Rickenbacker in australia

[placebo62]

Interesting thoughts Si.

I just dont think it needs to be overly complicated. A few years back I ordered a USA made Reverend and was able to have it sent direct from the factory - simply because they didnt have a dealer in Oz. Any other country that they did have dealers in they werent able to ship to. Made sense to me.

Now of course I understand that Ric doesnt have the ability to send direct, but I dont see any harm in authorised dealers sending products to countries that dont have dealers. The warranty issue is bogus, I dont think many people expect something to be under warranty locally when its shipped from overseas.

On a side note Si...Beechworth is a pretty little town innit? I grew up in Wang and spent many a drunken weekend in Beechworth.

[37012player]

Simon,

Agree with you on the point that US Rick dealers should be able to ship to us....maybe one day it will happen. Just so frustrating really

On the other thing, Yep like most small towns Beech'y is still well catered for in the old Watering Hole department, and long may it remain so

Si......

[beatlefreak]

RIC can't allow U.S. dealers to ship instruments to Australia due to no distributor, yet deny the same dealers form shipping to South America because they have a distributor. They either have to limit distributors / dealers to selling within their geographical region, or else put no limits at all on them.

[jingle_jangle]

Si, if you bought parts from Jimmy at Shinseido, that was before Rickenbacker Asia became an entity. Shinseido is Japan-only these days.

[fenderslash]

During an email conversation with a senior RIC employee in 2006 or early 2007 I was told that because Australia didn't have its own RIC distributor then I would in fact be allowed to purchase a new Rickenbacker guitar from any US dealer. At the time I was getting great service and reasonable prices from Shinseido though, so I never actually went down the US route. Of course, things may have changed since then.

[placebo62]

During an email conversation with a senior RIC employee in 2006 or early 2007 I was told that because Australia didn't have its own RIC distributor then I would in fact be allowed to purchase a new Rickenbacker guitar from any US dealer. At the time I was getting great service and reasonable prices from Shinseido though, so I never actually went down the US route. Of course, things may have changed since then.

Now that is interesting.

Are there any Ric dealers or Ric employees online here that could confirm or deny?

[BeatleJohn]

hi i thought id join in here seems im in the same boat.
ive been trying for years to get a ric but its been even harder for me being left handed. just as recent as last week i sent a bunch of emails to every ric dealer in new york ( i wanted one bad ) and every relpy came back saying either "rickenbacker arent doing leftys and theres a 3 year wait on right handers" or "sorry we cant ship to australia"
so im with all of u it totally sucks that we cant get rics here and hopefully thats all going to change when they get their backlog filled and find a new dealer if (if they even want one?)
also about jimmy on the asia network ive got emails from him and hes great to deal with he told me leftys are on hold and theres a wait on the others as much as 5 years!! but ive snagged myself a 325 lefty in london and he checked it all out to make sure its the real deal so im thrilled

[fenderslash]

Hi Beatlejohn,

Just like your recent experience, towards the end of the period when Aus still had a Ric distributor I emailed a New York dealer pleading to buy a Blueburst 330 off them (the orders had ceased for BBR guitars by then so I couldn't place a new order here at home), but they refused due to RIC's rules and regulations. Just now I tracked down the email where I was told by RIC that it's now okay to order from a US dealer because they've ceased their business relationship with their previous Aus distributor, and it was dated 12th January 2007. I would imagine that for a relatively minor policy change issue like this the US dealers would not have been thoroughly informed about what's going on RIC-wise in Australia, and even a year and a half later they'd still be under the impression that the old rules still apply when it comes to exporting a guitar to us. So it may be worthwhile following this up and see where it leads... hopefully to a new left handed Rickenbacker from a US dealer.

[fenderslash]

Oh, I just re-read your post and saw that you've already snagged a LH Rickenbacker from London. Congrats on the purchase. Hope you love it.

[BeatleJohn]

Oh, I just re-read your post and saw that you've already snagged a LH Rickenbacker from London. Congrats on the purchase. Hope you love it.

hi fenderslash
yeh i was lucky to get hold of a lefty i think i was VERY LUCKY from what ive been told they are getting more and more hard to find so im thrilled about it pick it up in 2 weeks yay!

[RicRox]

I love my Rics and this is a topic that I also feel strongly about.
It's one thing not be able to get the new guitars here at all...but I think at the very least we should be able to order new parts from the US. Up until recently I was able to get parts directly from the 2 main sites on the net....now that is not even possible.
Very irritating to have to pay heaps more for a US$2.00 polishing cloth.

[BeatleJohn]

we can get parts from the ric site tho right?

[RicRox]

No David. They don't ship to Australia. Because of franchise agreements...neither can Pick of the ricks and themusicconnection.

[37012player]

As of yesterday, authorised US dealers will STILL not ship either parts or instruments to OZ. Gee thanks to Mr Hall...care to comment? Probably not I guess, cant expect that policy to change either.

[byron21351]

Hi there,
I think we're all too precious about Rics - and I say this as someone who owns a lefty 330 and 325v59. If they won't play ball and make it easy for us to buy their stuff, take your business elsewhere. They're nice guitars, but there are other good axes around at those prices. The Oz Maton electrics for instance - or even an Oz Tomkins hand made/custom made (best action and sound of all my lefty guitars; and light as a feather. Tomkins even makes baritones). I've tried Jimmy of Ric Asia in Japan - he can't even supply a Ric strap! I like my Rics - but there are planty of other fish in the sea and plenty around second hand...
Byron