I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time and I'm just now getting around to it. It's on my mind again since I just switched Rickenbacker guitars for the hundredth time. Per my rough count, I've owned somewhere around 12-16 Rickenbackers in my lifetime, most being a variety of newer models and reissues, etc. I've now owned at least 3-4 Rick 330/360's in Jetglo, and each and every time I end up getting rid of them. Why? Purely aesthetics, the dumbest reason possible, I know. There's just something about the Rick 360 Jetglo look that I don't identify with, and my hunch is that it's so identifiable in my head with Peter Buck of R.E.M. that I simply never feel comfortable with it as my own. I'll also say that black Rick's (well, all Rick's) have a finish on them that, if you even breath near it, needs to be wiped (in my viewpoint, at least) so I simply never want to touch them let alone actually play them. And so, my 2012 Rick 360 Jetglo just got sold/traded for a brand new Rick 360 in Mapleglo, and again I know how ridiculous this sounds...but it was destined to happen.
I've always had a thing for Mapleglo 360's. As much as they are incredibly identifiable with Roger McGuinn of the Byrds and Tom Petty, for some reason these just seem more at home with me and don't put me off like the Jetglo association with Peter Buck. Again, I realize this doesn't make a ton of sense but... Aesthetically, though, Mapleglo Rick's are not all equal. Most look decent albeit fairly plain; some are downright kind of ugly due to the wood grain, and then every once in awhile you see one that's rather stunning. I finally got my hands on one of the latter after searching for many years, hence the switch. Of course, it's all personal opinion and preference, and one person's ugly is another person's beautiful, and so on.
Rickenbackers get a bad wrap overall, though, in my opinion, especially the newer one's with what they call "Hi-Gain" pickups. Personally, I think Rickenbackers are the most attractive guitars out there AND are also the most consistently quality made electric guitar ever. They've always been made in CA at pretty much the same factory and still deliver a highly superior product, and even though they're a bit more expensive than some guitars, I think you get a lot more for the money. Overall, they're actually quite a good value given the quality and Rickenbacker Int'l doesn't tend to do many price increases either. So, why not only play Rickenbackers then? It's simple - they're not easy to play.
Most Rickenbackers are fairly heavy and have rather narrow necks with a larger than most C styled bulbous shape. For someone like myself, it's just not preferable. Fender Telecasters have narrower necks as well but they feel way larger than a Rick's. Even worse, get your hands on a vintage Rick...I mean, it's absurd. The vintage necks are so narrow that I can barely even play the damn guitars due to my arthritis and trigger finger issues. So, that alone puts Rick's at a disadvantage. Also, the 12 string versions have incredibly narrow necks for the amount of strings, so much so that Rickenbacker finally addressed the issue by creating the larger necked 660/12 model. This proved popular enough that the neck was also put on the newer 1993Plus model, and upon playing that one, I immediately sold my 360/12C63 which was gorgeous to look at but a real pain in the you know what to play, especially if you were to switch from normally playing a 6 string electric. I did a recording session once on the 360/12C63 and it took me 2-3 days just to get used to the narrowness, and then it still wasn't pretty. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of the 1993Plus guitar with the larger neck for the 12 string layout, and I personally think all of the 360/12's should have that same neck...but that's just me.
Strangely, the thing you read about most in regards to Rickenbackers is not what I've written above: it's instead all about the sound and pickups. Many players repetitively comment how the guitar has such a "jangle" and that it's a one trick pony, etc. Other players say that you can't get enough power out of them. Well, I think this is completely absurd. A Rickenbacker with Hi-Gain's has a ton of power, so much so that when I plugged my new 360 in with the same settings that I used for my Tele, it sounded like the perfect rock guitar right out of the box without any tweaks to my pedals. I mean, the guitar is one of the most powerful and full sounding guitars I own, second only to the Stratocaster. If you need to do some power chording on your recordings, say, in stereo, mainly for accent during refrains and such, this is a fantastic guitar to use and that's where I tend to reach for it most. It's not for death metal and that sort of thing, of course, but hopefully you already knew that. If you're trying for even a vintage punk styled sound, the Hi-Gain's pull it off wonderfully. It doesn't have the same sound as, say, my Gibson SG, but then again I have had a very hard time getting the SG's tone to record well. The Rick, however, is a breeze to record and sounds on recordings pretty much how it sounds in the room.
VP's, or vintage styled pickups...that's a whole different story. These are replica's of what Rickenbacker used back in the vintage days, and they are a bit more one trick pony, in my opinion. Hi-Gain's are great, though, and if you only own one 6 string Rick, you want the Hi-Gain's on it, in my opinion at least. They're incredibly versatile, being able to "jangle" but also have that hard rock tone that I already mentioned, and they even do a jazz tone, as evidenced from my tooling around with the guitar last weekend. I should say that literal vintage Rickenbacker pickups do not behave like these newly made VP's. They're close in sound and tone but the output of the pickup for VP's is probably 3x the amount of an actual vintage pickup (another thing that initially really threw me off about the vintage guitars).
If anyone is buying their first Rickenbacker and seeking advice, here's mine in a nutshell: if you're buying a 12 string, do yourself a favor and try out the wider neck on the 660/12 and the 1993Plus BEFORE you purchase and compare it to the standard 12 string neck. See what you think and which you prefer. Also, I think VP's are probably the better choice for 12 string guitars since a 12 string IS sort of a one trick pony, and most of us don't really want a harder edged sound for that anyway. If you're buying a 6 string, though, I'd opt for the Hi-Gain's because I just think they're better overall and way more versatile. Again, it's just my opinion and I'm sure countless guitarists will highly disagree with me, but that's how I see it.
As for color, well, good luck. If you're like me, you'll keep flipping through them until you're comfortable, and there's really nothing wrong with that either.