What makes a Rickenbacker sound like a Rickenbacker?

[lostpick]

If I drop Ric pups in a 335 clone will I get that sound?

I tried playing real Rics but hate their necks...

what a shame...

Any models that have wider rounder necks?

Anybody make replicas where you can specify
neck properties ?

Any good copies out there?

 

[Warm Gums]

I have a old copy from the '80s it sounds like a rickenbacker unpluged, and sounds pretty much like one pluged in; so I think the body cavity carving & the through neck has a lot to do with the tone. It does have a wider neck..I can't tell you what kind it is, as it has a blank TR plate. Copies are no longer avilable new for reasons that have been discussed here previously. I still see various examples on ocassion at mom & pop stores that handle used gear.

 

[Rhomco]

An overload of Maple

should do the trick. I've always loved the Ric look since playing four of them as a kid back in the british invasion of the 60's. I say that based on trying to make a Ric sound like anything but a Ric a few years back. I had a "Dakota" Ric because it has an adult sized neck and was close to playable if you didnt try to bend the strings too much over those tiny .033 high frets. Anyway........ I put a set of Gibson 57 Classics in it and swapped out the pots to 500ks. All said and done, it still sounded like a Ric! Try a maple body with a maple neck and you may get there. If that is not enough, mount the neck on top of a body sans neck rout and use a Ric type bridge. Mounted up that high changes the harmonic some how and thins out the sound due to poor coupling. That will surely do it! Or just do the obvious and buy a Ric, you cant drop a Ric pickup in a humbucker rout because the Ric Pup is surface mounted.
Rob

 

[lostpick]

Thanks Guys

I thought it might have to do all that
maple and the body/neck
construction/layout/hardware...

a totally maple hollowbody is a start..

thought i might be wasting my time with just
a pup transplant...

 

[chet]

Go down to "Pick 'O The Ricks" in south New Jersey. It's a few miles off of I-295.

I found that some of the necks on Ricks are pretty nice to play and I can't play the thin 12 string 360s. They probably have one there that you'll like.

 

[hekawi]

Everything about the Rics makes them different. the shallow hollowbody, the tailpiece ('specially the ones with the "R"), the bridge, the pickups, the neck, the wood. there's nothing like a Rickenbacker, that's why you have to get one to get that sound.

 

[metropolis74]

...
a totally maple hollowbody is a start..
...

Rickenbacker 330 and 360 models are technically semi-hollow

Check out this link (link removed)

But it is very different from the construction from the typical Gibson 335 style semi-hollow. The Rick has a solid carved maple top and sides glued to a maple back as opposed to the Gibby's laminates, center block, and kerfing. That's why I don't understand why some guitarists think modern Rick's are fragile. Those guits are solid.

 

[Roli]

You can get that sound with any decent twelve string electric. Just make sure you have the root string first and the octave string 2nd. If the guitar you choose doesn't already have it that way, you'll have to make a new nut and of course set the saddles accordingly to intonate it good. Because that is the trick of the 12-string Rics.

 

[Rhomco]

Well, I guess

You can get that sound with any decent twelve string electric. Just make sure you have the root string first and the octave string 2nd. If the guitar you choose doesn't already have it that way, you'll have to make a new nut and of course set the saddles accordingly to intonate it good. Because that is the trick of the 12-string Rics.

"Upstroke Picking" really screws up any thoughts I had about getting a 12 string Ric.
Rob

 

[FirstBassman]

You can get that sound with any decent twelve string electric.

Not true. One can get close but ... see below ...

Everything about the Rics makes them different. There's nothing like a Rickenbacker, that's why you have to get one to get that sound.

 

[eggman]

Howdy,

Hekawi said it all.

Eggman