Have to believe it is MAGIC

[Rickenjangle]

Some of you here, having known me for awhile, are aware that my screen name comes from my love of all things Rickenbacker...
And sadly, years ago I had to bid a fond farewell to my '90's 360/12WB due to needing to make a mortgage payment. I never regretted selling the guitar because, well, you can't live in a guitar...fast forward a couple years and I was able to buy a 6-string Ric 360 that I played for quite awhile, until - after becoming obsessed once again by the electric XII string sound, I traded it to Kap'n for a Strat XII. Played that for a few years, but didn't fall in love with it.

It didn't have that 'magic.' That old je ne sais pas that we are all looking for.

Now, I've got a bunch of nice guitars but what has eluded me is that magic. Yes, I know the necks are narrow. And the guitar is a pain to tune, and restring, etc...

Well, my local store, Fab Gear, owned by Andy, the guy who wrote the Beatles Gear book as well as the Paul Bigsby book - and in the works is a Rolling Stones book...has gotten several new Rics in - including a pair of blonde (mapleglo, for those who know Ric colors) 330/12 guitars.

I plugged one in on Saturday - into a Vox AC30 CC2 - and literally couldn't put it down. That ol' magic. Nothing sounds like it - nothing at all. Anything else is like trying to make Tollhouse cookies with carob chips - sure, they might taste good but they're just not the same.

Now what do I do? Sell off 3 of my guitars and several pedals? Augh, my wife knows I love Rics but she's getting a bit tired of having guitars on every wall and cases in every closet (as well as behind the couch). We have a very small house...

Well, at least I know I wasn't imagining it - Rics are the REAL deal!

(oh, I also played a black 620/6 and thought it would kill just about any of my guitars in terms of action, fit, and finish - but with 2 Gretsches, 3 Fenders, a Gibson, a PRS, an Epiphone, and several other sundry axes, if 1 Ric would be bad, 2 would get me in so much hot H20 with my that I'd have to buy her flowers every day for the next 6 months.)

Ahhhh...it will be mine. Oh yes...it will be mine...
Just not right away!

[Kap'n]

Decisions....

[Rickenjangle]

Part of my dilemma, too, is that I spent $350 on those TV Jones pickups and I still don't "love" my Gretsch as much as I should. I "love" my older red Gretsch but the pinstripe one - which is the coolest LOOKING guitar I own - is difficult to play and the pickups don't seem to have the true Gretsch sound I was looking for...

So I'd sell that one but I'll take a freakin' bath on the pickups - and I don't want to spend $75 having them removed so I can sell 'em separately - even if I do want to sell it, which is still debatable.

I know you love your TVJ pickups in your Gretsch, Kap'n - I'm beginning to think that it's not just the pickups that I don't like about mine...

[Gravity Jim]

I'm less concerned with your G.A.S. than I am with the possibility that the title of this thread is quoting an Olivia Newton-John song.

I'm toying with the idea of a 12-string this year, but I will never own a Rick, sadly. There is no way in hell I could ever pay as much as I have in my other three electrics combined for a guitar I'll play twice a year, tops. So I'm more like thinking about one of those lip-stick-tubed Danos. Heck, it's studio work, I only need the damn thing to stay in tune for five minutes! :)

[Kap'n]

Part of my dilemma, too, is that I spent $350 on those TV Jones pickups and I still don't "love" my Gretsch as much as I should. I "love" my older red Gretsch but the pinstripe one - which is the coolest LOOKING guitar I own - is difficult to play and the pickups don't seem to have the true Gretsch sound I was looking for...

So I'd sell that one but I'll take a freakin' bath on the pickups - and I don't want to spend $75 having them removed so I can sell 'em separately - even if I do want to sell it, which is still debatable.

I know you love your TVJ pickups in your Gretsch, Kap'n - I'm beginning to think that it's not just the pickups that I don't like about mine...

TV Jones are great sounding pickups, but they can't create something out of thin air. Which model did you get?

[Rickenjangle]

Actually, I don't know for sure - but I believe they are TV Classics.

Jim, I was indeed quoting from that. I love the Xanadu album, perhaps 'cause I've had in on vinyl since I was about 12...though I did buy it for the ELO tunes, NOT the ON-J tunes.

My Gretsch model is the Electromatic Hollowbody, the orange one that looks like the 6120 - only it's got those awesome Jimmy C. pinstripes - anyway, I love my red one - which has a tune-o-matic and the other-style Bigsby. It sets up for my playing much, much better and the string tension feels good. The 5120 (orange) feels like I'm playing an old Kay with the big thick dead strings and high action...

[Timbo]

...I'd have to buy her flowers every day for the next 6 months....

Worth it. And your house will smell nice too

[buckaroo]

don't forget the MAGIC you feel when your mortgage is paid off

[curtisstetka]

don't forget the MAGIC you feel when your mortgage is paid off

Ain't that the truth! The missus and I just managed to get rid of the PMI last summer and it's such a relief not to be paying for nothing of value. I can't imagine how good it'll be to make that last payment! I'm hoping to do that before I turn 50.

Uh... and, yeah. 12 string guitars. Only ever had a really super-crappy 12 string acoustic when I was a kid.

[Rickenjangle]

Had a talk with my wife last night about this...as I was photographing several guitars to sell...

She basically talked me out of selling them at all. We decided that I should just keep what I have and begin the process of saving up for the guitar. I'd have had to sell 3, maybe 4 guitars to get the 330/12... She said "I know you want the 12 string right now, but what about later when you miss the others?"

She knows me so well.

So for now, I have what I have and that's that.

[curtisstetka]

Selling gear is almost always done at a loss.

I sold a 70s Deluxe Reverb one time because I "needed" the cash for some other stupid thing that I can't even remember right now. Would love to have that amp back.

[photoweborama]

I understand.
For me it would be a Gretsch Duo Jet just like the one I photographed on my web site. I so loved that THING. I contemplated no returning it.

[stratcat33511]

don't forget the MAGIC you feel when your mortgage is paid off

There's nothing like feeling debt free
Wait on it, think it over, and prepare
- then take action if the situation allows it
My $0.02

(PS: My wife talked me out of selling guitars as well)