Online vesus Guitar Shop

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:23 am

I am interested in how many people have either decided or been forced to buy Rickenbacker instruments online instead in a local guitar shop. I have five Rickenbackers and four of them I have purchased online as there is no dealer near where I live. I have been very fortunate and lucky thus far when purchasing online. In fact, the short story of The Rickenbacker Forum is that it was created from not having a local dealer or people to discuss Rickenbackers.

randyz · Post by **randyz** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:48 am

I don't suppose my next new Rick will be coming from a local dealer, since there is no local dealer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I started a thread about this a few months ago when RIC and GC parted company. I doubt I would have ever bought one from GC, so that's no great loss. In the past few years, all of my new guitar purchases have been made on-line with no disappointments. These guitars have come from reputable dealers like Musician's Friend, Music 123, and a few others. As I have said in previous posts, I don't know why RIC bothers with authorized dealers. There are a few great ones (i.e. Pick-Of-The-Ricks and the like), but most potential customers are stuck with lousy local dealers (or none in my case). I've suggested selling direct to the public (like Carvin), but Mr. Hall says that business model doesn't work for him, and I guess he'd know. The world is moving towards virtual stores, and all that brings both good and bad.

dswp · Post by **dswp** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:05 am

I guess I am lucky. Pick Of The Ricks is less than an hour from my house. Also Guitar Ville, is close by, with a decent selection of stock. However, guitar shows and on-line shops still make up about 25% of my purchases.

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:11 am

Randy: I think that it is really important to play a instrument before its purchase. For most, it is a quite a financial investment and there is no way to be sure if the neck, body and sound are going to be right without some experimentation.

I am wondering why I was willing to take a risk in the beginning, before I had no idea of how they would feel or play. I have done not taken this risk with any other makes in the past.

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:24 am

'No Risk-enbacker', Peter!!

Many forum members have purchased Rickenbackers sight unseen with no problems. I purchased both on mine that way (although I had played a 330/6 beforehand) from music stores both locally and interstate. Given that they were brand new, I felt that I was not taking any risk at all (apart from setup and action - both of which can be easily taken care of).

Used Rickenbackers? I hope to be buying one soon but I will have the opportunity to check it out 'in the flesh' beforehand. I haven't bought one sight unseen - yet!!

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:25 am

I live in Marin County, CA. I was unaware of any locval Rick dealers, so when my Jones attacked, I first went to Dave's (Wisconsin) who sent me my 660-12. Excellent guitar. Good service. Nice people.

Downside: It must have been played a bit in the store, because it had a mild case of belt buckle rash and a small "shaky hands can't find it" ding near the output jack. No case keys.

Upside: It had been well set-up and was in tune out of the case. The buckle rash polished out with 5 minutes' elbow grease, a clean diaper, and some Scratch-X.

My 381V69 came from Wildwood in Colorado. Great people. Great service. Really good price. Arrived untouched; not a fingerprint on it. Pristine.

Downside: Had to do my own setup. That's a down side?

All in all, really good experiences in general.

I would simply give one piece of advice: get a square-inch-by-square-inch in-hand description before giving an online salesman your credit card number. I did not do this with the 660-12. I probably would have bought it anyway, but I would have had a bit more wiggle room.

iamthebassman · Post by **iamthebassman** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:35 am

I bought my 340LH having only seen a photo on Southpaw Guitars' website. My other Rics were bought in person in a shop. I have bought many lesser basses mail-order tho'.
I'm also very lucky to live right around the corner from The Bass Emporium, a Ric dealer.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:04 am

Thankfully, I work with my Rickenbacker dealer, Jeff Rath.

I have bought 2 from him, and one more on the way from Pick of the Ricks as soon as RIC finishes spraying the BBR on it.

randyz · Post by **randyz** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:08 am

Peter, I'm probably more casual than most folks. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that others buy guitars the way I do. It works for me, but I'm not a serious player and these aren't 'working' guitars. I've owned lots of guitars and I usually don't enjoy trying them out in the store. The stores are usually too noisy and there are often too many distractions for me. I try to stick with classic makes and models, in classic finishes and excellent condition. I'm usually careful buying my first guitar from any manufacturer. The only real mistake I ever made was buying a '66 Gretsch Tennessean, just because it was so Beatlesque and the condition was perfect. I soon found out that the floating bridge and thick body made it impossible for me to play in my usual ham-fisted style. I held onto that guitar for about ten years and tripled my money when I sold it last year (not too shabby). That doesn't mean I won't buy another Gretsch, but I'll check the next one more carefully.

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:20 am

Let's see. I have bought 9 Ric basses this year, all online except for 3, one that I bought from Jim Rhoades, one from Jeff Rath, and the 4002 from Joe Adato. Rhoades Music is about 30 minutes from me, and Pick of the Ric's probably 2 1/h hours. I have never had any real issues with the online purchases except for setup problems.
All are gone now except for a 4003MB, 72 4001, and my beloved 4002.

fergs40 · Post by **fergs40** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:33 pm

I bought my one and only Ric (to date!) on line from eBay - but, living in the UK, my choices are somewhat limited! I live in central London (where prices are, as I've posted before, laughable), and I guess RicsRUs is only 'up the road' near Birmingham, but other than that I'd be stumped.

Which begs the question of where the people who flog them on eBay got them from in the first place...

Scastles · Post by **Scastles** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:40 pm

All but one I bought online, the other I bought over the telephone, totally sight unseen, no pics, no nothing.

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:41 pm

All my online purchases went smoothly. I got my 660/12 from a 'for sale' ad on the forum, my 4004Cii was from Mike Parks and the 4003FL came from Bass NW.

rob · Post by **rob** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:42 pm

I'm not looking to buy another Ric soon, but if and when I do, I would much rather go to my local Ric dealer. There are two dealers near me to deal with which are Music City and Jackson Music. I have always enjoyed my dealings with Jackson Music, so I would do my Ric shopping there. Since there's a dealer near me, I could avoid the shipping costs from online or catalog dealers, and generally Jackson Music is also cheaper most of the time. So, I'd say I am very fortunate to have been able to sit down with the instrument before buying. That's not to say I won't ever buy online. I have dealt with a couple forum members here and done well. Of course, these transactions were merely pickups, but I've done well. I, as I believe the vast majority agrees with me, would prefer to buy hands on.

wints · Post by **wints** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:16 pm

Hands on is always better...Play it, hear it and then pull out the cash....
However, I bought my 68 from just a few poor quality digital pics that were e-mailed. It was vastly superior than described and that's always a great feeling when buying. Two good cheap basses from E Bay, both exactly as described and my 73 FL, bought from an ad 5,000 miles away with just one photo sent online, and picked up by family!