I simply love The Who and have done so since the 60's - and for the last week or so I've been listening a CD with The Who's greatest hits (when driving my car)... and I do love the ringing Rickenbacker sound coming from Pete Townshends 330's and 360's on the opriginal recordings... It suits their vocals and music perfectly...

Substitute and Can't Explain for instance delivers magnificent Rickenbacker sound... toasters at their absolutely best!

Yes, what a great sound on those early records! Pete used a nice range of Ricks imported by Rose, Morris in the UK. He used Model 1997 (a 330S with an Ac'cent vibrato), as well as Model 1998 (a 340S with an Ac'cent), and, my personal favorite, a Model 1993 (double-bound twelve-string with an f-hole and dot position markers). He also had an American model 360/12 in Maple Glo, which can be seen leaning up against John Entwistle's bass amp on the Chelsea Barracks photos. Shel Talmy, producer of the early Who albums, really cranked the compression when recording the band. Also, if I remember correctly, he would closely mic the strings of the guitars in order to get pick sound of the strings being played.

I think if you look carefully at the 12-string Pete played early on, it was a 360/12 with an f-hole. I say this because it had triangular position markers on the fretboard, instead of dots like the Model 1993/12.

And don't forget that Entwistle played a Model 1999 bass. Later, he also played a 4005 Light Show bass. The movie "The Kids Are Alright" is an excellent source for viewing their early gear, including Ricks.

Why did Pete quit playing Rickenbackers?

He still plays them to this day....

_________________
Brian Morton
A Rickenbacker Fan in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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67 FG 625
74 JG 4000
76 JG 430
77 JG 620
77 JG 320
79 JG 4001
80 FG 620/12
81 BG 480
91 JG 610
02 BG 620

Amps -
78 TR7
83 TR25

I believe Townsend also used a Rickenbacker 375F Mapleglo full body. Anyone know the details of the usage of this model

Do you mean that Pete plays Rics in the studio? I haven't seen any recent film or photo of Pete with a Ric (I'm not disputing you; I just haven't seen it).

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/history.html

He has used a Rickenbacker in the studio since the sixties, but Pete has been vague about what he uses from time to time.

It looks like a Rick, but it's actually a Grimshaw model. Pete put a Rickenbacker truss rod cover on it.

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/grimshaw.html

This is a great site for details on Who equipment!

There's a sneak peek of Pete Townshend's memoirs in the latest issue of RS. It has some pretty nice pics of him and his Rickenbackers, include one of Jimi Hendrix holding it

Yep. It was one of a prototype batch of what would become the RM1993.

Looked sorta like this!