The Smiley Smile Message Board

what a tool

(http://media1.pblcty.com/afd11c2a-a4a1-4cfc-b912-f1c9fd6ccc8d.jpg)

That cover is accurate with the guitar being unplugged.

What a handsome, rich, lucky tool!
Life must be tough.

That guy is many things. Not rock n roll though.

Wish I had a tool like that.
The Gibson, not the Greek.:)

All kidding aside, it's a pretty good interview where he basically says if he were us, he'd despise him too.
Great story about Foskett leaving him alone in a hotel room to teach "Barbara Ann" to Jimmy Page.

Gibson ES-295, one of my dream guitars. I think he played that on the Fallon show a few months ago. He removed the floral-design pickguard.

Some trivia: The "295" referred to how much it cost from the factory when it was new, "ES" was "electric-Spanish" to describe the style. The finish was inspired by Les Paul, who was visiting a wounded veteran in a hospital who had mentioned how he'd like to see a Gibson hollowbody finished in gold like the original Les Paul "goldtops", and the result was that tricked-out rockabilly 295...note the Bigsby.

But the gold paint they used has a nasty habit of cracking, checking, and turning green in some cases, as you can see on that cover.  :)

Give me a 295, a Gretsch White Falcon, and an Echoplex and I'm set for life.  ;D

Give me a Rickenbacker 325C64 Miami.  Or a Rickenbacker Carl Wilson Signature Model 360CW.  Or an Al Jardine '62 Fender Strat repro.  Then I'm set for life.

 ;D

I should have added those would be in addition to what I have now, like the Telecaster which I'll never part with. But I'll join you Mikie and add at least any model Rickenbacker to the dream list. You'd take the 60's style "Miami" 325 over the 50's style "Hamburg" 325 with the Bigsby?

I mentioned this in the Beatles thread, but back in '92 or '93 I played the Lennon model Rick 325 and had a hard time with the 3/4 scale neck. The frets were tiny! Compared to what I normally play, that is. Yet it worked brilliantly for Lennon, one of the best rhythm guitarists in the 60's for my money.

Actually I had the '58 Rick Capri in my post then deleted it and opted for the '64. Both of them are great. Sacrafice the Bigsby though. And those toaster pickups! And even though it wouldn't be true to form like Lennon's, I think I'd want a full length neck, not a 3/4. Rick made that '64 model to accomodate Lennon's short arms and it fit him perfectly. He turns up the bridge in the Vox amp and check out "You Can't Do That" on a Hard Day's Night. Just a fantastic sound.

He's a c*ck.

A had a Rick 12-string solid-body (Tom Petty style) 20 years ago...I loved it, but traded it (and paid the difference) for a Carl Wilson 360/12.  Now I wish I'd have kept the solid-body and waited a few years til I could afford the 360/12, so that I could have both.  :(

I wish I could be as big a tool as this guy - getting to share the stage with Carl Wilson....I'd sell my soul for the chance to do that.

too bad Carl likely thought he was a tool too

Is that (the Rick scale neck) why Lennon moved onto the Casino (which is my preferred item - love the balance when playing jingly-jangly stuff close to the bridge)?

Yeah, because since you don't like Stamos and you do like Carl, Carl must not have liked Stamos. Let's ignore the fact that Carl, as the band leader, allowed Stamos to play with the Beach Boys for nearly 10 years.

Band leader does not equal complete and total autonomy though.  Carl Wilson in order to appease his constituents (i.e. Mike Love) may have put up with Stamos or perhaps thought it was good business to put up with Stamos because of the exposure it got the band on "Full House".  Then again it's equally as possible that Carl Wilson liked John Stamos.  It's pretty obvious that Stamos was/is a huge Beach Boys fan and maybe Carl Wilson enjoyed having a fanboy in the band.  I doubt we'll ever hear anything truly revelatory on the subject matter going forward anyway.

no, because I've heard that Carl was less than enthusiastic about Stamos and his onstage antics

How does the Carl Wilson 360/12 play? I used to have a Rick 330 six string and it played well but I always felt that the frets were a bit small. I'm curious if the 12 strings is a tight squeeze on the neck or not.

From?

I think some guy on here called Doe once posted about it.

Is that (the Rick scale neck) why Lennon moved onto the Casino (which is my preferred item - love the balance when playing jingly-jangly stuff close to the bridge)?
[/quote] A friend of mine had the Lennon Rick, and it was one of my favorite guitars to play. It just felt right. He also had a Hofner violin bass, and that was definitely an easy to play bass for someone who doesn't play bass very often.

Is that this guitar? My dad has one but sadly the guy he got it off lost the cert. of authenticity.

(http://www.celebrityrockstarguitars.com/rock/petty_files/tompetty.jpg)

I've heard several reasons given why Lennon switched to the Casino as his primary guitar. Keep in mind Paul had bought his, the story goes, after hearing Jimi Hendrix and going in search of a guitar which he could more easily get the kinds of feedback sounds he wanted to try. Obviously a semi-hollow guitar of any type will start howling much faster than a solidbody, and I think the music shop just sold him on the Casino as an option.

The best theory on Lennon's choice I've heard was that as a songwriter, he wanted an electric guitar which he could grab on a whim when a song idea hit him and he could hear the guitar more like an acoustic, without having to plug it in, and without the "feel" of an acoustic as a songwriter. So he could write, say, an electric-based riff like "She Said She Said" or whatever and be able to hear it better than if he picked up an unplugged solidbody like his Ricks or his Strat. Makes sense.

Lennon and Harrison both got Casinos like Paul's, maybe it was a case of liking what their bandmate(s) had and getting one of their own.

But the theory of Lennon wanting an electric feel yet being able to hear it better with a thinner semi-hollowbody guitar as he worked on songs made the most sense to me.

Lennon's choice of the Rick Capri model in the first place was that he had seen Toots Theilemans playing Rickenbackers, no one else had them and they were very unique (also important to Lennon to 'stand out' from the other Liverpool bands), so when he saw one he bought it and went into debt. It just happened to be a 3/4 scale guitar, I don't think that was as much of an issue in him buying it as it was simply not being able to buy Rickenbackers all that easily and grabbing the first one he had actually seen for sale.

Same with George's original Gretsch Duo-Jet, a Gretsch was nearly impossible to find in Liverpool but when a sailor offered one for sale he grabbed it right away, even though I've heard his preferred model was one of those Chet Atkins tricked-out country themed models, at that time the orange finish "Country Gentleman" with the G brand imagery on the top. When Harrison started making money, he bought the then-newest "Country Gentleman" available from Gretsch, and that was his main guitar in the mid 60's, the original double-cut which got destroyed as it fell off a moving car on the highway and the later "Help" model singlecut.

Did TP sign his own guitar?  Looks like it.  The guy allegedly has one of the largest guitar collections around.  Houses them in a warehouse in Van Nuys including some of George Harrison's guitars.

Thanks for the great info, good read!  Both pretty good theories, and interesting notes about the immediate availability of a Rick.

:I asked the question assuming Lennon probably was more likely looking something with a grittier sound reflecting the noisy bluesier path he was going down.

:One of the things I love about semi-hollow bodies is indeed the ability to get some sound without plugging it in - I prefer to play acoustic (in terms of feel) and the semi is usually a good middle ground.

That photo is showing Petty with his own "signature model" Rickenbacker 660 12/TP, it's not necessarily his personal guitar he's holding in the photo.

Rickenbacker was proactive in signing up with guitarists who were prominently seen playing one of their guitars, and they'd contract with the artist to design a "signature model" which they'd sell and which had features specifically requested by that artist. This could be anything from the color, to the pickups, to more musician-specific features like Roger McGuinn having a compressor built into his signature Rick to give him that over-compressed "jangle" like Mr. Tambourine Man without having to chain together several studio compressors as he had done on the original record.

Tom Petty on his earliest albums and appearances was seen playing a solidbody Rickenbacker, one of the non-Beatles or non-Byrds models that was less common, so his 80's signature model reflected that.

The Bangles - one of the most misunderstood bands of the 1980's - were big fans of 60's garage, psych, pop, and British Invasion music. Their early concerts featured a lot of those covers before they became MTV stars. When they did hit MTV, Susanna Hoffs was seen playing a Rickenbacker more often than not. So they contracted with her for a signature model, and produced a beautiful guitar that's rare and not often seen. Terrific and beautiful artist, terrific and beautiful guitar.

Roger McGuinn: He and George Harrison (and Carl) put that sound on the map, so his model while not an exact copy of his Byrds-era 12-strings is what he requested for features, including a very unusual on-board compressor option which could help get the signature Byrds guitar jangle. The guitar itself is very similar to, but not an exact copy of what he used in the 60's.

Shortly before his death, they were working with Carl Wilson on his own signature model, which was *not* what eventually became the Carl tribute model, and not even what we know Carl to have played in the 60's, but rather a brand new model with features specifically requested by Carl for a "player's guitar". It never went beyond prototype, but those early designs still exist and are at Rickenbacker's factory.

I wrote extensively on the "real" Carl Wilson signature Rickenbacker prototypes here, with rarely seen photos: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14847.0.html (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14847.0.html)

There are more examples, but here is a more complete rundown of Rickenbacker signature models:

1998 Pete Townshend. Three pickup 1997 w/ R tailpiece in FG. 250 produced.

370/12RM Roger McGuinn. Like a mid-60's 370/12, available in MG, FG, and JG. 1000 produced.

381 John Kay. 381 with HB-1 pickups and active preamp, available in JG (w/ black TRC). 250 produced.

350 Susanna Hoffs. "Deluxe" 350, w/ checkered binding and f/w inlays, available in JG. 250 produced.

4001 Chris Squire. Like a RM1999 with African Vermillion fretboard and headstock wings, available in Cream. 1000 produced.

325, 355, 355/12 John Lennon. "DB122" styling on all (355 model mostly had trapeze, 23 of them had the Accent). 2000 made between the three models.

230/2030 Glenn Frey. Like a 220 with silver trim, available in Jetglo (including fretboard). Run was supposed to be 1000, apparently far fewer were made.

360, 360/12 Carl Wilson. Like a mid 60's 360 or 360/12 with very thin tops. Available in Fireglo & Jetglo. 500 produced.

4004 Lemmy Kilmister. Like a "deluxe" 4004 Cheyenne, with checkered binding, star inlays, and oak leaf carvings. Three HB-1 pickups. Available in natural. Initial run of 50, later upped to 60.

Tom Petty 660/12TP: two toasters; trapeze tailpiece; 1 3/4" neck width (at the nut); checked binding; avaiable in Fireglo and Jetglo; 1,000 produced

Again, the photo reprinted is a little misleading as it's not Petty's guitar which he signed, but rather his signature model Rickenbacker. I may be mistaken, but I think I remember seeing that same photo in a print ad or in a promotional packet from Rickenbacker listing their signature models.

It plays pretty good, since I got the action fixed.  Originally it was a little buzzy.  The solid-body Rick I had prior to that was actually easier to play.

Nah, it was more like what guitarfool2000 describes above...a non-Beatles, non-Byrds model...man, I loved playing that thing!

I like the Rickenbacker basses, like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f7D2_jUkqA&hd=1