The Accidental Guitar

I ordered a guitar from eBay the other day, but the guitar that arrived at my door wasn’t the guitar advertised. I’m thinking, though, that the guitar I ended up getting might be better than the one I ordered.

The guitar I ordered was a 6-string Rickenbacker copy made by a company called Cozart, but the guitar that arrived at my door was a 12-string. That’s the guitar that Roger McGuinn of the Byrds made famous with songs like “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Tom Petty used one on “The Waiting” as well. Oh, and a guy named George Harrison used one when he played with a band called the, uh…

Sorry, the name escapes me at the moment.

I should have known something was a little fishy when the notice I got from FedEx regarding the delivery said that the guitar was being shipped by the Fluoro Swimwear Company (which was not the company my money went to). When the guitar arrived, I counted the strings and realized there were six more than I was expecting. And when I checked eBay, I got a message stating that the listing had been removed by the seller.

Curiouser and curiouser.

The good news, though, is that the guitar sounds great. In fact, if anyone out there is looking for an inexpensive Rickenbacker copy, try to get your hands on a Cozart 12-String Honey Burst Semi-Hollow. I paid $175 for the one I got, and I’ve seen others going for around $350 (both prices include shipping). Compared to genuine Rickenbackers, which go for between $1400 and $3000, this is a great deal.

One slightly odd thing about the guitar is that the body is somewhat smaller than I expected. The neck is standard, but the small body makes it feel like a 3/4 scale guitar. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but here’s what it looks like:

And after a bit of research, I found a picture of this guy from some obscure band in the 60s playing one. The size and scale of the guitar in the picture look comparable to mine.

Sometime soon, I’ll try to post a recording of what the guitar sounds like. For now, though, I’ll just say that it sounds to my ears exactly like the (very) few Rickenbackers I’ve tried out in music stores, riffing away with no intention of buying, much to the salespeople’s chagrin. And if you stumbled upon this blog post wondering if this guitar is worth the money, it most definitely is.