2004 colour ?

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:03 am

You find me qualified staff and we'll hire them. But dot com bust or not, everyone here still wants to be a rocket scientist and there's precious few folks left who want to be craftspeople anymore.

That, of course, is the simple answer to a simple question and in reality there's quite a few more factors involved (many of which derive from still producing everything in California).

rogiercreemers · Post by **rogiercreemers** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:18 am

hmmm.... I seem to have forgotten quality labour doesn't just come out of taps like water... And yes, one of the reasons we like Ricks are because they are not made by machine, but by people.

jamesvwaal · Post by **jamesvwaal** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:24 pm

Now I know, oh ignorant fool (and newbie) that I am.

I was asked by a guitar salesman -who was trying to sell me a PRS McCarty hollow-body- what group got me interested in the Rickenbacker. Again, I pled ignorance; the first Rickenbacker I heard was in a music store and I liked the sound. It was only later that I "discovered" how famous the brand was with certain groups. I was an 8-year-old brat in 1964 teasing my older sister about The Beatles' album that she had bought. But I never paid attention to what equipment they used.

BTW, the McCarty sounded very nice through the Laney amp I was testing, but the Rickenbacker sounded just as good if not better, and at ~$1.4k vs $4.1k, the Ric was a better buy.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:43 pm

which model Ric?

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 3:43 pm

I also bemoan the lack of interest in craft type of work. I run a custom b&w photo lab where everything we do is by hand. We still makes prints with fiber base paper in trays just like it was done 100 years ago! Quality and archival quality is #1 with us at Labwork. My brother in law and sister have a bakery here that produces quality European breads and pastries (my brother in law is from Switzerland). They find it very hard to find and keep quality employees, no one seems to care about quality anymore.

There was a restaurant in Kent, Ohio that had a plaque on the wall that said "Please Be Patient, Quality Takes Time".

wormdiet · Post by **wormdiet** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 5:20 am

Well, as an econ teacher one thing I've picked up is that adding more employees makes things *less* efficient, after a point, unless you add more of all the other resources necessary to build anything. I think it's worth it to wait for an instrument produced by a small, personal, non-corporate firm that really does have a serious concern for quality.

Of course, I only had to wait a week for mine ;P

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 5:52 am

What with the state of things in Corporate America, I'd rather wait for a 100% 'Made in the USA' Rickenbacker, than for JH to have to give in to the "offshoring" approach so prevalent among CEO types right now.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 6:38 am

Totally agreed, gentlemen.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 7:45 am

Though Toyotas made in Mexico were rated of better quality than those produced here (US) or in Japan!?!!

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:23 am

Well... we Mexican(American)s do love our cars and guitars!

njmusicman · Post by **njmusicman** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 9:48 am

I disagree on this subject. Quite frankly, I wouldn't care if Rickenbackers were made here or in Japan or both. In fact, if there were more factories you might finally see a situation where you could have a Custom Shop or something similar, and the possibility of some cool model Ricks not presently available.

I've played and owned lots of Fender guitars made in Japan, for instance, and to be honest, they were for the most part just as good and in some cases better than the American made models. Cosmetically, they were often more accurate to originals from 50's and 60's.

The problem is Rickenbacker is a niche market, they simply don't have the amount of customers a Fender or Gibson has.

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 2:05 pm

Something else to remember...Rickenbacker doesn't want to be a Fender or Gibson. RIC doesn't have to rush to build as many instruments as they can because it is family owned (the Halls) and the only stock holders they have to please is....themselves. John says that they are at capacity and have been for a number of years. Thats precisely where Fender or Gibson would kill to be. I'll step down from my soapbox now because tomorrow I'm flying to sunny CA. NAMM, here I come!

njmusicman · Post by **njmusicman** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:56 pm

Jwilli, I have to disagree on this. Pleasing themselves may be great for them, but there are other people they have to please who are a bit more important. Yup, a group of people called "customers".

I seriously doubt Fender or Gibson are envious in any way of the position Rickenbacker is in. In fact, that might be the silliest thing I've heard in a long time. The reason Fender and Gibson are rushing to build as many instruments as they can is because more people are buying them.

Also, they offer Custom Shop guitars, thereby appealing right away to a larger number of people, people called "customers". They also offer pretty much "all" of their older, classic models and in most cases, finishes as well. Again, thereby appealing to more people.

Basically, they give their customers what they want, a big choice of models, finishes and options. True, their prices may be quite a bit higher in some cases(but not all, many of their coolest Strats and Les Pauls are certainly affordable), but again, people will pay a bit higher price if they know they are getting the guitar they want, this is not rocket science.

Again, I find it absurd to think that Fender or Gibson "would kill to be" in the position of Rickenbacker at this time. I'm willing to bet they are in much better shape as a companies right now than Rickenbacker, and I'm also willing to bet they have many, many more satisfied customers.

As for Rickenbacker not wanting to be a Fender or a Gibson, that may be the very heart of the problem to begin with. I do agree that Rickenbacker being based in CA presents some problems for them to consider expanding, etc. Real estate there is very expensive, the enviromental laws are very restrictive, etc. Again, a good reason why I wouldn't mind seeing Rickenbackers made overseas.

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:20 pm

Your lack of marketplace realities is astonishing.

Rickenbacker is one of the largest makers of American-made guitars. It's not a niche market, and it's not a problem.

No one owes you a Rickenbacker custom shop or a cheap Rickenbacker knockoff of itself. Get over it.

Rickenbacker is a production company and doesn't wish to be in the boutique market or the cheap ******* market. What don't you understand about that? You have no right to dictate what a private company ought to do.

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:21 pm

Craig, I think that you've missed my point. I realize that Fender/Gibson doesn't want to sell the same number of instruments as Rickenbacker. They would would like to be in the position of having their instruments so in demand that they are on back order. That means that they can't build them fast enough. RIC is in an enviable position. Their instruments may not be for everyone, but everyone that is ordered from the factory is pre-sold. A couple of years ago, I heard that there were tons and tons of unsold Fender/Gibson products out there.