UPDATE - 9/14@10:57AM: Blogger and Rush fan Jay Roberts got a copy of the Kindle edition and put up a blog post earlier this week describing the chapter on Geddy Lee, and included this excerpt from their Geddy Lee interview:
Chris Squire was the one who really made me want to get a Rickenbacker. I bought my first (a 1973 Jetglo 4001 ML6222)) from Long and McQuade which was the Primo store in downtown Toronto. I used to go in there and they had a few Ricky's hanging on the wall and I would just drool over them. But when we got our first record deal and the advance came through, Alex, Neil and I went down there and had the shopping spree that every child dreams of. It was just the greatest day ever as I'd looked at those basses for so long and just couldn't afford one.
The idea for the double neck came earlier though, around the time of "A Farewell to Kings." The music we were starting to write was getting more layered and more proggy, we were getting into the idea of using a Minimoog and bass pedals.
Up to that point everything we recorded was with a view to being able to reproduce it accurately live so we'd held back on doing a lot of overdubs, as there were only the three of us on stage.
When we were working on "Xanadu," we put a rhythm guitar behind Alex's solo and realised that we were going to miss that live, it's just not going to sound as rich. So why don't I get a double neck and I can play that and I can fill in the bottom end on these new bass pedals then I'm now using all the time. So that's why I went after the double neck to give the band's sound a bit more richness when we needed it. The more the merrier for me, the more toys I can play with the better.
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A new book on Rickenbacker guitars from authors Martin and Paul Kelly, and titled Rickenbacker Guitars: Pioneers of the Electric Guitar will be officially released in hardback this coming Friday, September 15. The book chronicles the history of Rickenbacker guitars, with stunning photography and new interviews with legendary Rickenbacker players, including Rush's Geddy Lee. From the book description:
"The attention to detail is amazing" --Roger McGuinn
"A joy to the eyes and a must-have reference guide" --Geddy Lee
Electric guitars are not simply musical instruments At their best they are iconic works of art, a marriage of form and function that has come to symbolize the very essence of 20th century pop culture
While Fender and Gibson maintain their positions as brand leaders in an industry that has helped shape popular music, Rickenbacker, a small family-run business with roots stretching back to the very invention of the electric guitar, remains one of the most important makers almost 100 years from inception This book charts the company's history from its founding in 1931 to the present day
The authors traveled the world to bring together more than 350 original instruments -- including all 7 Beatles-owned Rickenbackers -- photographing them beautifully for this all-encompassing study of a unique brand
New interviews with legendary Rickenbacker players, including Roger McGuinn, Peter Buck, Susanna Hoffs, Johnny Marr, Geddy Lee and Paul Weller, make this book the most comprehensive history of the brand to date and a must for all guitar enthusiasts.
The hardcover version of the book releases this coming Friday and can be pre-ordered here, while the Kindle version released last week and is available here.
