Colour bleed on Midnight Blue 4003

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:35 pm

I hear what you're saying Brian. RIC could accomplish the same thing if they set up something with another party they would authorize to do the work, like Paul or Dale for instance. Then when people with grey market guitars or basses have problems and want to get it refinished, then can ask RIC and RIC can direct them to ___________ fill in the blank. As long as RIC is being proactive about it, then it heads off possible customer service problems and makes everyone happy. And it doesn't impact current production levels either. If they just ignore it, or say, "well sorry but you aren't a customer", even though they may be technically correct, then it leaves a lot of people potentially put out about their service and they may look elsewhere for an instrument.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:41 pm

Paul does great work but it does not come cheap. Anyway, he does not seem to have any trouble getting work on his own. The results would be spectacular but does it make sense to put a $600+ finish on a $900 bass?

billy_sacco · Post by **billy_sacco** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:42 pm

Greg I agree with you. I understand both sides of the issue and I can sympathize with both. I have had many favorable expieriences with many companies even though I was a "grey market" customer. Companies that had really long waiting lines on stuff too. So I don't know I love you Rickenbacker but looking at my friends bleeding bass is just kind of depressing. Even if Rick says the problem is fixed don't know if I would go for a newer MIB bass. This seems to happen to only a small number of basses too. Seems like it would not be too bad to try to help these guys out somehow. But then again a rick is a rick even with smudgness I suppose.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:56 am

Ted, Are you saying that RIC would or could do it cheaper? I'm not sure they can do either. I would imagine with salary, benefits and other overhead costs would probably the reason they don't do it in the first place.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:20 am

Their cost for a finish application would have to be far less than $600. They could not make any money otherwise. Factor in the time and expense of removing the old finish and preparing the wood for the new finish and I'll bet the cost is still way under that. They have to be able to handle internal damage and reworks economically.

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:14 am

I remember John Hall once posted that he had someone on staff who could strip an instrument down, ready for a refin, in about an hour.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:25 am

Wow, an hour is pretty good. I wonder if RIC will refinish instruments at all? My 1989 230 was red originally, but by the time i bought it used in 1991, it had been refinished in black....right over the top of the red. If they do refinishing and the price is reasonable, then I may consider having them do it since I don't have the free time I used to have.

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:33 am

The problem is, they don't.

86kubicki · Post by **86kubicki** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:43 am

A few years ago that you could get a factory refin through RIC, but it was for a limited time.

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:10 am

Ted, my follow up question is why would they? Would the refinishing business make the more money than just finishing their guitars and filling back orders? I assume the answer is no because they aren't offering this service.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:27 am

There was a time when you could have a factory re-fin done. JH has said that it is not totally out of the question but right now they don't have the capacity to handle custom, non-production, or non-warranty services.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:34 pm

Well then I'll just have to do it myself on of these days or see if I can convince Dale to do it since I'd use nitro and he could use the conversino varnish system like RIC uses. Since I won't be doing either any time soon, then that means I can beat the guitar up a little more right? (joking of course!)

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:40 pm

RIC did offer to do refins n late '99. I had three guitars done. The price was unbeatable and the quality was excellent. The instruments I had done were: '57 Combo 450 FG, '67 Combo 450 FG and a '6? 420 MID NITE BLUE.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:57 pm

Back in the 70's and well into the 80's they did all kinds of stuff like that. Custom orders, refins, and repair work. I had out of warranty work done on my 4002 in '88.

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:00 pm

John,

What about your BB 4005?