This month on Bought & Sold, we have a bona-fide legend who might always be remembered for popularising the 12-string guitar, but has also done his bit for the 7-string acoustic guitar, too.
It’s Mr Roger McGuinn, the co-founder and frontman of the Byrds, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, and icon of folk-rock. And he’s here to share his life in guitars…
What’s the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money?
I bought it from Lyon & Healy in Chicago. It was a Martin 00-21 acoustic six-string. It cost me, like, $165. At the time, I bought it because I was going to the Old Town School of Folk Music; [co-founder and folk musician] Frank Hamilton played one just like it, and so did Josh White [Jr]. I thought it was the quintessential folk guitar at the time, and I still have it! It’s hanging on my wall, still plays and sounds really good.
Well, I’ve got some signature models made up for Martin on both 12-string acoustic and seven-string acoustic, which I designed for them. And so, they give you half off on it, so I bought some of those. I guess that’s the last thing I bought… I haven’t bought any guitars for a while.
What’s the most incredible find or bargain that you’ve ever had when buying guitars?
Bargain? Well, I got a Rickenbacker 360/12 for around $600, which, as you know, is a pretty good price for those things!
I haven’t used it on any notable recordings, but I took it on the road when I opened for The Beach Boys some years ago. And Marty Stuart had a TV show a few years back and I played it on that. And now, I have it right here in my studio and I use it for practice.
What’s the strongest case of buyer’s remorse that you’ve had after buying a guitar?
It depends on your price range. But make sure the action is good because the first guitar I had – and this is a common story – the action was too high and I couldn’t really play it at all
It was an Ovation 12-string. Ovations had just come out at that time and Glen Campbell was playing one, so Clarence [White] and I bought Ovations. The thing fell apart! The struts came out of the inside, it rattled…
And besides that, the round back was hard to play because it gets in the way and you can’t put it on your knee like a regular guitar. I don’t remember what I did with it… I think I gave it away.
Have you ever sold a guitar that you now intensely regret letting go?
No, I never really sold a guitar like that, but I’ve had them stolen from me. The one that was stolen was when I was playing with The Byrds, and we were at Fordham University [New York City] in 1965. We were in the dressing room and this guy walked in with a silver Rickenbacker case.
I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just a fellow musician, that’s fine,’ and then he walked out with the case. And when I went to get my guitar, it was gone. Years later, it went up for sale and was sold in Las Vegas for some enormous amount of money. I think it ended up at the Experience Music Project in Seattle.
What’s your best buying tip for anyone looking to buy their ultimate guitar?
It depends on your price range. But make sure the action is good because the first guitar I had – and this is a common story – the action was too high and I couldn’t really play it at all. Some look good, but they don’t play.
So make sure the action is less than a quarter-inch and you can play chords on it. That’s my advice. And they make some really good inexpensive guitars, like Jasmine, a subsidiary of Takamine, which are made in Indonesia. It’s like a $100 guitar, but it plays really well.
When was the last time you stopped and looked in a guitar shop window or browsed online, and what were you looking at?
I really haven’t been shopping for guitars. I’ve got enough guitars [laughs]. But gear-wise, I’ve been looking at and I’ve got some little Roland amplifiers, which are good. And I’ve got a JangleBox, which is a good device for anybody who wants that Byrds kind of sound on a Rickenbacker.
If forced to make a choice, would you rather buy a really good guitar and a cheap guitar amp, or a cheap electric guitar and a top-notch guitar amp?
Yeah, the guitar comes first. It’s kind of like the microphone and it’s the most important thing in the recording. It’s your instrument. And for amps, I love the Roland JC-120. It’s got a nice clean sound, the Rick just sounds really great through it, it’s got some reverb, and you push a pedal and record like a basic track and then play over it. So it’s got some cool things going for it.
If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would you choose, and why?
Well, I like them both. They have different sounds, I think. And I’m not sure what it’s called, but it’s the ‘toaster’ pickup on my signature model Rickenbacker that has a mellow sound, which I like. And then the humbuckers have a more powerful sound.
Roger’s go-to rig
I use a JangleBox when I’m home, but on the road you can’t use the JangleBox because it’ll pick up the 60-cycle hum from the lighting and different electrical interference that’s out there. So I go through the soundboard when I’m on stage.
And now, on stage, I carry my Rickenbacker 370/12 signature model, and I’ve got a Martin HD7 seven-string guitar that I helped design for Martin. Then I have the Martin D12-45 from 1970 that has a really good sound. And then I’ve a five-string longneck banjo.
- Sweetheart of The Rodeo-50th Anniversary Live is out now via Friday Rights Management.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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