Rickenbacker 620 Electric Guitar

July 30, 2007 by Jo Minor 


The Rickenbacker 620 electric guitar is one hot rocker! Retailing for $1529, its features and unique good looks might just propel you into stardom. It has a sleek, fast maple neck and neck-through construction to provide you with ease in playing those fast solos and terrific sustain right when you need it. The two single coil pickups will give you a bright and clear tone. Rickenbacker was one of the first names in electric guitars, and is one of the most respected.

Rickenbacker electric guitars began with a man named Francis C. Hall, who was interested in electronics and began selling homemade batteries as a business while he was still in high school. This would have been about in the mid-1920’s. This modest beginning grew into the Radio and Television Equipment Company, which distributed and installed P.A. systems, among other things.

In the 40’s, Hall began a liaison with Fender guitars, distributing guitars and amplifiers and providing investment money. Later he was able to buy a company called Electro String from Adolph Rickenbacker, and began to distribute their guitars, which at the time were mainly steel guitars. As rock and roll became the music of choice, the electric guitar as we know it began to be developed. Rickenbacker’s contribution at this time was a guitar with a “multiple-unit” pickup that functioned like a humbucker when both were in use, or like separate single coils when only one was in use.

The “tulip” shaped body came out in 1956, along with another innovation known now as “neck through body construction,” in which the neck is extended all the way through the body, with the sides of the body glued into place (or bolted). Rickenbacker’s big break, however, came in the early 1960’s, when John Lennon of the Beatles used one. Soon many of the well-known rockers of the sixties were using Rickenbacker electric guitars.

The “Cresting Wave” design of Rickenbacker guitars is unusual, attractive and eyecatching. A creative and unique Rickenbacker feature is the “R” shaped tailpiece. The 620 has a two piece pickguard with adjustable height.

Advantages: If you are after that classic Byrds and Beatles sound, use the bridge pickup. It produces that classic jangle you remember. In fact, though, if you want a perfect guitar for almost any kind of music, from jazz to country, the Rickenbacker 620 electric guitar can do the job for you. It has an incredible tonal range. It handles loads of fuzz distortion well. About the only music it does not really excel on is metal, so you metal players might want to look elsewhere.

The guitar is has a great tough finish that holds up well. The quality has been said to be even better than a Fender custom shop guitar. It stays in tune really well, also. It does not weigh too much and it is fairly small, so it is comfortable to play for a long gig.

Disadvantage: Aside from the ample price tag, the “R” tailpiece of the Rickenbacker 620 is a little challenging to use when changing strings, and if you use a different gauge of strings than the original factory setup, you might have problems with intonation. Also, there is no whammy bar, and you might not like the hum from the single coil pickups. If that is an issue for you, you can buy Rickenbacker humbuckers to replace the single coil pickups.

Specs:

  • Solid maple body

  • Sleek, fast-playing maple neck

  • 21 frets

  • 24.75 inch (62.9 cm.) scale length

  • 1 5/8 inch (41.3 mm.) wide at the nut

  • 1 15/16 inches (49.2 mm.) wide at the twelfth fret

  • 10 inch (25.4 mm.) crown radius

  • Neck-through-body construction for greater sustain

  • Precision machined, German-made Schaller key winds

  • Double truss rods

  • Body and neck binding

  • Triangular inlays

  • Thick rosewood fretboar

  • Dual single hi gain coil pickups

  • Two volume control knobs

  • Two tone control knobs

  • Blend control for blending the sounds of the two pickups

  • Three-way pickup selector switch

  • Dual jacks (mono and stereo) for stereo output

  • “R” string through tailpiece

  • 6 saddle bridge

  • Total weight 8.0 pounds (3.6 kg.)

  • Overall length 37 inches (94.0 cm.)

  • Overall width: 13.25 inches (33.7 cm.)

  • Overall depth: 1.25 inches (31.8 mm.)

  • Availble colors are Jetglo, Mapleglo, Fireglo, and Midnight Blue

  • Comes with a standard case

 

Here is a really neat guitar site - shanzuguitars.com.  Lots of stuff to explore here - scroll down and you’ll see links to articles about Rickenbacker guitars, including an in depth review of the Rickenbacker 620 electric guitar here.

This nondescript looking webpage contains a list of the most frequently asked questions about Rickenbacker guitars.

A general history article about Rickenbacker guitars.

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