Acoustic RICS ......

[wmthor]

Here are some more acoustic pics from the RickResource SoCal 07 Confluence.







to seen even more check out: http://inlinethumb53.webshots.com/22324 ... 425Q85.jpg

[hjarnett]

what ric is that just over Paul's left shoulder that is a looker from what i can see

[digam11]

Thanks for all the comments and GREAT pics. Some of you folks have some beautiful acoustics.

[jingle_jangle]

So i was going to ask if Rick accoustics were worth investing in. I guess they are if they are so rare. Are they rare becasue there isn't many around or becasue when someone has one they don't let it go?

Both. Estimates are that only a few hundred were ever made at RIC's factory (in several timelines and in at least three different design groups) before RIC put their acoustic shop on hiatus in mid '06. That makes any Rick acoustic super-rare, and the older ones...well, let's just say that few of us have seen a Rick acoustic made before 1995 or so, except in Rick's own museum or an occasional video or photograph.

Since September of '06, I've had the license from RIC to build their flat-top acoustic line and provide warranty service to those that I build. Because I'm a one-man operation, these are necessarily built to customers' orders, but there has been such a positive response to these that I have yet to worry about advertising or a "dealer network" (not that I could supply a bunch of dealers without cloning myself).

Right now, I'm back-ordered just over a year; I just finished putting in a dedicated area to build bodies; I'm ramping up production in the sense that I can now have the space to build six bodies at once instead of two, and I hope to be back to producing one or two a month in a short time. Right now, the numbers don't allow any more. It is possible that I will add staff in the near future (for rough assembling of neck blanks and bodies), but, regardless, every acoustic Rickenbacker will continue to be hand-assembled, fitted, set up, painted, and detailed by my own two hands.

I'm working right now to bring to light a couple of new Rickenbacker acoustics, one of which will be the Rickenbacker Classical guitar, made by hand also to an original design which John Hall supervised. It's in the mold and jig stage right now. The other will be kept under wraps for now; it's much further along and will see fruition in a couple of months after a long development cycle.

Here are a few shots of some of my acoustics. You can see that you don't have to be shy as to color, although I can build them in any Rickenbacker stock color or COY, too.















As you can see, there's one lefty in there (built for Richard Bengston last year) and a Blue Boy (detail shot) which is a 700C/12 that is being completed right now as a matching instrument to the 6-string BB shown in the group shot above. I also have a short scale jumbo on order, and a couple of other customer requests that will make unusual and one-of-a-kind instruments with some historical significance, I believe.

The 700C/6 that looks like a Blueburst, is, in fact, not a factory burst color, but a four-color burst jumbo that I'm wrapping up this week for Alisha Tremaine. Shes been waiting patiently, and though it was supposed to go out about the 20th of February, a recent bout of flu has kept me down until just the other day. Alisha, I suppose you'd better keep your eyes out for the UPS guy, hey? It'll probably ship on Monday...Jerry, you're next, and I have a group of five going out to Mike Parks beginning right after Jerry's, so East Coasters can check them out in person.

Apologies to those who've seen this one before; it's the Jazzbo that I built last year, using a NOS body garland that John Hall gave me in '06:



It is a one-of-a-kind; I'm not licensed to build Jazzbos--only the eight-model flat top line.

Still, it's slow going in the handbuilt guitar business, and that's why these will probably make good investments. I procured enough wood from RIC in November '06 to build about 100 of these; that should be enough to assure several years' production; still, 100 is a tiny drop in the bucket, being a fraction of one day's production for a company like Taylor.