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YOU WONT BELIEVE: Rickenbacker - You Need To See This

“It’s a one-string instrument with a handle on it, and I hit it with a stick”: Les Claypool’s bonkers one-string leads the biggest (and strangest) bass releases of the month

May saw the reissue of Fender's best-selling bass, a custom Rickenbacker for Geddy Lee, and a supersized version of the daddy of all fuzz

Guitar World

“Paul played a lot of terrific bass with Wings that’s still under-appreciated. I don't think he even recognizes it himself”: Paul McCartney’s greatest post-Beatles bassline

After the Beatles, Paul McCartney wasn’t done writing killer basslines – as L.A. session and Wings guitarist Laurence Juber can attest

Guitar World

“I’m a heavy hitter, so I had to calm down my attack. In the studio we nicknamed it ‘self-compressing’”: How fretless bass master Steve DiGiorgio embraced frets on Testament’s 2016 metal masterstroke

For Brotherhood of the Snake, DiGiorgio wielded little more than a stock 1978 Rickenbacker 4001

Guitar World

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“A prototype given to George Harrison was prominently featured in the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, inspiring insatiable lust for the electric 12”: How the Rickenbacker 360/12 revolutionized the sound of ’60s guitar

Introduced in 1964, the jangle of the 12-string Ricky inspired generations of players, with the likes of TomPetty, Mike Campbell and Johnny Marr all making it their own

Guitar World

“It was kept in Lennon’s attic studio… You can see the guitar in photographs right by his Farfisa and Brenell tape machines”: John Lennon’s ’64 Rickenbacker is officially a $1.3m guitar – but it was originally a replacement for a Beatles live show

This stunning stand-in Ricky was owned by both John Lennon and Ringo Starr in its time, and was one of the big sales in the Jim Irsay auction at Christie’s

Guitar World

“You look at everyone who’s ever stood in front of a band playing guitar and it all traces back to one man”: How T-Bone Walker invented electric blues guitar

T-Bone Walker may have been the first true hero of modern electric blues, but he stood upon the shoulders of jazz and blues giants

Guitar World

“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just a fellow musician, that’s fine,’ and he walked out with the case. When I went to get my guitar, it was gone”: Roger McGuinn on the Ovation 12-string that fell apart and the infamous Rickenbacker theft of ’65

The Byrds’ 12-string-toting folk hero talks Rickys, Roland JC-120s, JangleBoxes and more

Guitar World

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“We put in everything but the kitchen sink…It sounded like a real monster”: How Geddy Lee created one of the most outrageous bass tones of all time for a Rush fantasy classic

The Rush frontman played a Rickenbacker 4001 on nearly every track from 1975’s Fly By Night, but found a new bass sound for the role of By-Tor

Guitar World

“This guy walked in with a silver Rickenbacker case. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just a fellow musician, that’s fine’”: How Roger McGuinn’s Byrds Rickenbacker was stolen – from right under his nose

The guitarist’s trust in a ‘fellow musician’ was tragically misplaced

Guitar World

“The string mute had disintegrated, so I stuck a piece of scouring pad to whatever was left”: How Squarepusher found a signature sound with a 1979 Rickenbacker bass, a DIY string mute and some heavy EQ

Iambic 5 Poetry features two separate bass tracks: the up-front melodic line, and another hidden low in the mix

Guitar World

“It was a foolish idea. I was heartbroken about my band breaking up… I gave it to a 12-year-old kid”: Why John Fogerty parted ways the iconic guitar he used on CCR hits – and how he got it back

The famed Acme Rickenbacker is the sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, but when the band broke up and his heart broke, Fogerty gave it away

Guitar World

“Dumb idea to give a guitar away that has meant so much to you. I had given it to a 12 year-old kid, shortly after Creedence broke up”: John Fogerty explains why he let go of the iconic guitar he played on his classic hits – and at Woodstock

Fogerty admits the return of his Acme Rickenbacker used on many of Creedence Clearwater Revival's greatest tracks gave his Legacy rerecordings an authenticity – but why did he let it go?

MusicRadar

“I don’t think LSD had a real big impact on the songwriting or guitar playing… it was just that we saw brighter colors and got high!” Roger McGuinn on The Byrds’ influential guitar style, and why they didn’t follow The Kinks and The Who into distortion

The banjo-inspired Rickenbacker guitar icon recalls how Miles Davis got them signed and weighs up the merits of David Crosby and Clarence White

Guitar World

“He was interested but said, ‘I gave the guitar away. I feel stupid buying it’”: Norman Harris almost sold John Fogerty back his iconic ACME Rickenbacker – years before he was eventually reunited with it

Fogerty played the Rickenbacker 325 at Woodstock and on nearly every Creedence Clearwater Revival classic, but didn't want to pay for it

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I rediscovered the glorious bottom-end of the Fender… I feel far more fluid playing the Jazz Bass than I ever did on the Rickenbacker”: Geddy Lee went on a tonal quest and broke all the bass rules to make Rush sound huge

The Rush frontman charts his experiments in bass tone, and why he'd sometimes tackle the instrument like a lead guitarist

Guitar World

“Engineered for those who dare to reach beyond the ordinary”: Schecter serves subtle Rickenbacker energy with the Stargazer – a fresh electric that debuts an all-new body shape

Available in six-string and 12-string variants, the Stargazer seemingly puts a Schecter spin on a rock classic

Guitar World

“By their very nature, electric 12-strings are quirky… But surely there’s no cooler instrument on which to progress your jangly journey”: Gibson Custom Shop 1965 Non-Reverse Firebird V 12-String Reissue review

If there’s a cooler high-end electric 12-string on the market today we haven't seen it...

Guitar World

“It feels like we’ve been in an episode of The Twilight Zone. If you’re bored by the usual suspects, you’ll have some serious fun here”: Vintage REVO Series Custom Supreme & Trio review

Vintage already offers a huge number of affordable and tidily made electrics, but for 2024 we get a whole new retro-inspired range – and 15 new models. Where to start?

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Guitar World

“You'll have to be a straight badass just to carry it let alone play it – I want to see what someone can do with it”: Jason Newsted is selling the 10-string Alembic bass used on Metallica’s Black Album tour – and more than 60 other instruments

The musician has collected some rare, weird, and wonderful instruments over his 40-year career, now he’s teamed-up with Reverb to get them into the hands of new players

Guitar World

“Many people think I was doing it all on the Rickenbacker in the ’80s, but a lot of the clean arpeggio stuff was done on a Les Paul”: Johnny Marr on the most prized guitars in his collection – and why they might not be what you expect

From his bonkers nine-pickup Strat to the Les Paul he gifted to Noel Gallagher, The Smiths great has traced his entire career through the prism of his amazing collection of guitars. Why don’t all our guitar heroes do this?

Guitar World

“[We want] to recover the guitars and sell them to people who actually want to play them”: $80,000 worth of vintage guitars have been stolen from Guitar House of Tulsa. Now the owner – and Joe Bonamassa – are appealing for your help

15 vintage guitars – including ’50s/’60s Gibsons, PRS Private Stock models, and a ’61 Rickenbacker – have been taken

MusicRadar

5 songs you need to hear by Tom Petty

Petty's discography is a long road that ended too soon – here are some good places to start with a legendary songwriting legacy

Guitar World

Without a truss rod, your guitar would be a lot harder to play – here's everything you need to know, from the history of the truss rod to how to adjust it safely

We have Gibson's Thaddeus "Ted" McHugh to thank for truss rods, and a lot to be thankful for. They made the instrument ready for the steel-string era, more playable and more durable – and adjusting them isn't as scary as you might think

Guitar World

“I would definitely advise trying classical guitar – it’s really easy to translate classical chord shapes to pop music”: How NY duo The Lemon Twigs are leading the ’70s glam rock guitar revival

Power-pop enthusiast Brian D’Addario on his love of 12-strings, surprising guitar heroes, and how fingerstyle on a nylon-string can be the foundation for all songwriting on guitar

Guitar World

The 12-string guitar that defined the ‘60s: in praise of the Rickenbacker Capri

A favourite of The Beatles and The Byrds, these era-defining electrics still resonate

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