A couple of years ago, Mark McEntee asked me to trick guitars for him on the last Divinyls recordings which took place at Kingdom Studios with a sat link to Las Vegas. He needed to trick up his Ricky 12 string that he'd owned for donkeys yonks. It was atrocious. After stripping the frets and a half inch of two pack paint off the fretboard, I refretted it ( JD 6105 frets) and gave it an experimental custom AAA service. I was quite apprehensive, because it was the first time I'd performed this work on a 12 string. However the results were astounding. Having a 12 string that plays in perfect tuning is a joy to listen to. I toured with Mark a few months later as guitar tech and side stage player. I played it side stage on the new song Mark had written called "Asphyxiated".
I've since borrowed Mark's Ricky many times for my own recordings. However I thought it was time to get my own. This I've upgraded with a AAAA service. I would have liked a stereo one like Mark's however this mono one was the only one i could find locally. Jeff Martin has since borrowed it for his latest recordings. And why not.......Looking on again is Gertruda Beugenhaggen making her now familiar, casually bemused appearance.
Comment for the week… " Ive got a good idea to join the club and beat you over the head with it" Groucho
Comment for the week… " Ive got a good idea to join the club and beat you over the head with it" Groucho
The 330/12 is a nice guitar. Unique and capable of much more that many give them credit for. Not just the jingly jangles. Stereo it with big distortion pedal through a couple of Vox's or Marshall's and they roar like a freakin tyranosaurus!
ReplyDeleteI've had mine since 88 , managed to rescue it before the house went up in flames yesterday. They're a valuable inclusion in the creative musos armory.
BTW thanks for your kind offer of support yesterday Kevin, you're a fine fellow to be sure!
Thanks for your comments kind words David. I'm not sure if mine is a 330 as well. Do you know if the stereo version has a different model number? The only thing that annoys me is the truss rod cover. You have to loosen all the strings off before you can get it off in order to adjust the truss rods. You then have to retune it before adjusting the rods. Then detune it and retune once more to get the truss rod cover back on.
ReplyDeleteI played Marty Wilson Piper's one ( from The Church). He had an action with a string height of about 1mm above the frets. It rattled terribly but when plugged in
live with the band , sounded amazing. Particularly on the song " Numbers".
Your situation must be devastating. Will contact you shortly when yourve had time to evaluate your situation.
Regards Kevin Nitrovane.
Your's is a 330. None of them are made with stereo outs as far as I know. I was meaning putting them through a channel splitting device pedal of some variety.
ReplyDeleteI love mine which also has a really low action ( maybe 1.5- 2mm but no rattles:)but don't play it so much as I used to as I mainly play blues these days.
Mark's 330 Ricky is about 30 years old and it appears to have a factory
ReplyDeleteMono and Stereo jack on it. So I assumed that it was a standard issue at
some time. (?). When I started doing guitars for Mark, i dont think it was
working and the stereo jack out put was taped over. I will question him about
it next time I see him. Kev