Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

He picked my brain for weeks about Rickenbacker 12 strings. It was incessant questions that I patiently answered, I even lent him one of my 330-123s to try out, and he loved it. I called Dave's Guitars out in Wisconsin, spoke to Dave and got him a great deal on a Walnut 360-12.

So, what does he do? He buys a ****** Chinese Rick 12 knockoff for about $600. His reasoning was, he will only play it occasionally, at Beatles jams he has at his house twice year, so it made no sense to spend over $2000 for the best 12 string guitar ever made. I cringed.

As soon s it arrived, he saw it needed work, so he spent about $100 having it set up and adjusted. He brought it home, plugged it in and it sounded like dog****. I told him how to get Byrds jangle out of it, but he hates bridge pickups generally, and didn't dial in enough compression. It still sounded like dog****.

All I could do was shake my head in disbelief.

By the way, I just quit the band I was in with him. I couldn't take him anymore.

Sounds like your friend went with the practical and responsible purchase that best suited his needs and fiscal comfort level in the end.

Buying one of those is a good way to guarantee he'll only play it occasionally!

You can't fix stupid.

I have a Danelectro 12 for the few times I need it.

So, to review..

…you quit a band because your band mate didn’t take your advice on which guitar to buy?

Right.

No, I quit the band because he was hard to work with, we argued over everything, and I no longer agreed with the band's musical direction. In other words, it wasn't enjoyable anymore.

sloop_john_b wrote: ↑Tue May 10, 2022 9:09 am Sounds like your friend went with the practical and responsible purchase that best suited his needs and fiscal comfort level in the end.

He has the financial means to afford a nice Rick, believe me. He took the cheap way out and got what he paid for.

Though I don't think his purchase was wise, I can understand it a little. Because seems like only earners in the top 10%, or people with serious guitar priorities, or guitar enthusiast spouses, can "afford" Rickenbackers, and other US made traditional guitars these days. I bought my 4003 in 2016 for 1550$. Now look at the prices (5/2022).

So if he was only gonna pull it out occasionally, his best bet would have been to borrow yours, not pay 700$ for a copy that doesn;lt even sound like a Ric.

lumgimfong wrote: ↑Sat May 14, 2022 9:55 am Though I don't think his purchase was wise, I can understand it a little. Because seems like only earners in the top 10%, or people with serious guitar priorities, or guitar enthusiast spouses, can "afford" Rickenbackers, and other US made traditional guitars these days. I bought my 4003 in 2016 for 1550$. Now look at the prices (5/2022).

So if he was only gonna pull it out occasionally, his best bet would have been to borrow yours, not pay 700$ for a copy that doesn;lt even sound like a Ric.

Right. I would have allowed him to use one of mine, as he invites me to his Beatle jams anyway.

sloop_john_b wrote: ↑Tue May 10, 2022 9:09 am Sounds like your friend went with the practical and responsible purchase that best suited his needs and fiscal comfort level in the end.

Satire or sarcasm?

Yeah, I'd like to know too.

I'm guessing JB was serious, point being it's not our place to judge someone's choices. While we might not like it for ourselves, there is a lot of wisdom in tolerance.

jdogric12 wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 8:46 am I'm guessing JB was serious, point being it's not our place to judge someone's choices. While we might not like it for ourselves, there is a lot of wisdom in tolerance.

Exactly.

I see the same type of people at Harbor Freight buying cheap tools which won't last long but are only needed for one or two jobs. Heck, that is why I go there. And yes... I buy expensive tools that I need for the long haul.

And, I own a Rickenbacker.

scoobster28 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 07, 2022 4:50 pm I see the same type of people at Harbor Freight buying cheap tools which won't last long but are only needed for one or two jobs. ...

I'm one of those people, A number of years ago, we needed a jumbo-sized wrench for adjusting a gland nut on the Gaulin homogenizer at work, and when I checked on one at McMaster-Carr and at Sears (which was still in business at that time), it would have been >$45 for one, IIRC. I went to Harbor Freight and found a set with one it it for around $30 ... but then found one in the "loose wrenches" bin for $5! It worked just as well as a full-priced one.

For the OP, a good parting shot to the band mate would have been, "You know that you can't sell it down the road, it's illegal by state and federal laws to sell counterfeit goods ...".