Rickenbacker 370

1979. Made in the USA.

Body: Hand buffed Burgundyglo finish over a carved maple body. It also has chrome plated metal hardware.
Neck: Four pieces laminated construction, imported African Rosewood fingerboard, and bound on both edges, pearl inlays, dual steel truss-rod which are separately adjustable.
Bridge: Six way adjustable with separate string saddles. "R" tailpiece.
Pickups: 3 Hi-Gain pickups.
Pickup Configurations: Bridge/All/Neck and Middle
Controls: Two Volume, Two Tone, 5th knob.
Tuners: Grover.

Rick-O-Sound output.
Lockable hardshell case with polishing cloth.

I was a bit sceptical when buying this guitar because I have heard Rickenbacker's were not very versatile.
Let me tell you that is far from the truth!

I play lots of Beatles and of course it's perfect for that. But I can also get a great semi-distorted sound for stuff like Led Zeppelin, and if I want it to be super-distorted that's no problem.
I play it through a Vox Pathfinder 15R and the combination is great, I can get so many different sounds it's unbelievable.
With the bridge pickup you can get great treble, somewhat jangly, not exactly like the Toaster pickups get but good in its own way.
With the all three position the 5th knob really comes in. You can really get anything out of this position.
The neck is interesting, it has good bass can get a bit muddy if you want it, but the best part is its clean sound. When playing clean for finger picking sound it is amazing.

Also sounds nice unplugged if anyone was wondering...

Overall it has great sounding capacities, I can easily say it will fit anyone who plays it. But don't expect it to sound like another guitar; it isn't supposed to, it's a Rickenbacker.

Since I bought the guitar used it didn't come from the factory.
According to its previous owner a professional adjusted it. The action is great, just how I like it, it still can be closer to the neck but I don't want it to be.
I can see the pickups were adjusted to someone's exact liking they are well balanced together.
When playing sitting or standing I find it is very comfortable. It is also not too heavy, a nice weight and it is pretty well balanced.
The neck is the part I love the most; it is so smooth to play. The laminated fingerboard works real well and there's no wear on it yet. It is a bit hard to reach the 24th fret but I never play there but I thought I'd mention it.
I have no problem with the narrower then usual shape the neck has. The only thing is when it comes to finger picking on the first three strings (E, B and G) your fingers get a bit crowded. It was more of a concern when I first got it but my fingers got used to it and I have fewer problems with it now.

This guitar was built in June of 1979 so it's been around, but the finish is still has its shine. There's one small chip that has been buffed out under the 1st E but it is barely noticeable now that I have polished it.
The chrome does have some kind of cracking into it, I'm not sure what caused that. I doubt it was during the shipping although it is possible. It got a huge climate change from Arizona to New Brunswick, Canada. The trip is over 5000 miles.
At first I had to tighten the tuning pegs and the strings were loosing their tune quickly because the neck was adjusting itself to my very humid climate. I let the strings that came on it for two weeks before changing them but they badly needed replacing. I put Ernie Ball Regular Slinky and now it never goes out of tune ever, I can bend as much as I want. Never had a string break yet.

Overall I am very impress with this lasting quality, the finish is unbelievable for a 79.

I have no worries about it I know it will last.
The finish hasn't worn off anywhere like I see on many guitars; the neck doesn't have any wear either.
I don't have a good strap but the buttons seem good.
I would have no concern about going to a gig without a backup, although some people say this is risky.

I'd also like to say that the jack is very well built, the first time I was unplugging it I thought my lead chord was stuck but it just shows that they use quality plugs, I can step on the chord and it doesn't fall out like most guitars.
360/370's with the new style shape look fragile but they really aren't.

I have never had to talk to a Rickenbacker representative yet but I visit forums for Rickenbacker's where the CEO, John Hall, puts is input and answers questions, other employees post there also and they all seem very friendly and they really know their stuff.

I've been playing for around 4 years as of 2004, I own a Vox Pathfinder 15R as I've said, a Yamaha Pre-amp, and a Vox volume swell.
If it were to be replaced because it was stolen or lost I would get another Rickenbacker for sure.
I couldn't ask for anything better at the moment, but I would possibly get a vintage series or C series Rickenbacker. But I would miss my burgundyglo 370, it is very pleasing to look at and play.
I want to give a shot at the Rick-O-Sound sometime soon but I don't see it as too important.
I actually did not play a Rickenbacker before buying one; I have only seen one other in my life. There's no Rickenbacker dealer in the region, the closest one is a 12 hours drive away.
I had played a Les Paul, a SG, a Telecaster, a Stratocaster and a Gretsch.
One thing is I was going to buy on eBay for sure because I was going to be saving lots of money. The other guitars I tried seemed so expensive and now I don't understand why someone would pay so much when you can get a great sounding Rickenbacker for less. But everyone has his or her own tastes and if you got to pay to get a certain sound you do it.
Looking on eBay for Rickenbacker's was easy, I spotted this one out quickly, it was the only 6-string 370, I wanted 3 pickups, 6-strings and I was willing to pay up to 1000 for it. I fell in love with the colour so I bought it.

I am very happy with my purchase.
With duty, shipping and everything it came to $1800CAD

2001, USA Same specs as above except I ordered mine with the hi output singal coil pu's.

I play mostly rock and metal but sometimes I need to take a break from the head banging, this guitar is perfect for that. I use this straight through my H&K no effects. It's quiet on all settings plays like a dream and never gives me a problem sound wise. The guitar is limited in range but it's a Ric, you buy it for the Ric sound.

Here's the downside, from day one the guitar was set up wrong, never stayed in tune and always had super high action. I made some adjustment and it would work ok for a week or so. I decided to bring it back to the store where it was purchased to see what can be done. After having them work on it for a week it played better then new and never gives me a problem, seems like with the major shift in climate from California to NJ had some bad effect on the neck, no problems since then. Other then the action and intonation the guitar is perfect. Great solid hardware, well made body, easy to maintain and there is never any noise or electronics issues.

This thing is built like a tank!!! It will handle any gig with out a problem but like I said it is limited in range of sounds. The hardware is a heavy plated chrome that never dulls. The cool thing is the strap buttons are actually strap locks for a dunlap system, nice!!! I can depend on this, no problem but I would bring a backup for more range.

Never dealt with them but they answer emails pretty fast about specs and things of that nature. I'm sure they are good. Honestly I can't ever see using the warranty considering the way it's built so thats a plus in my book.

I've been playing for 14 years now and I've owned basically every guitar you can imagine. If it was stolen I would find the guy and rip his finger nails off one at a time then I'd buy a new one. I love the solid feel and quality of construction, I think it could use a little more flare in the pickguard area but I'm taking care of that now. This is hard to compare to other guitars for sound and versitilty but for quality it's first rate construction and craftsmanship.

This is actually my jamming partner's Rickenbacker, but he's been lending it to me for a couple of months so I figured I would review it. I don't feel that the number scoring system works very well (the devil's in the details), so I'm not rating the guitar that way...

It was made in the USA in 1967, 21 frets on a lacquered rosewood fretboard. It's got three Rickenbacker single coil pickups mounted on a beautiful "Fireglo" sunburst finished body (I don't think it's worth getting a Rick in any other color). The pickups are NOT adjustable heightwise, but it seems set up well the way it is. It has original Kluson tuners, which seem kind of cheap these days, but that's probably around the best they had those days.

There are a few small chips in the finish here and there, and the finish is checked/cracking in many places, especially the back of the neck. Kind of pretty I think...

The tailpiece is mounted from the bottom of the body, and it's a real pain to change the strings compared to other tailpiece designs. The bridge seems a bit crude, but it works fine, although on this one it's been blackened by time.

I like the neck; the frets seem to be medium/jumbo and the finish on the fretboard is interesting.

The controls are weird. First off the neck and middle pickups are permanently wired together in parallel. The toggle switch allows you to select between N+M, N+M+B, and just the bridge pickup. There are two volume and two tone controls, one set each for N+M and B.The bridge pickup is wired in series with a capacitor to make it extra trebly (apparently this is not true on the reissues). Then there is a "mixer" potentiometer, which I think is an absolutely *stupid* idea. It basically functions to adjust the maximum level of output that comes out of the N+M pickup combination. So if you turn the mixer control up full, you get maximum volume out of N+M when that combo's volume is up. Adjusting the mixer down all the way reduces the volume of those pickups. So it's just redundantly modifying the volume control for that combo. It would have been much better to use the mixer control for independently controlling the middle pickup volume. Especially since Rickenbacker does a very reasonable job of wiring the volume controls so that when the toggle is put in the middle position and one volume is turned off, the guitar doesn't go dead (try that with a stock Les Paul and most other guitars). And it's actually just an arbitrary wiring option, so there's really no reason for other manufacturers to do that...

Here's a link to the wiring diagram if you are interested and can read schematics:

http://www.rickenbacker.com/us/19502.htm

This is a cool sounding guitar. The combination of the semi-solid body and the pickups makes for some really nice "woody" sounds. I like the middle toggle switch position, with all pickups turned on, but with the N+M volume turned down real low. In fact that's the only way I play it now. I fade the N+M pickups in from all the way off to about halfway...

This particular guitar's electronics seem to have some problems. Often it shorts out. I tried taking out the output jack plate (which has two jacks for the stereo option), hoping I could figure out where the short was and repair it. But after I unmounted everything it all checked out OK with my voltmeter. So I couldn't find a problem to fix. The thirty-five year old wires showed their age and I didn't want to start seriously modifying a vintage guitar that belonged to my friend.

This guitar is too precious and fragile to take out (unless you've got security guards). But it's certainly lasted thirty-five years. As mentioned above, the finish is showing its age -- and isn't that why people buy real vintage pieces like this?

Randomly, I think it's absurd to buy an "aged" reissue of some older guitar. You pay a premium to get something that generally has inferior parts -- especially the tuners (but NOT the wood, which is usally far better). But who knows what effects the chemicals they used to muck it up are going to do to the finish and electronics thirty years from now...

N/A

A cool guitar overall. Based on what I see on eBay, this one is probably worth about $2500 (the Blue Book and Vintage guitar guide prices generally seem lower than eBay's, but eBay is the marketplace).

I've been playing for twenty-five years, and do/have owned about thirty-five guitars total during that time. The "woody" sound it gets is great. The electronic wiring could definitely be improved, but since this one falls into the category of a real vintage guitar, that's probably not a reasonable thing to do.

This is a classic. But I wouldn't pay $2500 for this guitar just because in the vintage marketplace my personal tastes run more towards 1970s and 1980s guitars. My best axe is a heavily modified 1973 Les Paul Deluxe with DiMarzios, and I'm also into the Ovation active solidbodies, Gibson bolt ons from that period (S1, Marauder) and a bunch of custom/project/parts guitars. Except for the Les Paul, these are all < $500 axes, and that's where I would rather put my money.

But this Rick is a great sounding guitar!

USA made, 1998model 6-string Rickenbacker. Model 370 semi-hollow body. Has a Jetglo (black) finish with white binding along the rosewood (thin fret) neck and rear edge of the body. Comes with Ric-o-sound (split pick-up) or mono output. 24-frets, no trem, 3 "button top" high output single coil pick-ups with the middle and neck pick-ups wired together (as far as switching goes). A 5th knob for balancing between the bridge and middle/neck pick-ups (mono or Ric-o-sound). Comes standard with Schaller strap-lock pins. 24 3/4" scale. Nice hard case, truss rod tool, and a Rickenbacker cleaning cloth.

I will give a 7 for the number of features - base of 5, +1 for Ric-o-sound and +1 for the bridge rest (removable). I would easily give a 10 for the quality of the features.

This guitar is a bit darker than the 330 models to my ears. Sounds like there is a bit more wood tone there as opposed to the lighter, more "airy" sound of the 330's.

I play mostly "etheric pop/rock" kind of stuff. This guitar chimes through beautifully. I really can not praise the chime of the Rickenbacker 300 series enough. Never gets tinny or thin like a Strat but doesn't have the muddiness of a Les Paul. It really is a different sound.

I run this through a Laney VC30-210 when I am serious or a Vox Cambridge 30 Reverb when practicing. Both work nicely. I have run a Ric through a Marshall VS100R in the past but it just didn't seem 100%.
The variety of sounds is amazing if you like subtlety. Major sounds are really just three but the 5th knob can make a huge difference. All three major pickup positions have useful sounds unlike some other popular guitars.
Basicaly I love the sounds this guitar makes.

I got this guitar as a trade-in on a Gibson LP Studio. Never regret it. I haven't had to touch it. Neck is perfectly set-up. Frets nicely dressed. Mirror-like finish. Impeccable really.

Only downside is - I KNOW the finish will check. Always does on Rickenbackers (any I have seen personally). I can live with that.

This guitar will live longer than I do. No problems.

Never dealt directly with Rickenbacker. I did question the warranty (only 2 years) and received (what seemed to be - read as) a rather curt answer. A very fair answer though. [Thanks to Mr.John Hall for answering a rather tedious posting on alt.rickenbacker.] The way these guitars are made I doubt I would need to worry about warranty anyway. Like I said - this guitar will last longer than I do.

Been playing on and off for 10 years. I have owned USA and Mex Strats, Gibson Les Paul and SG's (currently have an LP Gothic), a few other bits and pieces. Had a Rickenbacker 330 (which I totally loved as well).

If this guitar disappeared on me I would definitely get another. I intend to get a 370 12-string to complement this one. The only problem with this guitar is my technique...I have an annoying habit of sometimes hitting the middle pick-up. That's me though - I can't blame the guitar for that. In fact my technique has improved drastically since owning this beauty.
I love everything about this guitar but the prime factor would be the heavenly chime. You can get almost any sound you like from a Ric 370. Heavy, jangly, thin, warm...all of it. Anybody who says that Rickenbackers aren't versatile obviously hasn't played one.
Compare the price of a Rickenbacker to the other "big names" (and quality) and I really wonder how people can justify spending so much on the others in comparison.
I really can't think of a better guitar - and I've played quite a few.

My 370 is a '98 model. 21 frets, thinline body. It has 2 volume and 2 tone, plus a mixer control. There are 3 single coil, hi gain rickenbacker pick-ups. It is a neck through body with a custom midnight blue finish. It is the body of a 360 with one more pick-up. The hardware, nameplate, and pickguard are all black. It has an "R" tail piece. The guitar comes with schaller tuners. It also hast the ric-o-sound sterio outputs.

I play lots of 60's music, Beatles and stuff like that, it is fabulous for the music i play. It sound great through my Fender Blues Jr. and Laney GC-50. I love how i can get a "twangy" sound when i turn on my wah-wah pedal. I couldn't have asked for a better guitar

The action on this guitar is great!!! I usually don't like ric necks, but this one is great! The action on this guitar is all i ever hoped for.

I have used this guitar many times when i play out and its perfict. After my first gig with it i knew that i would never need a back up with this guitar. I have never broken a string. And it never goes drastically out of tune.

I have email rickenbacker tech support acouple times and they respond in about 1-2 hours. I am very pleased with their service.

I have been playing since 2nd grade. This is by far the best guitar that i have ever owned. I wouldn't trade it for the world. The only thing that i did not like was that the order took so long to complete so i didn't get it for over a year. However it was a custom order so i do understand. If i lost it i would definatly buy it again. ITS A WONDERFUL GUITAR!!!