Rickenbacker 620 1980 – 1992

Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC) produces the Rickenbacker 620 1980 – 1992 solid-body guitar. It is part of the 600 series of guitars, all of which have the distinctive “cresting wave” body shape. The Rickenbacker 620 has triangle fret markings, a thick rosewood fret board, a neck-thru maple body, a maple neck, and the Rickenbacker signature, a ‘R’ type floating tailpiece.

The 620 also includes a stereo output connection as standard. The pickups on the instrument are twin single coil ‘Hi-gains’. This guitar is also available in a twelve string variant, the Rickenbacker 620/12. The Rickenbacker 620 is available from the factory in fireglo, mapleglo, jetglo, and midnight blue finishes.

The 620 is less popular with big recording artists than its siblings, the 330 and 360, but several guitarists, notably Christopher Owens of Girls, Caleb Harper of Spacey Jane, and Chris Urbanowicz of Editors, have routinely used them.

In 1977, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers purchased the first 620/12 12-string (built in December 1963, but referred to as a prototype 625/12) and played it on hits such as Listen to Her Heart and Here Comes My Girl.