Comstock’s lowest four string pairs—the four pairs in octave tuning—are strung with the high octave closest to the floor. This is the reverse of traditional acoustic stringing. The difference is subtle and possibly unimportant—I wouldn’t care to say better or worse.
If you do ever want to reverse the stringing, you’ll have to have a new nut cut. The tuners for each pair of strings are set at right angles to each other, leading to annoying conflicts for space between the knobs. The Comstock, by the way, arrived tuned all the way up to pitch. Some manufacturers intend their twelve-strings to be tuned two frets lower, but the Comstock sounded better to me at standard pitch. It grew a little flabby and slappy tuned down.
The huge size of the 700S Shasta six-string also does not result in a boomy bass, even though the Shasta is made of Indian rosewood, which has a good potential to boom in a big guitar. Instead, the bass strings—all the strings, in fact—were firm and rich at their fundamental tone, without being overpowering.
Instead of being punchy and defined, the Shasta’s bass notes added a looming presence, a deep foundation in which all the strings of a strummed chord blend well with each other. You’ll use this guitar for whatever style you wish no matter what I think. But what I think is that this guitar might be ideal for a strumming singer who performs without a bass. The deep bottom will fill out the low end very well. It would also be a good rhythm guitar for acoustic duos or trios that have high instruments like fiddle, mandolin, or lead guitar, but no bass. Get a good Bo Diddley or Everly Brothers or
Peter Townshend beat going and this guitar fills a lot of space. It won’t cut through a band. It will provide bedrock. In appearance, the review Shasta was unpretentious, with quite presentable rosewood back and sides and a plain spruce top unadorned except for the black and white plastic binding. But up close, the top was as good-looking and nicely sawed a piece of spruce as you’re likely to see.
I hear the Shasta as a specialized guitar, not for everyone or for every style, but good for what it does best and therefore worth checking out if you have the slightest suspicion it might fit your needs.~Written by Larry Sandberg and posted on guitarworld.com~
The Comstock is a maple twelve-string and the Shasta is an acoustic six-string, so these are two very different guitars. Let’s run down what they have in common before we look at their individual qualities.
With 17-inch lower bouts, these are guitars to be reckoned with. A standard dreadnought is 15 5/8 inches, and most instruments labeled "jumbo" don’t get much past 16. And these big boys top out at 4 5/8 inches deep.
The review models arrived in molded urethane cases. Visually, they clearly belong to the Rickenbacker tradition with characteristic swash truss rod covers and triangular fingerboard inlays. The hefty maple necks are laminated, which serves both decorative and strengthening functions. Although both (to my taste) are strumming guitars, neither has a pickguard. Both have a plastic top and soundhole binding in a rectangular black and white pattern. Nut width is standard: 1 11/16 inches. They have a standard dreadnought scale and compensated saddles.
Top bracing is short and stout and well sanded, as is the top underside. Neck heels are asymmetrical—a little less deep on the treble side, perhaps to facilitate reaching the upper frets. The review models shipped with Rickenbacker’s standard electric guitar manual, offering little guidance.
Now let’s treat these guitars as individuals, as they deserve to be. It’s no surprise that Rickenbacker included a twelve-string among its first acoustic offerings. George Harrison’s electric Rickenbacker twelve livened up many Beatles songs, especially "A Hard Day’s Night." And Roger McGuinn’s electric twelve was crucial to the early Byrds sound.
The 700C/12 Comstock twelve-string certainly profits from its size. A twelve-string should be about big sound, and this one makes the grade. But "big" can mean several things. It can mean having a strong, punchy bass like the legendary Stella played by Leadbelly, the foremost twelve-stringer among early bluesmen. Or "big" could mean the broad, lacey sound of twelve-strings favored by John Denver and other performers of the folk era. This sound covers a lot of space without being overpowering.
The Comstock has the more lacy of the two sounds. To me, that makes this a guitar for a performer aiming for a solo singer-songwriter sound, and also for a guitarist aiming to set up a exciting undercurrent of thrumming rhythm in a band situation.
In appearance, the Comstock features sunburst finish on its spruce top and flamed maple back and sides. The top is dramatic, moving abruptly from a broad yellowish center to reddish edges. It’s more like a lava lamp than a Nevada sunset, and would fit in well among brightly colored electric instruments.
The Comstock’s lowest four string pairs—the four pairs in octave tuning—are strung with the high octave closest to the floor. This is the reverse of traditional acoustic stringing. The difference is subtle and possibly unimportant—I wouldn’t care to say better or worse.
If you do ever want to reverse the stringing, you’ll have to have a new nut cut. The tuners for each pair of strings are set at right angles to each other, leading to annoying conflicts for space between the knobs. The Comstock, by the way, arrived tuned all the way up to pitch. Some manufacturers intend their twelve-strings to be tuned two frets lower, but the Comstock sounded better to me at standard pitch. It grew a little flabby and slappy tuned down.
The huge size of the 700S Shasta six-string also does not result in a boomy bass, even though the Shasta is made of Indian rosewood, which has a good potential to boom in a big guitar. Instead, the bass strings—all the strings, in fact—were firm and rich at their fundamental tone, without being overpowering.
Instead of being punchy and defined, the Shasta’s bass notes added a looming presence, a deep foundation in which all the strings of a strummed chord blend well with each other. You’ll use this guitar for whatever style you wish no matter what I think. But what I think is that this guitar might be ideal for a strumming singer who performs without a bass. The deep bottom will fill out the low end very well. It would also be a good rhythm guitar for acoustic duos or trios that have high instruments like fiddle, mandolin, or lead guitar, but no bass. Get a good Bo Diddley or Everly Brothers or
Peter Townshend beat going and this guitar fills a lot of space. It won’t cut through a band. It will provide bedrock. In appearance, the review Shasta was unpretentious, with quite presentable rosewood back and sides and a plain spruce top unadorned except for the black and white plastic binding. But up close, the top was as good-looking and nicely sawed a piece of spruce as you’re likely to see.
I hear the Shasta as a specialized guitar, not for everyone or for every style, but good for what it does best and therefore worth checking out if you have the slightest suspicion it might fit your needs.~Written by Larry Sandberg and posted on guitarworld.com~
