Rickenbacker 1998

The model 1998 is a 3-pickup version of the 335 model, except it has an F-hole rather than the slash/cat's eye hole. This is one of the Rose Morris export models that were made and sent to England. Townsend made the 3-pickup version famous. I got one from a guy in London! My 1998 was made in April 1964 - in California. Maple body, semi hollow, F-hole (no cat's eye slash). Has three single coil toaster top pickups, a Bigsby, Fireglow finish, PU switch, 2 volume & 2 tone and the blend knob. Original vintage Kluson-style tuners. Original silver Rick case is falling apart.

Mine isn't stereo. The pickups sound like they are scatter wound though. To my ears, scatter-wound pickups are the best - they offer complex tones and harmonics that you just can't get without them. Took me a while to figure out that the controls are laid out differently from my 1967 Rick 335. The bridge pickup is selected when the switch is in the up position. Middle switch position is for all pickups, and bottom position is for middle & neck pickup. The controls for the bridge pickup are the front pair, the back pair are for the neck pickup. This is just the opposite of my Rick 335. The blend knob is unique to Rickenbaker, and it allows you to dial in cool tones. The Bigsby may not be original. All my 6-string guitars have Bigsbys, so I love it. But the Bigsby arm should have been bent downward though, to make it easier to hold and strum.

Middle pickup is kinda in an akward place - my pick hits it, but it's no big deal.

It sounds like it has scatter-wound pickups. I love that sound, my Strat and RI Goldtop have them. I dimed my 1963 AC30 and plugged in the 1998 - it sounded like GOD. It sounds simillar to a vintage Tele or Strat with scatter wound pickups, just slightly different. The AC30/1998 combination is an outstanding rock'n roll tone. The middle pickup is on when the neck pickup is selected. It would be nice to split them and have control over each pickup. Can't have everything. With all pickups on, the blend control becomes useful. It's got a distinctive sound, simillar to Fenders, but different. If you like a Keith Richards R&R tone, this guitar comes close (think 1954 Strat w/scatter wound pickups). This guitar actually sounds different than my 1967 Rick 335, even though it's basically the same guitar with a third pickup and a Bigsby (rather than stock Rick trem tailpiece). I think the 1967 Rick doesn't have scatter wound pickups, thus the difference. It suits my style of music (Lenny Kravitz meets the Beatles).

My amps include a 1963 AC30, a Matchless D/C-30 and Chieftain, several vintage 1960's Traynors, a Garnet BTO, and a 68 Deluxe Reverb. Only tried this Rick through the AC30. Sounds like GOD. My pedal board has an Italian Vox wah, Rotosphere, Deja Vibe, and AB box. Haven't used it with FX yet. My 12-string sounds great through my rig, and this one will too (though it's only a 6-string).

The neck pickup setting uses both neck & middle pickups. Not crazy about that tone (on any guitar), but still experimenting. My input jack needs to be checked out, may have loose wire.

Overall, I love the sound of this guitar.

Rick craftsmanship is impressive. This guitar is fairly worn from 40 years of use. But the finish on the top of the guitar is still in clean condition, and looks great. The only flaws are from use, not design or construction. Rick does a great job on action fit & finish. My guitar needs a fret dress. Also, I use 10's on my 6-strings. I was told this guitar had 9's on it. I may have a set up done to make it play easier.

Vintage Kluson-style tuners are not my favorite. The little cover over the bridge is a bit loose, appears to not have both screws in it. Strap buttons screw in, and may come loose. I'm going to play the heck out of it. My main guitar is a Rick 12-string, and I avoid playing 6-strings in my original band. I use them in cover bands, but prefer to use my 12-string for my original material - it makes me stand out more. If I decide to bring a 6-string into my original band, I'll reach for this one. I'll rehearse with it too. Ricks are well made.

Rickenbacker is still in business. I emailed several questions to the service department. No reply yet, and I don't expect one soon. Email is probably a low priority for them, and I wouldn't blame them if that's the case. 5-yr olds have email, so I assume Rickenbacker gets a ton of email each day.

I've been playing since 1978. I have 15 electric guitars. I've owned Ricks since 1990, and have used a Rick 330-12 as my primary guitar since 1998. This model 1998 sounds great, feels great, and looks great (in a Relic kinda way). The Rose Morris export models are very hard to find, but worth it if ya do. I sense that the RI models cost more than what I paid for mine. Funny, huh?

This Rickenbacker 1998 dates back to 1965 and I bought it second hand 3 years ago. It has 21 frets, it's semi hollow pretty much just like a 330. This guitar has 3 vintage "toaster-top" single coil pickups with 2 volume and 2 tone knobs, 1 pickup blend knob, and a 3-way selector. The body is maple with a maple/mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. This issue was made for the British market so it has a coventional f-hole instead of the "cats-eye" sound hole. It's also not stereo like the U.S.A counterparts. The finish is "fireglo" and it looks fucking ace. It has a Rickenbacker trem and Rickenbacker tuners which keeps the guitar in tune better than any other guitar i've played. It came with the original Rickenbacker case.

Well, I'm in a band called "milton" and we play indie rock music with overtones of 60's lounge music and a bit of 70's soul/disco. Pretty odd. I use my rickenbacker for most of my guitar parts because it sounds odd. Sure, it has the classic "jangle" back pickup sound of the sixtes and I use that heaps (this setting sounds so damn fine through the distortion channel of my Laney VC30 which is pretty much a Vox AC30 copy and sounds very close to one), but there is other settings that just sound fucking weird. Why is this? It's because the front 2 pickups run together always and it shits me that you can't split them (plus, it's too cool and vintage to start messing with electronics). So, when the guitar is set to neck position, 2 pickups are going at once and it makes for a very unique sound like I've never heard - slightly straty out of phase sound but much weirder than the strat sound. I tend to use this sound heaps because of how crazy it sounds - it sounds like candy, almost sickly. Having all pickups on at once is complete don't-go-there material unless you use the blend knob. Otherwise it sounds just too weird.
I would give this guitar a 10, but I'm still a bit pissed off about the fact that I can't split the front 2 pickups - imagine how many sounds I could get if it were possible! Otherwise, best sound ever - very clear and bright in bridge position, and very fat and sugary in the neck position.

Everythings all good. The setup I got was fine and the neck was beautifully worn in. Action is quite low but it doesn't buzz. The finish has some age marks but you want that.

I play this guitar live all the time and jump around like a fool. This guitar enjoys the jumping too and has never complained. It is the most dependable guitar I have - except for the neck-end strap button unscrews a bit sometimes. I use this usually as my main guitar and have the tele or SG as backups.

They're probably really nice people but I wouldn't know.

With the Vox AC30 sound, you can't go wrong - if Rickenbacker sound is what you want. I won't go on with the "not suitable for Death Metal" shit because, as if they would like it anyway - it's not hardcore and pointy enough and only has single coils. For me, it is perfect, except for the non-splittable pickup problem. I would be upset if it were stolen because I probably would never find another the same and would have to settle for a modern 330 like the one I played when I chose this guitar. I mean, they're cool and all but vintage is cooler. This guitar is pure class and I recommend it to anyone who is sick of the strat/les paul sound.