Vintage Models to be Discontinued by RIC

[admin]

Rickenbacker International Corporation has listed a number of models from the vintage reissue series that will be discontinued.

[markthemd]

I know that there seems to be a lot of people who feel that this is a bad idea on the part of John Hall.
But...I think that it is about time for Rickenbacker to really leap into the 21st century and show the world what it has got.
Time for some new ideas and some new instruments.

The good old days of our youth is gone and there is a new generation of kids who are locked into instant gratification and aren't playing guitars like we were or wanted to .something needs to be done and to stay in that old geezer mode is death to a company.
Kids don't want to be like their parents ,we didn't want to play Dean Martin and run around and wear tuxedo's and sip martinis with 5 other guys!
So let the future rear it's head and lets open up the new look .I hope that the new ideas are better than the "classics".

Just a side note....I left because of stagnation and the inability for certain peoples to see that change was not radical ,but just to tidy house and straigten things a bit.I hope that this move is just that and more.
My hat is tipped to you J.H.

Good Luck

[squirebass]

I agree with your point completely, Mark, but I got to thinking about how Rickenbacker seems to be so focused on the older, vintage style instruments, and I realized that both Fender and GIbson are in that vintage mode, too. I mean, what does Fender really have outside of the Strat, Tele, P-bass, and Jazz, and they are cranking out the Relics and "closet classics" like mad from what I hear. As for Gibson, who doubts that most of their business is in Les Pauls, SGs and 335s? Who is really making a MODERN electric guitar that lots of folks are buying? You have much more insight into this than I do, so I'd really like to hear your opinion on where electric stringed instruments are really going in the new millenium.

Cheers,
Squirebass

[Arlech]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why does there have to be a distinction (and sometimes a judgemental one) between "older" versus "newer" style guitars? Why can't certain guitars be seen as good for both extremes, regardless of how long they've been around? Granted, anything that's marketed as a "vintage" or "reissue" is going to have that "old fashioned" stigma about it, but guitars like the Strat have stuck around because of their continued utility, not because of their vintage heritage. Using the Strat as an example, arguably nobody has produced a solid body guitar as suited for the blues as the Strat, and as long as the blues continue to exist in either older or more modern styles, there will be a home for the Strat as a current and vital instrument (vice purely a "vintage" instrument). I guess the bottom line here is that, marketing aside, any guitar can be used to make modern imaginative music, just depending on how the artist chooses to use it; i.e., the current stock of Rics, Fenders, Gibsons, etc., isn't a limiting factor on how creative new artists can be (and don't forget, with the modern arsenal of endless effects pedals and processors available these days, it sometimes doesn't even matter what guitar an artist is using anymore).

FYI...I'm not a Strat freak, it was just the first example that popped into my head.

[admin]

Arlech: You point is well taken. The focus of this forum is Rickenbackers and so there is a tendency to avoid other instruments. With regard to Rickenbackers, however, I would say that the new instruments have a sound and feel that is, unique models excepted, every bit a good as that seen in days gone bye. RIC continues to have an excellent product today that is crafted to the same high standard begun in the early days. No matter what the guitar, however, there will always be those instruments of "yesteryear" that are one of a kind and sought out. Contemporary artists have shown us time and again that it is their talent and not the instrument per se that makes their music successful.

[fus44]

Two things:
I think it comes down to the look of vintage guitars and the old guitar-campfire saying "they don't make em like they used to". Take the 325v's for example. They were basically cosmetically close repro's of John Lennon's guitars.
Rickenbacker dropped the regular 320/5 years before. People didn't want modern-styled 320's, they wanted Beatle guitars.
Now, look at something like the Univox Hi-Flyer.
Pre-Cobain, these guitars were sold for $25 to $100 in guitar shops. They are now over $400.
If someone makes a record or is seen with a certain guitar
it often becomes "desired". If there is a demand, someone will market to that demand.