Colour bleed on Midnight Blue 4003

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:51 pm

As near as I can figure, they must have changed something recently (last few years). That color has been around for a while without the bleeding problem.

12stringbassist · Post by **12stringbassist** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:17 am

Hi,

I wasn't aware of the problem before it started being apparent on mine in January. When I posted on the official Ric forum 'Just basses' section asking for advice, the thread was answered by a couple of other people with similar issues and a number of theories and I was pointed to a thread in the 'Just guitars' section about an instrument or two which had similar woes. All MID finish guitars and basses. No other finish...

In the other thread, various theories were gone thru as to why the finish was doing this. Anti bacterial soap was named as one culprit and Ric admitted to changing the formula of their paint recently on MID finish instruments.

All critical threads - I suppose I understand why - get zapped there, as it's a corporate publicity forum. I was given the option of contacting customer service.

However, Rics attitude to customer service and resolving issues appears to be to tell people why they can go away once they have had our money.

The amount of effort it would have taken to resolve our problems is quite small, but far too much for them to do.

I wish John Hall was standing here next to me and my bass, so I could make my feelings known in person to him.

I also cheerfully await the coming opportunities to attend a couple of the good musical instrument guitar shows here in the UK to discuss the issue on their own stand with a couple of Ric's people, to see how far their goodwill may extend when spoken to nicely.

I personally would be very happy to talk the problem out with them at some length on their stand and to demonstrate the finish to anyone who may be interested in purchasing Ric's midnight blue finish guitars.

Perhaps people with the same issues may like to do the same.

murtaghstyle · Post by **murtaghstyle** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:38 am

I'll chime in on the subject (First Post! Yay!)

I had the same bleed on the binding of my 6 month old Mid 4003.

Talked on the phone with Kenny (Sales Mgr) and gave me a RA to return the bass for warranty work. The guy was very pleasant to talk to and easy to get a hold of.

I mailed in the bass last week so I will post results when I get it back!

12stringbassist · Post by **12stringbassist** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:38 am

Good luck!

bassmandudge · Post by **bassmandudge** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 10:07 am

FIrst proper gig with my late 05 model Mid blue last Sat. Sounded awesome. Now looks dreadful. Top and bottom of the neck binding are now blue, and so is the binding on the top of the body where my arm rests. Completely unacceptable....My wife bought this through an independent dealer..I am going to mail Rickenbacker and see what they have to say. I can guess...Hope they prove me wrong. I'll let you know their response.

4stringnosing · Post by **4stringnosing** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:02 am

I joined this forum just to respond to this post. (But I will hang around, of course!)

I got my MB 4003 in December 2005 and love it. One "little" problem though; can you guess what?

The neck binding is getting so blue that the contrast has dropped between it and the black fret position markers to the point where I find them hard to see in low-light situations. It's also completely blue underneath the neck, with some smudging appearing where my right arm rests on the top of the bass.

I'm about to try customer service so I'll report back with the results. I'm in Canada and mine was made in Aug 2005, so I hopefully won't have the same problems that others seem to be having -- knock on wood!

murtaghstyle · Post by **murtaghstyle** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:59 pm

Ric called me yesterday saying they refinished my 4003 and are mailing it back so I should have results later this week

billy_sacco · Post by **billy_sacco** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:45 am

Yeah my friend has a 2005 4003 MIB and yup it is bleeding pretty freaking bad. When he called Ric I believe they said he could send it in but he did not want to wait. They told him they would research a possible solution but never called him back at all. He also complained about a really strong paint smell when he first opened the case. Kind of ****** to pay over a grand and have something like this happen. I still love ricks but would not buy a new MIB anytime soon.

12stringbassist · Post by **12stringbassist** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:02 pm

I'm just waiting for any UK trade shows where Ric have a stand.... so I can show my bass off.

billy_sacco · Post by **billy_sacco** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:08 am

Yeah they will probably threaten to sue you or something. Yeah actually my friend told me they did not even offer to refinish his. He said Rick was pretty unamused when he called about this issue and the guy on the phone told him "that is a new one on me". When I called to ask them a few questions they were very nice and helpful so I don't know. Santiago aren't you afraid it is just going to happen again? I mean unless they did something to remedy the problem which it does not look like. Then wouldn't it just smear again?

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:23 am

As far as I know, RIC has acknowledged that there is an issue with the finish of some Midnight Blue instruments that has resulted in colour bleed. They have subsequently changed the finish formulation to prevent this issue in the future. It sounds like any instruments that were purchased through RIC's network of authorized dealers and distributers are covered by RIC's warranty and are being refinished at the request of the affected customers.

murtaghstyle · Post by **murtaghstyle** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:04 pm

Yes, I'm a lil afraid (plus it stinks to be bass-less for 2 weeks) it will happen again. I guess time will tell. After the bass is older, the finish rubbing off my look kinda cool, who knows?

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:02 pm

Santiago - I'm confident that the refin will hold up as RIC will be using the new finish (unless they want to refinish it again and again under warranty). A bit of a pain to be without a bass for a couple of weeks, but well worth it in the long run.

vivalancia · Post by **vivalancia** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:55 am

I bought mine last year. When I got it and opened the case for the first time it smelled like a paint shop. After my third rehearsal I noticed minor bleeding. After my third show, I had blue binding! I called and the guy said "that's a new one to me, let me get back to you on that." Never heard from them again. Called back again and was told "well what do you want us to do about it." wow.....this is obviously not a new one and don't seem interested in fixing it either. Not that I'm concerned about resale or anything I love my bass but should'nt a new product fall apart not immediately?

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:35 am

Dick - as RIC has acknowledged the problem and is refinishing affected instruments, you should be able to get your bass refinished (as long as it's under warranty). Give them a shout!