Welp. NGD: Rickenbacker 330/6.

[cestlamort]

I just looked it up and saw a video. Not that bad I think...my Danelectro Convertible had the same method. I used a capo.

It's a matter of having the ball catch the hole exactly where it needs to be. I can string a bigsby guitar in 10 minutes total, but this took me a half hour.

It depends some on how crappy the casting is for the R tailpiece. Front of tailpiece: "ooh, so mid century stylish!"; back of tailpiece: "Did they give kindergartners a project in shop class?"

You do get better at stringing, but sometimes the ball ends do get unseated. My trick for problematic strings is to loop (new) dental floss through the ball end and pull the ball into the slot, holding tension until the string comes to tension as you tighten the tuning peg. (And: minty!)

[fuzzjunkie]

Nice 330! The Fireglow really does change through the years. Some of it was the paint they used, but some depended on the sprayer and their style I guess. I definitely prefer the ones more cherry red than salmon.

My first Rickenbacker was a 360 and it was the first brand new guitar I ever bought. I actually had to order it and wait 6 weeks for delivery. It was a very well made guitar compared to the beat up Fender and Gibson guitars I had previously.

I wasn’t bothered by the neck although it was different than my others. The main difference to me was the binding. It had the R tailpiece and I never had a problem with it changing strings. I change them one at a time on all my guitars, so no difference. I didn’t learn the capo trick until later on, but used a similar method holding the string tightly under my thumb.

That R tailpiece must have been a good casting because it was pretty clean underneath and no problem getting the ball ends in place, but I have seen a few since then that were a mess.

The 360-64 that I have now has the trapeze tailpiece and it’s much easier to work with, but it’s not as flash as the R.

[Jonesie]

I just adjusted the action on this a bit. Holy shit this can go low without fretting out.

[mediocreplayer]

Congrats -- it looks great! How does it sound compared to the Marr? I always thought these hi gains sound too woofy and are neither articulate as single coils nor as girthy as humbuckers. Countless people disagree though.

[Jonesie]

Congrats -- it looks great! How does it sound compared to the Marr? I always thought these hi gains sound too woofy and are neither articulate as single coils nor as girthy as humbuckers. Countless people disagree though.

I like it! The bridge pickup is a bit like a Jaguar bridge pickup, but has some more midrange girth. Kinda the bastard child of a Jag bridge pickup and a P-90. The neck pickup is definitely a bit woofy, but it sounds incredible and chimey in the middle position, and it has a fun thuddy sound when by itself clean.

[cestlamort]

Cool sound: put the bridge pickup full vol, full tone, and the neck full vol maybe 1/2-3/4 tone and using the 5th knob to roll it in. It gets a nice "woody" sound I haven't heard in other guitars.

[Jonesie]

I brought this to my tech last night for a quick "truss rod adjustment" and he ended up setting the whole damn thing up. The neck is near perfectly straight, the nut slots are perfect height and the action is hysterically low. It legitimately feels like a shredder guitar. My 10-50 strings feel like 8s.

I will say though, playing this some more, this guitar sounds like garbage with a Big Muff, but sounds great with a Rat, so that edit has been made to the board.

[JSett]

I brought this to my tech last night for a quick "truss rod adjustment" and he ended up setting the whole damn thing up. The neck is near perfectly straight, the nut slots are perfect height and the action is hysterically low. It legitimately feels like a shredder guitar. My 10-50 strings feel like 8s.

I will say though, playing this some more, this guitar sounds like garbage with a Big Muff, but sounds great with a Rat, so that edit has been made to the board.

Is it particularly feedback prone? That's what scares me about my incoming...I don't use crazy amounts of gain (Bassman cranked to a dirty level and then boosted for loud bits with a BD-2) but I can be subjected to the wrong kind of feedback pretty easy if I'm stood in the wrong position.

*EDIT: I see you've answered this in my thread, thank you!

[Jonesie]

I brought this to my tech last night for a quick "truss rod adjustment" and he ended up setting the whole damn thing up. The neck is near perfectly straight, the nut slots are perfect height and the action is hysterically low. It legitimately feels like a shredder guitar. My 10-50 strings feel like 8s.

I will say though, playing this some more, this guitar sounds like garbage with a Big Muff, but sounds great with a Rat, so that edit has been made to the board.

Is it particularly feedback prone? That's what scares me about my incoming...I don't use crazy amounts of gain (Bassman cranked to a dirty level and then boosted for loud bits with a BD-2) but I can be subjected to the wrong kind of feedback pretty easy if I'm stood in the wrong position.

Not super feedback prone, unless you're standing directly in front of the amp and pointing the guitar at the amp. The muff just sounded like garbage tonally. Even if I put it lower on the tone knob it just didn't work. YMMV, I'm playing through a Vox Night Train 15 into an Egnater 1x12 and a '63 Ampeg Jet, which are both weirdish amps and very different froma Bassman.

[cestlamort]

yeah, some distortions, overdrives, fuzzes just sound terrible with a Rickenbacker (and having dirt sound good is one of the things I'm enjoying with my Marr, actually). I found a Timmy works well.

[Jonesie]

yeah, some distortions, overdrives, fuzzes just sound terrible with a Rickenbacker (and having dirt sound good is one of the things I'm enjoying with my Marr, actually). I found a Timmy works well.

I've tried a bunch of different drive pedals today. So far the winners are a Rat clone (set in turbo mode), EQD Special Cranker and a Double Hot Cake clone. Double rock is OK, but a little wooly on the bottom. Nobles ODR-1 just had something weird I couldn't put my finger on, and then the Muff could go to hell.

Try a double rock with your Marr. It has a pretty good amount of low end which really helps the bridge pickup get some girth.

[Jonesie]

The Winfield Harp tailpiece came in this morning and I couldn't resist and threw a new set of strings on. That was a less than ten minute process instead of a half-hour+. Does it look as cool? Absolutely not. But it solves a problem. Here's a picture of the guitar and then the lovely casting on the original Ric tailpiece.

[Larry Mal]

The Winfield Harp tailpiece came in this morning and I couldn't resist and threw a new set of strings on. That was a less than ten minute process instead of a half-hour+. Does it look as cool? Absolutely not. But it solves a problem. Here's a picture of the guitar and then the lovely casting on the original Ric tailpiece.

Yeah, I wish Winfield would jazz it up a little bit. It's a good piece of hardware but it's just so barebones.

Regardless, I never would have gone back to the R tailpiece, mine looked as bad as yours underneath. What a piece of junk. I sold mine for like $120.

[Larry Mal]

I should get another one.

[JSett]

There's definitely a way to make that easier to string, and possibly convert into a vibrato

*Starts plotting*