Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I've wanted a Rickenbacker since before I was a guitar player - 1963, to be precise, when I was smitten by the Beatles. Played a Shaftesbury copy of a 330 in my first 'band' in about 1972, and now, finally, nearly 30 years later, I'm the very proud owner of a brand new 650 Dakota.

I've had it precisely 25 hours (I'm sure I'll stop counting in a few days ), but it feels like I've owned it much longer - it 'fits' me beautifully. Needed a slight truss rod tweak to bring the action to where I like it, but otherwise it was perfect out of the box.

Looking forward to being a more active participant here. Now the saving starts for a 380!

Cheers,
David

Congrats, David!

I have a close friend who is looking at trading in his Fender Strat custom for a 650 Dakota.

I know what you mean about saving money - as soon as you get a Ric, you start on your next one!

All the best,

Corey

Dave: Please do let us know what you think of the sound and the features of the Model 650 Dakota.

David,

Coincidence indeed. You message is almost a copy of my own from a few months ago. I wanted a 4001 bass and subsequently ended up with a 4003 360/12 370/6.

(Hearing the riff on peter macs page has me also thinking about acquiring a solid body too)

Check out the surname too

John Westwood

Hmmm..... the church I play at is called Westwood.... and my middle name is John

Either of you close to the Northwoods??[lol]

Hello David. Your intention to start saving for another Rickenbacker is a symtom of a serious malady that not only might leave your home a little more cluttered with various styles of Rickenbacker guitars, but also leave your mind a little confused as to which one to play when the mood strikes. This malady has been described in greater detail in another posting somewhere here in the Forum but I don't recall where. Perhaps Peter would direct you to it so that you might determine just exactly how serious your affliction is at this time. Have fun!!

Ok, ok, so I'm sick - but it could be worse. At least buying Rickenbackers is only injurious to my bank balance!

Peter asked me to post my impressions of my new guitar. Here goes.....

I'd been waiting an agonizing three weeks for delivery - UPS 'lost' the first one (from Musician's Friend) but the second one showed up on the appointed day (10/26), unharmed. I opened the box, and was surprised by how small the case was. Opening it was an even bigger surprise - this thing is so compact! Picking it up by the neck gave me slight pause - this is a chunky neck (compared to my Danelectro Hodao) - but less so than my Martin 0-16NY (the original baseball bat.)

I tuned it up, and plugged it in to my Tech 21 Trademark 10 - everything set flat. Bridge pickup, Day Tripper opening riff - and I'm SOLD.

More experimentation leads me to the following conclusions:

1) everything I've read about note definition and clarity was right on. Even with heavy distortion, the articulation is incredible - I've never heard pickups quite like it. I'll be able to disable the noise gate on my RP300 patches
2) it's a little neck heavy on a strap, and slightly awkward to play sitting down without one because the body is so tiny
3) I *love* the neck!! It feels very like my little old Martin, chunky and comfortable
4) it seems to be very well put together - the only blemish I can find is a sanding mark on the heel
5) the action was a tad high - I gave the truss rods a quick quarter turn yesterday, and it's just right now
6) it sounds absolutely wicked with a slide
7) it's very easy to fingerpick on as well, with the string spacing and the clearance between the strings and the body

If I want to get really nit-picky, the nut's a little rough, but that doesn't affect playability in the slightest. My biggest complaint is the strap buttons - what are these things? I've never seen anything quite as puny as these - straplocks, here I come!

I played it 'out' in church today for the first time. It was wonderful - it feels like I've been playing it for years, and the sound was fabulous.

I used to think I suffered from G.A.S. - now I know it's R.A.S . I now need to go and make a serious nuisance of myself at my local Guitar Center, to convince myself that I can deal with the skinny neck of a 330 or 360......

Help!

Welcome to the "Club"!

Schaller strap locks work just fine on my 650's stock strap buttons...

Congratulations, David!

I'm glad everything worked out well -- the screwed-up delivery got rectified; and that you are 'taken' with the guitar.

Fred

Nice report David. Are you able to compare the sound of the pickups with any other make of pickup currently on the market?

Thanks, Andrew, for the tip about Schaller straplocks - it never occurred to me that they may be a direct fit.

I'm not sure I can compare the pickups to much else in the mainstream. I've been playing a Danelectro Hodad for the last 18 months or so - it has two pairs of 'lipstick' pickups arranged like humbuckers, but, apparently, not wired like them. They have pretty low output, and a lovely bright character to them. Unfortunately, they don't have much 'oomph' behind them, and take a lot of help to give body to a lead sound. Prior to that I had an Epiphone Sheraton II, which I owned for 6 or 7 years and never really clicked with. Its stock pickups did what I expected, but were pretty characterless. I didn't play it enough to be overly concerned, though.
These pickups on the 650, however, have punch and authority, and such a sweet 'musicality'. They make the amp modeling sounds in my Digitech RP-300 come alive, where the Hodad was wheezing. Straight into my Trademark 10 make me realise what a wonderful little amp it is. My setup in church is guitar -> RP-300 -> TM10 (set Tweed-HiGain-UK, for those that know it, all tone controls flat, drive @ 9 o'clock, level @ 3 o'clock), di'd through the XLR output to the PA.
Man, what a sound!

Cheers,
David

You're quite welcome, David.

...Us "Dakota-types" have to stick together! J

A Message to David Eastwood, fellow trademark-10 user :
It would be great to get a feel for the settings that you are using with your ric. I have a 360/6 and a 660/6 and love playing through the T-10. Have you tried getting a vox sound out of the "british" setting ? I try to by doing :
* british/clean/UK (speaker setting)
* I cut totally the drive control
* I cut the main level to 9 o'clock
* I control volume/tone primarily from the guitar

Would you mind trying this or perhaps you have tried other ways. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts.

Best Regards,
David Lopes
Paris, France