Why Rickenbacker Guitars Fell Out of Favor

In today's video, Paul Drew from The Studio Rats is looking at Rickenbacker Guitars, specifically the Rickenbacker 360.
Rickenbacker started producing instruments in 1931 and soon followed producing electric instruments in 1932 due to them inventing the guitar pickup.
In today's video, I'm using an IK Multimedia TONEX pedal with one of our Matchless captures.
Here is what Rickenbacker say about the Rickenbacker 360
This guitar broke all the rules of traditional styling when it appeared amid the 'British' sound of the 1960's. Subtly updated through the years, this Deluxe hollow body with its special contour around the entire body perimeter, is still perhaps the most comfortable guitar of all. The bound body and Rosewood fingerboard, inlayed with triangular pearloid markers, provide an exceptionally attractive appearance. Stereo output is standard. Also available with an additional pickup (Model 370).
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey.

[theyearsshallrun]

For me, it’s simply price that stops me playing one. Love the look, love the sound (clean and driven), love the heritage, love that most of my heroes played one. But I’ve never been able to justify the £2.5k+ price point.

[ACOUSTITRON-mptc]

I don’t care if they are hard to play or unpopular. They sound incredible.

[iamroberty]

I think it's because they're expensive, don't make import models, feel weird compared to Gibsons and fenders, and were never that popular outside of a handful of big artists so there aren't many used ones out there. I think Gretsch was in a similar boat but they started making more accessible models and now they're all over the place.

[martindavies]

Must be missing something as it all sounded absolutely fabulous! Love the sound of Rics

[fontcrimes]

I have a 2023 360, has zero tuning stability issues and love the lacquered neck haha

[hfjjor]

The sound of that thing just gives me gooseflesh. It’s so lovely. Of course, half the credit for that goes to the player.

[axesandelbows]

I love both my Ricks. Hands down the best rhythm guitars I've ever owned, and when I solo on a Rick I keep it short and sweet. Moreover, I find audiences love the vibe and gravitate to the sound of an old friend. All I see is grins and smiles, transcending generations as people enjoy themselves. It's why you play. 🎈

[TRAjim]

I’ve played the same Ric 350 for 40 years. It’s never let me down. It always stays in tune. It takes pedals very well (I especially like a RAT with the Ric). I’ve had no playability issues at all, and doing bends is no problem. It’s like a thoroughbred, once you know how to ride it, you’ll have no other. The light weight (the 350 has a very small body) and a full dual scale neck, so when you’re up by the 12th fret you still have half the neck to go! Mine came with three of those “high gain” pickups. However I removed 2 of them, and replaced them with a Ric humbucker and a Ric “toaster” pickup (toaster/bridge, high gain/middle, humbucker/neck). I also added a Bigsby and a roller bridge. So I had access to a wide range of tones. In fact, during many gigs, people would comment to me how the Ric cut through the mix so well. That’s playing everything from heavy distortion, blues, and even slide. Rics rule!👍

[scottlewis]

The best use of the blend knob is to blend the tone of the neck pickup with the bridge pickup when you have it in the middle position. It's like a resonance control like that, blending in your perfect amount of low end. On another point, I've had my Ric nearly 30 years and it's never been unstable in it's tuning, quite the opposite. And lastly, if you don't think it does well with gain, just give The Smithereens a listen. 🤷‍♂️

[RaysDad]

It sounds great to me. I've played the same '69 Tellie all my life, but if I were ever to consider a second guitar I'd consider a Rick.

[drewnorth]

When you were saying it doesn’t handle gain well, I thought that overdrive sound was pretty killer.

[moushunter]

As a 45 year owner of a 1974 maple 360 model I can't attest to them being terribly well built. The bridge is weak and will start buzzing as the screw ends lose their knurl and fall out of the hole. The neck needs to be set up differently than other guitars. It has 2 weak truss rods in the neck. To adjust the neck you can't just tighten or loosen the tension. You have to bend the neck with your hand and tighten or loosen each truss rod. If you don't do this you can unseat each truss rod and then have to replace them. I have the tremolo tailpiece on my guitar. It isn't the best for maintaining tuning, using the tremolo or not. The guitar is too pretty and feels fragile so it never gets gigged. It does record well though. I have never cared for the stereo feature.

[TomClarkSouthLondon]

All you’re doing is making it sound beautiful, it is an awesome guitar and the unique sound is making me ecstatic😅

[notreallydavid]

Am not a musician, but that's a _gorgeous_ sound - despite the drawbacks.

[BluegillGreg]

Sounds like effects mostly. I'd like to hear it straight into a known clean amp like a Deluxe or AC30, with no tone rolled off on guitar or amp. Good educational narrative. Great overdrive sound, I enjoy how the drive retreats as the loudness dissipates, and the clear clean reasserts itself. Thank you.

[rodgre]

I'm one of those weird guitar players who love low-gain pickups and the tones you got in this video are kind of everything I love. There is a giant, warm, resonant sound with the chambered Ric bodies that this video exemplifies beautifully (Especially around 5:30. You're also making me want a Tonex now because that Matchless model sounds superb!). The one complaint that I have is that the tuning/intonation often seems dodgy. I hear it on this video on -some- chords you play, but not all. I have a 330/12 which comes with a 6-sadde bridge and never seems in tune to me. I purchased an aftermarket 12-saddle bridge which I haven't put on yet, so I hope that helps.

There's nothing like the tone, though. If you like it, you love it. If not, it's just not for you. It's a very specific guitar, both tonally and feel-wise (not to mention visually). It's not going to be a Swiss Army knife like a Strat or a Tele, which I could probably use for any guitar gig. It's always going to impart that Rickenbacker sound and because of their feel, you will always play it like a Rickenbacker.

[AbbieHoffmansGhost]

I've been playing for 55 years and never once have I heard a bad sound come out of any Ricky. My good friend had a brand new 360 12 that I used to play with a 50 watt amp with the master at 10 through a Tube Screamer while my slide was a light bulb. Heavenly sounds.

[DeadKoby]

I have 3 Ric guitars. I absolutely love them. Production of them is modest, so even in dealer's shops, there's maybe one or two on the rack. The guitars are stigmatized with the "jangle pop" genre... but I've played everything from Punk to Country on mine.

[marcbolan]

Expensive; narrow frets, etc. i loved my McGuinn signature 370RM 12 and owned a few 330’s which were great. The Jam, XTC, Tom Petty and REM reinvigorated them in the late 70’s & early 80’s.

[Reidak]

They’re definitely not for everyone and they’re not easy to play but to me absolutely no other guitar has such a singular unique sound.