April 7, 2013

According to my Extremely-Embarrassing Database of Guitars I've Owned (which I'm kind of tempted to post here but probably shouldn't), I have owned 26 Rickenbacker guitars. Some of them have been brand-spanking new, some have been quite old; some have been bone-stock, some have been hacked-up. There have been 6-strings, 12-strings, lap steels, and even an electric mandolin (we won't count the basses; that's a whole 'nother ball o' wax)!

This old, hacked-up 6-string won - but it needed a little help first.

This 45-year-old beauty was purchased from my pal Frank Canino, whom you may have seen playing the part of John Lennon in various Beatles tribute acts. In the summer of 2011, I put out an APB for a mid 60's model 330. I knew I wanted a vintage one, but the only way I was able to afford one was if it had been messed with or unoriginal in some way, which this one had - the neck actually broke off at the heel (the weak joint where the body meets the neck). The repair can be easily seen by the spot of black paint on the heel.

The repair was done by Chip Little, a Rickenbacker restorer and rare-parts supplier whose reputation seems to be a mixed bag. I, however, have zero complaints – the repair, while obvious, has held up beautifully. After all, I wanted some old wood I could play, not some wall art!

The other modification that Chip performed, and this is the really important one, was to re-fret the guitar and remove the thick layer of lacquer that typically afflicts Rickenbacker fretboards. One of the main complaints that players have about Rickenbacker guitars is that they’re difficult to play “lead” on – indeed, playing Clapton or Hendrix on a Rickenbacker is an exercise in futility. It can be done, of course, but even the best player will have a hard time coaxing the creamy sustain and smooth vibrato necessary to play blues-influenced, high-volume classic rock. There are several factors at play here, but the tiny frets covered in a thick layer of varnish is usually the source of the blame.

On my Rick, that problem has been completely eliminated, and the result is a guitar that plays a little more FAMILIARLY – a little closer to, say, your favorite Gibson or Fender.

When I received this guitar from Frank, it was also missing the original pickups (the vibration-sensing magnets on the face of an electric guitar – this is where the majority of a guitar’s tone comes from). In fact, it came with no pickups at all! This turned out to be a blessing, since I was able to experiment with many different pickup types until I found the combination that worked best – two modern pickups (better for rock), modified to look like vintage ones! This took a very long time, and I nearly gave up and sold the guitar on several occasions, because I just couldn’t find that SWEET SPOT.

Boy, am I glad I stuck it out – this guitar can flat out do ANYTHING, a far cry from the strictly-60′s-pop that these guitars are typically known for.

Other then all that, the guitar is pretty much stock and most of the original 60′s parts remain. The Accent Vibrato “whammy-bar” was my addition, to add yet another level of versatility to this instrument (plus none of my other guitars have whammy bars), and one tuner has been swapped.

Rickenbacker has wisely started making their guitars with this elegant, slim 60′s headstock shape again (as per 2006/2007), but there is really no substitute for an original. The plexiglass nameplate, slot-head screws, vintage tuners, and ambered-with-age Fireglo finish complete the look.

My bass arsenal is going through a period of flux at the moment, but this guitar remains, and will remain, a staple of my FOUR KEEPERS –my current arsenal of 6-strings, which I believe are the four best I have ever owned (out of the around 150 I’ve owned over the course of 10 years). I will be covering more of them in the coming days.

Just how versatile is my old 330? Watch – and listen - for yourself!