Rickenbacker 330

[othomas2]

Played a customers yesterday... & bloody loved it...

Looked like this.



It kinda played differently to how I'd imagined, not sure in what sense... but probably my first rickenbacker electric I've ever played.

The body is quite big and awkward but I reckon it would sit really nicely standing up with a strap.

Neck is quite thin and had mega low action and flattened frets... and glossed fretboard. lovely !!

The p'ups were quite hot actually, but some volume loss on the neck p'up, not sure if that was o.k. or not.

I could really find myself playing one... he said he bought it for £400 secondhand, which is a steal !! Perhaps it was a fake ??

Hmm... maybe one day ...

another poor thread from me but trying to avoid things I should really be doing...

[westtexasred]

Played a customers yesterday... & bloody loved it...

Looked like this.



It kinda played differently to how I'd imagined, not sure in what sense... but probably my first rickenbacker electric I've ever played.

The body is quite big and awkward but I reckon it would sit really nicely standing up with a strap.

Neck is quite thin and had mega low action and flattened frets... and glossed fretboard. lovely !!

The p'ups were quite hot actually, but some volume loss on the neck p'up, not sure if that was o.k. or not.

I could really find myself playing one... he said he bought it for £400 secondhand, which is a steal !! Perhaps it was a fake ??


Hmm... maybe one day ...

another poor thread from me but trying to avoid things I should really be doing...

The 330 in the picture is really nice.The color is Burgundy-glo which was the Rickenbacker Color Of The Year for 2002.

[othomas2]

Don't you have have one ??

I think his was actually like regular red...

also I was wondering... I really liked the laqured fretboard, do you reckon you could achieve a similar thing on a rosewood jag neck ?

[finboy]

I love mine, i got in on the musicians friend deal and the only qualm i've had is that the bridge clicks when you do some bends. that can be remedied by tightening up the saddle screws, but they tend to loosen themselves off. considering i usually play rhythm anyways that isn't much of an issue.

[vincel]

I've owned a couple of 330s in the past, I loved them both and found them really comfortable to play. However:

• They are really not as well made as you would perhaps expect;
• The solid colour finishes (Jetglo, in my experience) chip & scratch incredibly easily, more so than any other guitar I've ever owned;
• The modern hi-gain pickups don't really deliver the jingle-jangle, if that's your bag then you'll want toasters instead;
• Even with toasters, the guitar sounds kind of thunky unless you play through a compressor;
• That "R" tailpiece looks great but is an absolute bitch to re-string, even on 6-strings.

[benecol]

Played one this summer and, I can't stress this enough, hated it. Worst neck ever, and the strings seemed about four inches above the scratchplate. We can safely say, I'm not a RIckenbacker man.

[brianeharmonjr]

[*]The solid colour finishes (Jetglo, in my experience) chip & scratch incredibly easily, more so than any other guitar I've ever owned;
[*]That "R" tailpiece looks great but is an absolute bitch to re-string, even on 6-strings.[/list]

I've heard both of these complaints before and absolutely don't understand. I've owned quite a few Ricks, old and new, and I've found the finishes to be quite heavy duty, much more than a Nitro lacquer. I've also never understood the tailpiece complaint. Slightly tougher than a tune-o-matic to restring, but easier than a strat-style.

[*]The modern hi-gain pickups don't really deliver the jingle-jangle, if that's your bag then you'll want toasters instead;
[*]Even with toasters, the guitar sounds kind of thunky unless you play through a compressor;

These things I can see. If you're get a Rick for the jangle, you should get the pickups that were used to get the jangly sound, which aren't hi-gains. As far as the thunky without a compressor, I almost never have my compressor off.

Moral of the story, Rickenbackers aren't for everyone, but what is? They have their idiosyncratic characteristics, but that's what makes them unique and special. I love 'em.