UNIQUE 730S/12 WITH INTERESTING HISTORY

This dreadnought 730S was built to order (as all our acoustics are) for good friend, local musician Bob Spector. Bob asked if we could make a neck that was as slim as one of his ‘60s Rickenbacker 360/12. Ignoring the fact that (literally!) no two 1960s Rickenbacker 360/12 necks are exactly alike—operative word here is “exactly”, as they were hand-shaped, we understood that Bob wanted a neck that was slightly narrower (!) at the nut (less than a millimeter here makes a HUGE difference) and less deep front-to-back than today’s Rickenbacker necks.

Now, this in turn makes the neck specification on this acoustic Rickenbacker, MUCH slimmer in both respects than any other Rickenbacker acoustic: a nut width of 1.6” (40.6mm) and neck thickness at the 3rd fret of 1.06” (27mm). Knowing that most 1960s Rickenbacker 12-string guitars have issues with neck structure and stability over time, we decided to reinforce the neck with two layers of composite on the outside. Our previous experience with composites made this method very appealing as a way to add strength with very little weight or thickness penalty.

Because we did not want the weave of the composite fabric to be visible, it was decided that the neck and “fishtail” headstock would receive a custom-mixed deep copper pearlescent finish to complement the burst of the spruce top and the shading of the rosewood sides and back.

The finished instrument had a sweet, slim neck that played very comfortably, and a great. full sound that belied its compact (compared to our Jumbo offerings) size.

The guitar was delivered to Bob in mid-2011, and he kept it and played it for about six years, if memory serves correctly. It was then purchased by Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick, who is pictured with it here in two photos.