The Byrds - I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better (Happy 80th Birthday, @ByrdsLeaderMcGuinn !)

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Happy 80th Birthday @ByrdsLeaderMcGuinn ! If you happen to be watching this, then this one is for you and this milestone birthday!

Even though Mr. McGuinn didn’t write this song (the late great Gene Clark, his fellow Byrds bandmate, did), he’s played in frequently in concert, including when I saw him in 2008 at what would become my college. That performance inspired me to perform solo in concerts with no backing band, just myself and a guitar and have fun with it. Essentially what I do here on YouTube! Mr. McGuinn also, in no small part, inspired me to get a Rickenbacker 12-string all those years ago. The Byrds are such a fun band, and I never get tired of listening to them.

This cover was played on a 2000 Rickenbacker 360/12CW Carl Wilson signature model through my Fender ‘68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb and a Keeley Compressor Plus pedal for some tight compression that that a Rickenbacker 12-string really needs to truly jangle and chime.

For eagle eyed Rickenbacker aficionados watching, you will noticed that my Carl Wilson model has had some (reversible) modifications to it.

The first is that the white plexiglass pickguard with Carl Wilson’s signature has been replaced with a plain white pickguard from Pickguardian.com so as to preserve the original. The “R” tailpiece was also replaced by a similar-yet-different aftermarket tailpiece from Winfield Vintage. Both the original pickguard and tailpiece are still with me, so they can be put back on the guitar at any time.

The strings I am using on the guitar are a set of Curt Mangan strings that were custom assembled by me to Rickenbacker's recommended gauges direct from Curt Mangan’s website. I only use Curt Mangan strings on my Rickenbacker 12 and 6 string guitars, in the Rickenbacker recommended gauges.

Links:
Pickguardian: https://www.pickguardian.com/
Winfield Vintage: https://www.winfieldvintage.com/
Curt Mangan Strings: https://www.curtmangan.com/