Rickenbacker and the UK is not a match made in heaven: for some reason the two just don't mix. Many companies who have tried to distribute these instruments in the UK in the past years have had more than their fair share of bad luck making some believe that taking on the distribution of Rickenbacker is rather like putting on a production of Macbeth! Not surprisingly then the guitars are now only available direct from the States — there isn't a UK distributor — through a selected number of shops around the country. Michael Cowan (a freelance agent) is at present acting for Rickenbacker over here and at the moment only about 22 shops are privileged to import the guitars.

Of course this has its disadvantages to the customer. Maintenance work is not carried out by a Rickenbacker approved agent, although so long as the guitar is returned to an approved Rickenbacker retailer for adjustments then the guarantee is not invalidated. Of course spare parts or major repair work means that Rickenbacker have to be dealt with direct, which also means added expense.

However, all that aside, a healthy trickle of Rickies are now available in the UK. This review deals with the 200 series 'El Dorado' first seen at the BMF in '83, but not really very available until the latter part of 84. There are four models in the 200 Series, two guitars and two basses starting around £309 and going up to £499. At present only the Jetglo black finish is available although other colours are standard and Rickenbacker also offer a custom colour service for a flat rate of about £85.

Construction

In contrast to the rather cluttered look of the more typical Rickies, the El Dorado concentrates on simplicity — it is on the surface a very standard looking six-string. The body shape is unremarkable with asymmetrical top horns and quite a wide full curved base. For Rickenbacker, of course, this shape is not new — it was used on the earlier 480 six-string models (now defunct) and 3000 series basses both of which featured a detachable neck. The Maple body has no contouring at all — the only cutaway is the recessed area below the control position to take the jack socket. Both top and back have a single white binding, as does the fretboard.

Rickenbacker have always been renowned for their neck design — usually super thin, a result of the double truss rod system employed. The twin truss rods give, in theory, a finer degree of adjustment to the neck and are considered by many to be the finest system available. The actual specification details on this guitar are minimal so I can only presume that the rods fitted on this sample are the standard double ones — each 'rod' is actually bent back on itself so that when tension is applied to the lower rod the top rod bends thus correcting a bow in the neck. The other advantage of this system is that it's easily replaced as neither of the two 'double rods' is anchored or glued in place and can therefore be taken out in a matter of minutes in the unlikely event that one of the rods break.

This certainly isn't the slimmest profiled Rickenbacker neck I've ever played; it has a shallow curved feel which is perfectly comfortable with fairly usual width and depth dimensions — 42mm wide at nut and 22mm thick at 1st fret. The fingerboard is the familiar light open grained Rosewood which is uncharacteristically left plain as opposed to being lacquered. The frets are wide and left quite high with a squareish profile making bending very easy and comfortable. The 618mm scale length is slightly below average, possibly because of the double octave fingerboard, although Rickenbacker are renowned for unusual scale lengths, ie the very famous ¾ scale still produced today, and not forgetting their slanted frets fingerboard.

Rickenbacker have retained their familiar three aside headstock design as well as the long truss rod cover bearing the companies' logo and the immortal words 'Made in USA'. The headstock itself has a very shallow lean back angle and there is a hefty 'volute' under the nut, presumably to add strength to this area because of the amount of timber taken out to allow access to the truss rod nut adjustments.

Speaking of nuts, the top nut on this sample is a bit overdone. It's made from a hard black plastic and while it's cut and adjusted perfectly there is about 3.5mm of nut protruding above the strings which is totally unnecessary and looks a bit naff.

The Maple neck is held to the body in the time honoured four bolt fashion via a gold-plated neck plate which actually has quite a few rough spots — any Glam Rockers amongst you beware — you won't be able to use this plate as a mirror for your mascara!

The 200 series employs Schaller hardware which is something of a departure for Rickenbacker who have previously only used their own designs. The bridge unit fitted here is the Schaller 3-D6 which is gold-plated. The actual mechanics of the bridge are typically smooth with individual saddles for each string, adjustable for height and intonation with a roller that allows the string spacing to be altered. The saddles locate into tracks on the hefty camber base which also acts as the string anchor via six 'key-hole' shaped slots. The machines are much more common place — gold plated M6's — which felt fine. Say na' more.

To maintain the uncluttered look of the guitar the pick-ups are apparently held in place with a good deal of hope and not a lot else as there are no fixing screws visible on the front of the guitar. The actual pickup fixing and adjustment is via two allen keyed bolts at the back of the instrument. This is certainly quite an uncommon way of securing the pick ups; I've only previously seen it on some early Kramer models.

The actual pick ups themselves are single-coil units totally enclosed in black textured plastic covers. They apparently have quite a high output and are probably closer to the sound of the mini-humbucker fitted on Les Paul Deluxe's than a typical Fendersingle coil unit.

The brochure on the 200 series instruments is a mite misleading. For it example it states "Active circuitry abounds today and the 200 Series is no exception... with one tremendous difference. There is no battery. No transistors and no integrated circuits." How, I ask myself, can the circuit be called active then? In Donald Brosnac's tome "Guitar Electronics" he defines Active controls as being "Volume and tone controls which incorporate amplifier elements so the output can be boosted". Come on then, Rickenbacker, isn't an explanation necessary?

Mind you the control area is very neatly designed. The four controls — two volume and two tones plus a mini toggle pick up selector — are located on a PCB which is held in place in the guitar by a substantial metal back plate also holding the jack socket. Removal of this circuit is very quick indeed and a quick gander over the PCB revealed only two extra components not usually found in a basic circuit of this type — a resistor and extra capacitor. Hardly revolutionary.

Clearly the electronics have been well thought out and although some of the claims may be a bit over the top the results are only evaluated by the sound of the guitar, which is very good indeed. The controls do work in a very typical fashion, the only apparent difference is that the volume and tone controls nearest the bridge operate the bridge pickup which is the opposite of the standard Gibson layout where the top controls take care of the neck pick up.

The guitar has a wide range of tones and the more I thought about it the more it reminded me of the Les Paul Deluxe — not as full or gutsy as a typical humbucking Les Paul but more depth and warmth than a typical Strat or Tele. The quality of sound was not in fact dissimilar to the Fender Elite Tele which illustrates the quality of this Rickenbacker, especially comparing the price. I must say that I agree with something that Rickenbacker say about this guitar — "... a guitar that ranges from punchy Country twang, to bell like clarity, and on to screaming overdrive."

The guitar was also set-up pretty well and I didn't find any problems in this area at all. The 24 frets certainly give a few more possibilities although you obviously have to fret very positively to avoid slipping off the string or producing a dead note. Although the balance of the guitar was okay when strapped on it's a bit on the heavy side, and after a while began to pull a bit on the old shoulder. Still, you can't have everything I suppose.

I felt that the actual action of the control knobs was a bit on the stiff side too, making violin effects a bit tricky — this could also be due to the rather naff knobs themselves which look trés de cheap and have quite a small diameter. The mini toggle could also be a potential weak spot — I think I'd rather see a more robust switch fitted which would stand up better in the long term.

Conclusions

I can't really see problems with this guitar at all — it's solidly built (with the exception of the toggle switch) with a simple no nonsense design by one of the world's most respected guitar companies. The Rickenbacker finish on this sample is as good as any and apparently just as hard wearing — the guitar is definitely built to last.

For Rickenbacker this is obviously quite an economy guitar but apart from the control knobs and neck plate there aren't any visible cuts; certainly the sound department of the guitar is really sussed and is going to give quite a few guitars with a higher price than this some very serious competition. Possibly, at last, Rickenbacker have realised that they have to look to the future to remain in the running and despite the companies obvious preoccupation with the past this 200 Series could surprise a few people. Mind you Rickenbacker are only releasing around 1000 instruments per year at present, which is small change to their competitors, but I'd advise anyone to have a look at this guitar while they're still available here.

Should I tempt fate and say; Welcome back Rickenbacker?

Rickenbacker 200 Series model 250 'El Dorado'

IM would like to thank Chappell's of London for the loan of this guitar.