Did you start off by teasing them with the Bakelite TV knobs? They would start off complimenting you on the classic look. “Like John’s from the early Hamburg days” or “They look amazing on my 1959 Fireglow Capri.”JSett wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 6:17 amPoint of note:
Rickenbacker forums/FB groups are a weird place. The mere suggestion of modifying a 'precious' Ric gets them clutching pearls like a 50's housewife.
Unless you're modifying to early specs (ie: Beatles specs)...then they're all for it. What a bunch of dorks.
Then you toss in the other mods and watch the tone
change from admiration to horror!
The truth of the matter is that Rickenbacker only sent the 360-12 and 4001 to them because John had made the little 325 an iconic model. But the main reason he chose that guitar was because of the short scale. He wanted an instrument that he could easily play his Chuck Berry rhythm guitar style on while singing.
If Fender had made a Mustang in 1960 he probably would’ve picked that because of Hank Marvin and the Fender Strat being so popular. He stayed away from those until they stopped touring because the longer scale made them difficult to play. George certainly wanted a Strat and preferred Gretsch and Telecasters. I think Paul also had a Telecaster for playing leads? And someone had a Les Paul Jr. Then John got the Casino and quickly ditched the Rickenbacker.
The Beatles fetish that Rick fans had is funny because they only played them out of convenience - except for Paul, he’s stuck with the 4001 - and they made some classic music on them, but when they bought guitars for the sound they wanted they bought Fender and Gibson, not Rickenbacker.
And there’s dozens of other bands who used Rickenbackers, especially in early ‘80s post punk period, if you can free yourself from the ‘60s.