Guitars > Rickenbacker Guitars

Advantages: Looks good, nice Ricky sound
Disadvantages: Changing strings!!!

I wanted an electric 12 string and wanted to buy quality. Only one name cam to mind - Rickenbacker! I bought a 360/12, it was secondhand but only 6 months old. It looked fantastic! I was so excited to have such a legendary guitar and looking forward to using it live to give that extra dimension to my band\'s sound. I can\'t fault the build quality, it is good. The sound is great, although maintaining the tuning was problematic (not unusual for ...
...problems! lol). The biggest problem was changing the strings! My first attempt at doing this was my last! You somehow have to keep the string in a \"u\" shaped hole in the tailpiece, and by \"u\" shaped I mean it was a cutaway rather than a thread through hole, whilst you adjust the tension. It took me 2 hours to finish the job....I\'ve been playing guitar for 25 years and it has never taken that long! The guitar has gone, sold and so have my 12 ... Read review

Advantages: Unique guitar with distinctive sound
Disadvantages: Changing the strings and the intonation can be maddening!!

...finish. This is mainly because Rickenbacker can only use the finest cuts of Maple for this particular finish, as every detail of the grain is visible. In other words, there's nowhere to hide any imperfections in the wood. From the off I was impressed. The guitar comes supplied with an impressive black, oblong lockable flightcase, sporting the small square legend, 'RIC' with the word, 'Rickenbacker' beneath, all in yellow and black. Lie it down flat, ...
...recesses, housing a user manual, Rickenbacker product poster, Allen keys for bridge adjustment, cleaning cloth, key and spare for the case and the obligatory advice on restringing your guitar. Unfortunately, there is no warning as to the nightmare of restringing the Rickenbacker and the fact that if you remove all the strings, the 'R' tailpiece falls off. This is because it is held in place by string tension. Minor issue. I'm sure that with practice ... Read review

Advantages: Great looking
Disadvantages: pricey

...that John Lennon used a Rickenbacker guitar. He bought his first one in Hamburg. It was a C58 Model. He then adopted it as his own instrument and anyone that plays one will know why. Its a lovely sounding instrument. The guitar is semi hollow, reducing weight and giving it semi acoustic qualities. The ring in the strings is superb. Its constructed mainly from Maple with a Maple neck and fretboard. The large pick guard made famous by Rickenbacker ...
...the user a variety of sounds to choose from. They do have unnaturally large bodies on these guitars too making them a bit cumbersome on stage. The guitar is fitted with a vibrato unit too but does not suffer the same fate as many systems by going out of tune. It stays in tune no matter how much UMPH you give the arm. They come in a variety of colours but not as many as the more popular make of guitars. Black and natural finish seem to be available ... Read review

Advantages: Unusual sound, exceptional feedback, relatively light
Disadvantages: Tuning a tad difficult.

The Rickenbacker guitars are no doubtmost well-know for their jingly, bright 60's sound, and their association with people who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. The 360 is most well-known for it's 12 string version, probably one of the first 'serious' 12-string electrics. The 6-string, on the other hand, is relatively obscure. Maybe it's relative obscurity is due to the fact that on the strength of the Rickenbacker myth and reputation, ...
...The 360 is a beautifully crafted instrument, which can sound exceptionally good under some circumstances. To start with because of its unusual hollow body (the top is a solid piece of alder carved-out and glued to the back, rather than top and back glued to side-pieces), it has a very beautiful and controlled feedback sound. The large single coil pickups do not have enormous amounts of power (as with most other Rickenbackers), which sounds a bit ... Read review

Advantages: Lightweight, Low Action, Awesome Shape
Disadvantages: Large Headstock.

...guitar, as, before this time, Ibanez had been making replica copies of Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls and such. So after a meeting between Ibanez, and another guitar manufacturer, Greco, the "Iceman" design was born. Ibanez got the distributing rights for outside of Japan, and Greco for in Japan. Thats pretty much the history. So now for the guitar itself!! I picked it up second hand from ebay for about 350 quid, although you can buy them new ...
...my OPINION (after all, this is what its about, right?) the guitar is an awesome shape. Its so different yet it doesnt look like it juts out or is a bit odd like a lot of "heavy metal" guitars (See: BC Rich Warlock) to understand what i mean. It's also lightweight, especially in comparison to guitars such as Les Pauls, which are very heavy. If i had one bad thing to say about it, it would be the size of the headstock (the bit at the top for you non-musicians). ... Read review