I used to have a 1967 RIC 330-12 back in the 1980’s, but it started falling apart, as old RICS will sometimes do. I didn’t know enough at the time to take it to a qualified repair person, so I sold it before it exploded in my hands like an old lightbulb, and of course immediately regretted it. It took me years to save up for another one, and then The Captain fell in my lap in late 2013.
“The creme de la creme of my arsenal, this guitar is so badass I can’t stand it, and will get you Eight Miles High in a jiffy.”
Buddy Woodward
I’ve had extensive work done to it by master luthier Mark Arnquist at Arnquist Musical Designs (Seattle based guitar repair and former RIC employee, specialises in custom work including working on RICs for McGuinn, Petty, McCartney, and little guys like me).
Major Surgery Behind-the-Scenes
Bridge location 101: Set measuring device against the nut.
Nut to the 12th fret x 2= bridge (without compensation)
On a Rick, the center line should be at 24 & 7/8"
They come out of the factory with the bridge misaligned, so precise intonation is impossible.
Pre 1995 bridge location line is visible under the bridge base plate.
New holes drilled for bridge.
The bridge plate is asymmetrical. Who knew?
This is where you hide your weeeeeed.
Release the Kraken!!
Pickup wire feed holes are too small, you can barely get the wire back out of the holes!
Pickup feed holes have been drilled out. Cavities have been routed to fit any replacement pickup.
Removing finish from fretboard...
Frets and fretboard finish removed, and fretboard sanded to equalize radius.
Refretted...
New frets now span full width of fretboard.
Replacing stock white scratch plate with vintage gold. Mark also bevels the outer edges so they don't slice your hand open when you do windmills 😉
Stock wiring has all the leads the same color; very confusing if one has to affect repairs...
New wiring, different color leads.
Yes, it's masking tape. This is how they do it at the factory.
I had the stock Hi Gains replaced with Lollar Pickups "Broilers," slightly hotter (and slightly cheaper) "Toaster" repros. Absolutely LOVE these pickups, just wish they had the toaster covers.
Truss rod bar replacement. Better adjustment, and takes stress off of the headstock/neck joint (which always cracks on older RICs).
That furshlugginer "R" tailpiece...the bane of every RIC owner.
Now deburred, making string changes easier (in theory 😉 )
12-saddle bridge polished and ready for slotting.
Slotted and intonated.
These things *can* play in tune up the neck...who knew?
Each saddle pair has its outside edge rounded.
Factory string spacing. Good luck getting your fingers in there, pal...
New nut with wider string spacing. I use a custom "Chromes" flat wound string set from D'Addario Strings and Planet Waves, gauges very similar to McGuinn's:
E: .010/.010
B: .013/.013
G: .010/.020w
D: .013/.030w
A: .020w/.035w
E: .030w/.045w
Showing the new, full-width frets and new nut with improved string spacing. You won't believe how comfortable it is, especially after you've struggled with the stock string spacing.
Truss rod cover trimmed so it doesn't overhang and occlude octave string slots. Mark also re-drills octave string tuner screw holes and uses larger, more stable screws with milled heads, so tuners don't loosen and wobble.
New wiring layout...much more user friendly. Silly "Rick-O-Sound" stereo wiring scrapped, and dual jacks have been rewired to produce different sounding outputs. Very clever!
Finished and ready to ship back to me (fancy couch not included)
Vintage oven knobs added (gold insert lost at a gig, since replaced with new knob).
Wanna know how to string these things without making yourself crazy? Here's a trick the RIC technicians use; Mark can restring a 12 string in under 10 minutes this way.
Wanna know how to string these things without making yourself crazy? Here's a trick the RIC technicians use; Mark can restring a 12 string in under 10 minutes this way.
Wanna know how to string these things without making yourself crazy? Here's a trick the RIC technicians use; Mark can restring a 12 string in under 10 minutes this way.
The work included re-seating the tuners, strengthening the truss rod divot to keep the neck from cracking at the headstock join, removing the gloopy varnish from the fretboard, recutting the nut and widening the string spread, a refret that spans the entire fretboard width, installing a 12-saddle bridge and rounding off the sharp edges, repositioning the bridge so it actually intonates up the neck, and replacing the stock Hi Gains with vintage style Lollar “Broiler” p/ups (similar in sound to “Toasters,” but a bit more gain — highly recommended).
Mark also rewired the controls so they’re more user friendly (see diagram in photos). RICs from this era have a reputation for exploding tailpieces, haven’t noticed any metal fatigue or cracks yet, but I’m keeping an eye on it.
The creme de la creme of my arsenal, this guitar is so badass I can’t stand it, and will get you Eight Miles High in a jiffy. Loaded with D’Addario Chrome flat-wounds in a custom set, gauges very similar to McGuinn’s:
