Ricky Wilson (B-52's)

Ricky Wilson was the first B-52's guitarist. You can see him play on his Blue Mosrite Ventures in the above video clip.

The Mosrite Ventures II could have also been a Mark V and is commonly referred to as such in some circles. Either way, it's the same design. Ricky actually had 3 of these guitars of known - a Sunburst One, a Black One, and a Blue one. The Blue one is his best known guitar as it appeared on the lyrics sheet for the first record, and was used in this video, as well as in concert in the early days of the band pre-first album and until Ricky passed on in 1985.

Photo of the Sunburst One - http://www.stereophile.com/images/imagecache/960-wide/photopost/data/508/293b52s-4-72dpi.jpg

Video of the Black One - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QSYx4wVQg - up close and personal

Photo of Ricky's Main Blue Ventures II/Mark V guitar where it currently resides - http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lko0wqFKlT1qfvhmzo1_500.jpg

The Plaque Beneath the Blue one on Exhibit - which I believe is at the Cleveland Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame....

BLUE MOSRITE GUITAR

B52s guitarist Ricky Wilson played Rock Lobster, Dance This Mess Around and many other of the band's early classics on this guitar as the group toured extensively. This instrument was also featured on the lyric sheet of their 1979 debut album. Ricky's unorthodox approach to the guitar is evidenced by the missing strings. Ricky strung his guitars with either four or five extra thick strings instead of the usual six and he also devised a different tuning for almost every song the band created.

Collection of Linda J. Wilson

Typically, at the early shows, the Ventures II/Mark V was tuned to CFxxFF for Rock Lobster and Dance this Mess Around. It seems later on in his career Ricky switched the guitar to a 5-string setup, most likely DADxBB as that's the most used tuning that the B-52's used (Lava, Moon, Give Me Back My Man, Strobe Light, just to name a few). The main blue one is on exhibit in Athens Georgia these days and has heavy browning around the pickguard screws, what looks like a TV knob for the tone knob, and heavily crazed paintjob.

The Silvertone 1448 (built by Danelectro; not all Silvertones were Danelectro, but this one is one) was Ricky Wilson's first Electric Guitar, according to Keith Strickland (B-52s drummer.) Ricky got it when he was 15 (so, 1968 and it was a used guitar then.) It's seen in live footage and pictures from 1978 - 1979, but by some point in 1980 it seems that he switched to a Danelectro Pro for an unknown reason. After that, I'm not sure if he used the 1448 live.

The Silvertone 1448 is a bit uncharacteristic for early B-52s tone on the albums, it sounds very clean since it has a single low ohm pickup in the neck position. This is also the case for the Danelectro Pro. Ricky normally used a Bridge Pickup that was higher ohm, and so his amp would overdrive more.

Ricky playing Rock Lobster in 1985 in Rio on an Epiphone Coronet, which replaced the blue Mosrite Mark V by this point as the main CFxxFF guitar for this song. Ricky must have picked this up sometime after 1980 because previous reports are actually just the ET-290 being blanked out by stage-lighting in the video. It likely had a very short run in the band because it was amongst some of the last guitars that gigged with Ricky before he passed.

Ricky can be seen playing a Danelectro Dano Pro here

Ricky used the Danelectro Pro One on tour in 1980 for the song Private Idaho (which was obviously recorded with one of his Mosrites in the studio). This means it was tuned up to EADxBB tuning. You can tell it by the metallic, tin-can sound it has on the song. Ricky's guitar had only a neck pickup as it was a vintage 60's model and not a reissue. - Here's a video clip of it during Private Idaho on tour with the B-52's in 1980 - https://youtu.be/ZKCGilFFFPk?t=2m24s

Considering the picture has 4 strings, it may have either been in xEBxBB tuning, or it could have been used sometime earlier/later for xADxGA tuning songs like 6060-842 and Hero Worship. There are some earlier B-52's bootlegs that sound like a Danelectro neck pickup on 6060-842.

In the above interview, B-52's Keith Strickland remembers Ricky playing through a "tiny Sears Silvertone" amp

You can see Ricky playing an ET-290 in this photo taken by Philippe Carly during a concert in Brussels on December 10th, 1980.

The Epiphone was mostly used for the xADxGA or EADxGA tuning songs (6060-842, Devil's in My Car, Hero Worship,) and it's easy to pick out because it's one of the more overdriven guitars in Ricky's collection (highest gain). Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson also used it on occasion in the early days - Kate as a second guitarist for "52 Girls" and "Hero Worship", and Cindy as a second guitarist for "There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon.)"

A big muff can be seen on the floor here. In 1979/1980 performances a fuzz can be heard on private idaho which would appear to be this pedal.

This is a super early video (Early 1978) of the B-52s showing Ricky Wilson playing a Ibanez Telecaster Copy in CFxxFF tuning on the hit Rock Lobster before the first album was even made. There's no mention of it in interviews because this guitar is very early in Ricky's career.

The way to tell it's an Ibanez is at around 3:10 - we get close to Ricky and a few clues are visible....

• Looks like the cable is coming from the control plate, like said Ibanez tele

• Headstock looks longer than normal, quite a bit of space between the nut and where the tuner side flanges out like the Ibanez in the equiptment pic

• The bridge is shaped just like the "ash-tray" cover on those old Japanese Telecaster copies.

Ricky's tele copy may have been modified though, the bridge pickup appears to be white plastic, and it appears there is no neck pickup.

Ricky playing a Yamaha SF 1000 on Rock lobster here ;)

Playing a Mosrite The Ventures here on the song "52 Girls"

Ricky had a few of these, he was seen with the burst the most often, which was a 70's model. A few people on Mosrite forum posted about the others in the "Ricky Wilson's Guitars" thread there - http://mosriteforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6196&sid=12e77d9dd1c6774124fd90a2222b3a31&start=10

Typically the Mosrite Ventures was tuned to DADxBB for "Lava" "Give Me Back My Man" "Moon" and such. This was the most common tuning the early B-52's used. While the Blue Mark V got more attention, it seems the Ventures got more stage time.

Edit: Although this submission is partly correct in body shape, it's not correct for the exact version. Ricky didn't have a Ventures model, specifically, though that's the most common name for this model. His specific version is a 1971/1972 - 1974 Mosrite "V-I" model, which is evident from the specific sunburst headstock you can see in some photos. Mosrite didn't offer that same type of sunburst headstock later.

Here's the B-52's with "Give Me Back My Man" live in 1982 on the Mesopotamia tour with Ricky on a Stratocaster (probably the same from the original source).

(ORIGINAL SOURCE) Ricky's playing a Strat on this concert photo - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1663402643926861&set=g.8183524066&type=1&theater

To add more details. Starting around the tour for Mesopotamia in 1981-1982, Ricky started using a black Fender Stratocaster a lot. This may be the same guitar also used by Keith Strickland later (ie, the one seen in the "Love Shack" video). Ricky used this guitar in many different tunings or may have had multiple Stratocasters. It appears this one is a vintage pre-CBS model going off the small headstock and maple neck, possibly late 1950's. You can tell when Ricky plays it because it's got a much more airy, modulating, and pingy sound than his other guitars. It's also possible his sister Cindy ALSO used this guitar for "There's a Moon in the Sky" and Kate used it for "52 Girls" as well on this tour. May be the communal B-52's guitar. not much of that is known.

In the video he's in DADxBB tuning. He also may have had one in BADXG#C# tuning for Party out of Bounds and Quiche Lorraine as well. Ricky continued to use the Strat right up until he passed on, and apparently Keith may have started using it on Cosmic Thing onward.

On this photo Ricky is playing one of his Mosrites through a Mega Boogie Mark II

Ricky played a Mosrite double neck on Dirty Back Road, as on this video from the B-52's 1980 concert.

The Doubleneck guitar here is a custom model designed and better known as the "Mosrite Joe Maphis Doubleneck". Joe Maphis was one of Semie Moseley's earliest clients and he built many double neck and single neck guitars for him. The Joe Maphis doubleneck is one of the better known Mosrite models, and Ricky was obviously a fan of Mosrite.

It appears from Ricky's use of this guitar that he carried over his 4-5 string setups to this one, using the top neck for one tuning and the bottom for another. The top apparently was used in BADxG#C# (Party Out of Bounds Tuning), or some other tuning using a low B string, and the bottom neck was FCFxFF (originally EBExBB with a capo on the first fret or so I read somewhere, which is handy if you are trying to cut down on the number of guitars and have "Private Idaho" in the set as well). As this guitar was used on Party Out of Bounds, Quiche Lorraine, and Dirty Back Road.

Ricky's playing a Telescaster on "Mesopotamia" here (around 11:00)

Ricky had at least 3 Telecasters...seems these were used in DADxBB the most often. He started using them starting with Mesopotamia it seems.

Natural Finish with White Pickguard (BBC Appearance) - xADxGA tuning - https://youtu.be/yOUhTFuVaWI?t=6m22s

Black Pickguard w/ Blonde Finish (Rock In Rio) - DADxBB tuning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGdkDuL_fgU

Black Pickguard w/ White Blonde Finish (Give Me Back My Man Video) - DADxBB tuning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl_EEpRfrkk

Here's Ricky Wilson with the rest of the band playing a custom Guild Thunderbird style guitar utilizing early 80's components.

Not much is known about this guitar as it does not show up in any Guild literature from the 1980's nor does it turn up anywhere else where there's info on Ricky or his guitar gear. I had to cobble the graphic together from what was visible in photographs and music videos on youtube.

The guitar appears to be either a custom luthier job special made for Ricky quite possibly, or maybe a one-off from Guild as sometime in the late 1960's they had to alter this body design - possibly with some retaliation from Fender because 3/4ths of it is very close to their Jaguar and Jazzmaster body designs. The body is based on a 1962-1967 Guild S-200 Thunderbird by body shape, but with a modern six-in-line headstock. It has 80's Guild Hardware including a pair of Guild single coil plain-top pickups, and a Guild single-piece tailpiece bridge, and it has what appears to be standard Gibson Les Paul wiring. Not quite sure what this guitar was, there's also no discernable logo on the headstock. Considering the modifications some of Ricky's guitars had, it may even be a parts mutt Ricky or Cindy's Husband (Ricky's first guitar tech, or whoever came after him cobbled together for Ricky. It never appeared after the 1983-1984 tour in support of Whammy and I'm not sure if it's on display anywhere.

Typically, Ricky used this guitar on the 1983 tour for "Big Bird" tuned to probably the most wacky tuning he ever used - D#AC#xBD# - kind of funny since it's a "Thunderbird". Wonder's don't cease if Ricky had this made with that song in mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijGzY4A5gc

There's a better view of it in the music video for "Legal Tender" - the guitar appears on the spinning show rack at 1:42 - You can kind of see how wacky the tuning had to be on this thing so it's probably in Thunderbird Tuning here as well- https://youtu.be/mBRr_TqLDf4?t=1m43s

In the photo is Ricky Wilson using a Vilette Citron "The Shark" (originally mistaken to be a Guild Thunderbird due to the body shape) painted bright yellow.

Typically, Ricky used this guitar on the 1983 tour for "Big Bird" tuned to probably the most wacky tuning he ever used - D#AC#xBD# - kind of funny since it's a "Thunderbird" derived design.- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijGzY4A5gc

There's a better view of it in the music video for "Legal Tender" - the guitar appears on the spinning show rack at 1:42 - You can kind of see how wacky the tuning had to be on this thing so it's probably in Thunderbird Tuning here as well- https://youtu.be/mBRr_TqLDf4?t=1m43s

Ricky kneeling down in front of an "Acoustic" combo bass amp - model 128

Ricky wilson's playing a Hagstrom HII bass guitar on Planet Claire as you can see on the 1983 Dortmund concert video.

Ricky playing a Rickenbacker bass on Dirty Back Road here !

Ricky is seen playing an Octave Kitten II throughout this 1983 performance of Butterbean. It likely appears on the Whammy! album version as well.

Ricky owned only two Mosrite Mark V models that were seen live, as far as I've seen in many photos; this first one (Blue, 1966) and a later one (Sunburst, 1966 - 1967.) The Blue one is the guitar seen on the back of the first B-52s album, and you can make out the "Ventures Mark V model" name on the headstock (even though it's a bit blurry) if you compare its picture to other examples of this same model.

It's not clear if Ricky used this Blue guitar in the studio, although I can't imagine why he wouldn't have; it does sound to me, personally, like he did. It is confirmed that he used it live, though. You can also get very good shots of Ricky playing this guitar in several videos; the Private Idaho mime video (prominently shown in much of the video:) https://youtu.be/yXmnmvDl-ao?list=RDyXmnmvDl-ao

and the Capitol Theater 1980 live show in B & W (see 2:00 for a long shot of the whole guitar, or 2:18 for a close-up.) https://youtu.be/99OksEzoABU?list=RD99OksEzoABU

Although I'm not 100% certain, this could be Ricky's first Mosrite Guitar since it's so finish checked and battered and because I have a photo of Ricky playing it in January 1978. There's also no other Mosrite that appears on stage in that picture, but it's not clear when exactly he bought his other Mosrites.

This 1966 model was built in a short few-month window from roughly March through July 1966, barring outliers (I've seen a few that were from later, but very few.) See Max Katzenberger's serial number list for the model version, and if you want, check above and below for more details of model name confusion (which I'll get to in later paragraphs.) https://hang10.de/lists/mosrite-ventures-2-model-mark-v-serial-numbers/#vbody

This Blue few-month version differs from Ricky's Sunburst Mark V in how the truss rod is located; here, it's at the Body End of the neck, and not at the Headstock end like on the Sunburst one Ricky had.

It has been said that Ricky owned a Black one, but that's from a video with bad coloring where he played his Blue one in Later 1978, supposedly October 1978: https://youtu.be/n4QSYx4wVQg?list=RDn4QSYx4wVQg

TUNING: Ricky mostly played this Blue Mark V with the tuning of CFxxFF (x = no string in that slot,) and the album version of "Rock Lobster" is slightly sharp, in 446 HZ. He used the string gauges of .058, .056 (not an error on my part, I actually mean an unbalanced .056) and then empty, empty, .018p, .018p. The string gauge part is quoted directly from his guitar tech Keith Bennett (who's also his brother in law) who replied to me on Facebook. (See the replies to comments under this page at the "The Genius of Ricky Wilson" Group.) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EgqvVKPBi/

The tuning HZ part was from me, though, having tried playing the song (which did not sound correct in A = 440 HZ) and having made a guitar tab for the song (which is the 4th version of the song tab at UG.) https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the-b-52s/rock-lobster-tabs-2321243

Judging by the 1980 Capitol Theater show (linked below,) Ricky only used this CFxxFF Tuning for 3 songs: Dance This Mess Around, Rock Lobster, and Runnin' Around. (0:37:34 - Runnin' Around, 0:41:27 - Rock Lobster, 0:46:40 - Dance This Mess Around.) https://youtu.be/bVXfkG7q_0s?list=RDbVXfkG7q_0s

Again, on tuning and this Blue Mark V: there are early photos of Ricky playing this same Mark V with different string configurations. I've seen a photo of him playing it in a 5 string configuration from 1977 or early 1978, and then there's a 1978 video in a TV studio where he seems to have all 6 strings while having a surprisingly long haircut. I'm guessing these early examples might be because maybe he only had 2 or 3 guitars to work with until he bought more. This Blue Guitar was also changed back to a 5 string configuration for display on exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and then it kept a 5 string configuration while on exhibit in Ricky's hometown of Athens, Georgia.

MODEL NAME DETAILS (this is relevant and confusing, so I need to clear this up:) You may note that there was a submission for this same exact guitar as a "Ventures II model," and while there's some truth to it being "the same guitar," here's the story: this Mark V model was first manufactured in August 1965 according to date stamps in the neck pocket of early models (as listed at Max Katzenberger's serial number site,) but it was still using the Ventures II name from a completely different model when it first started, and then Mosrite used the Ventures II name for months. Yes, this is a mess.

The original Ventures II model is what Johnny Ramone mostly used, and it looks very different from a Mark V. Without getting into too much detail about model variations, the original Ventures II was discontinued at or around serial B150, then the Mark V type (named a Ventures II) took over. It didn't get re-named as "the Ventures Mark V model" until roughly at B700 which was in March 1966. The model ended roughly at B1700, with most of the last 100 - 150 or so not having a "Mark V" name on the head. At least some if not most of the last ones after B1687 said "Gospel" on the head, and Kurt Cobain owned one of those.