Yeah, right. The only guitarmaker of any size whose production is 100% made in USA, the only one who sells 100% of their production as fast as they can make it (while still maintaining QC), the envy of the industry, and you have the nerve to imply that what they're doing now doesn't make good business sense.
RIC is certainly not above criticism but bashing the company like this just calls your motives into question.
Actually now that you guys mention it, there has been a lot of Ric bashing lately, I wonder if that has anything to do with JH's not posting in a while? And if it does, that means he is probably not reading it either. I am not singling out the preceding basher, just a general observation that I have been thinking about, JH had some good knowledge of Rics (obviously) that I miss. I salvaged one of my favorite 4001's with his help.
My joke are so subtle that no one usually knows that they are actually very dry, very funny jokes... well at least I think so.
But then again I think it's great fun to get in a microbus with a broken windshield and three good tires on it in Lima with 20 people crammed in it, and watch the driver do twice the speed limit, swerve from lane to lane, and run red lights right in the middle of rush hour, while some kid yells out incomprehensible street names out the side door to everyone we pass. (hey, what do you want for 30 cents?)
Yeah,
If you really want something on Ebay, put a high reserve on it to beat the snipers! When I bought my 72 4001FL I had a bid of $1250.00 in for about 4 or 5 days, with a reserve of $1500.00 (I really wanted that bass) and about 15 minutes before the bell some idiot kept bidding up to about $1450 in small increments, that is how they operate, they will just top you by a small amount, just enough to really get you PO'ed. I had a gig that night and wasn't by a computer and sweated it out. I was warned about snipers by the seller who was very nice and helpful, I would have lost that bass if he hadn't have warned me.
Actually Bob, any bid over the highest bid will win. You could have $1450 and I bid $20,000, but if the next increment is $5,000, that's all I'd pay, and it would only show $5K as the high bid. It's the shills that chip the bidding up on their own auctions to get you up to your maximum bid.
I wouldn't be surprised if the winner bidder had bid over $3000, since with a -1 feedback, the likelihood of him completing the deal is pretty slim.
So, who took that beauty home, anyway? I thought for sure one of you guys would get it.... I didn't recognize that person's eBay handle. And Jeff is right, he had very low and poor feedback, so we may see that bass up for auction again very soon.
"Once I've held and played the best, baby, I won't settle for less!"
I know it Jeff, my reserve saved me, it was $1500.00. I looked at the bid history after the auction was over, I forgot the bid increment but he kept trying, everytime he bid, my reserve went just over his by whatever the increment was. I am just lucky he didn't bid $1500 plus the increment which I think was $10.00, that is why they are called snipers. But in the future I am going to bid late so as to not drive up the price. (sniper myself?)
Once again, guys, that is all automatic. If you put in a maximum bid of $3,000, and the other guy goes only to $2,000, you will win at $2,010. You don't have to stay up late to snipe if you are determined to get something no matter what the cost.
Author: "The Rickenbacker Electric Bass - 50 Years As Rock's Bottom"
I don't disagree, Paul, but the point of bidding late is to avoid being shilled into overbidding, which happens a lot on ebay. Or, as seems to be the case with the auction in question, trying to outbid some joker who sets his maximum unrealistically high with no intention to pay.
In Bob's case, it could have simply been someone who was bidding conservatively, trying to outbid the current winner, but then again...
There was no way I was going to bid $1600 for a 4004 ... I got mine off of ebay for under $1000 ... the wood is not as pretty but it plays just as nice ...
I also wondered if maybe I was being set up for a shill but we e-mailed back and forth several times and he seemed like a decent guy to me, anyway I'm happy with the bass and the price I paid for it, there aren't a lot of FL's around, especially 72's.
And I have been outbid in exactly that same manner several times on different collectable items, (those are especially bad because you have the professional bidders who own shops trying to snipe all the time)You could also put in a big bid like Paul said to outbid the current winner, but you don't know what his reserve is and you are taking a chance if you do that be prepared to back up your bid just in case, but if you start bidding in small increments at say 15 minutes before the auction you can go as high as you are willing to pay and then stop if it is too high for you.
A shill is taking a chance of having to start the auction all over again if he overbids. That could be why you see the same item relisted a week later sometimes.
The only guitarmaker of any size whose production is 100% made in USA, the only one who sells 100% of their production as fast as they can make it (while still maintaining QC), the envy of the industry, and you have the nerve to imply that what they're doing now doesn't make good business sense. 
