Once more, with feeling...

[fireglo67]

It's amazing what you can afford if you're willing to work your butt off and save up for it...

Exactly.

[jps]

It's amazing what you can afford if you're willing to work your butt off and save up for it...

Or max your credit cards!

Or not, in today's economic situation.

[rkbsound]

I have to agree with Joey Vasco. There is a huge market for very good entry level guitars at very affordable prices. Witness my favorite guitar -- my Epi Dot, made in Korea. It's just fantastic, period. And it cost me about $350.00 new. While I think it would be neat for RIC to have an entry level guitar, the demand for it's current line-up doesn't seem to leave room for other models we'd all like to see.

[deaconblues]

I think the Hall's have made it pretty clear they have no intention of ever producing offshore, so to me that leaves something like a Gibson Melody Maker. Take the standard solidbody shape, one toaster, and finish it in a satin solid color. I don't think they can price it as low as a Melody Maker, but somewhere around the $500 mark seems reasonable. Not that they don't already sell every one they make, but this could open the market to the beginning player.

Just my $.02

Something like this existed in the '60s...the Electro ES-17. Basically a 425 with a less-buffed finish. It would be cool to see a budget-priced 425 returning to the lineup...I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

I always thought the 650s were supposed to be something like an entry-level modernized Rickenbacker...they were cheap when they came out.

I actually think this whole discussion is moot because the idea is to DECREASE demand, not increase it - at least if you want to see your new Rick before 2012.

[jimk]

Do you think that RIC needs to market themselves to a younger generation of guitar buyers?

That could be considered condescending in certain circumstances. I mean think about it. A prestigious company decides to create a more cheaply produced item and market it to kids, whereas before our hypothetical company was manufacturing a well made, item with painstaking craftsmanship, asking a price befitting the product's quality, and in essence saying "We'll sell our guitars to whoever wants one, here's how much it costs."
And then later: "OK now we're gonna make a cheap guitar for the kiddies to bash around on (since they really don't need our other product line)."

If so, how can this be achieved? Budget models (reviving the Electro line as suggested by grazioso)? New Limited Edition models for new, lesser-known Rickenbacker users? Running advertisments featuring these newer Rickenbacker players?

I wonder if the budget market isn't well enough represented by other manufacturers. How many budget guitars, autos, computers, or paper shredders do we need?

Or, maybe they need to change nothing.

Likely so. Status quo isn't causing any real damage.

JimK

[jingle_jangle]

I love the fact that every part, even the outsourced parts are "Made in the U.S.A.".

Everything except the "MADE IN USA" labels...they're made in China.

[cjj]

I love the fact that every part, even the outsourced parts are "Made in the U.S.A.".

Everything except the "MADE IN USA" labels...they're made in China.

Hmm, John Hall seems to think they're made in Illinois...

[freshmattyp]

That could be considered condescending in certain circumstances. I mean think about it. A prestigious company decides to create a more cheaply produced item and market it to kids, whereas before our hypothetical company was manufacturing a well made, item with painstaking craftsmanship, asking a price befitting the product's quality, and in essence saying "We'll sell our guitars to whoever wants one, here's how much it costs." And then later: "OK now we're gonna make a cheap guitar for the kiddies to bash around on (since they really don't need our other product line)."

We're not talking about some overseas manufactured $99 POS but an inexpensive entry level Rick made in the USA. I'd hardly consider that condescending. More like going after an underserved market segment.

I think a new version of the 425 would sell like hotcakes.

[fireglo67]

I love the fact that every part, even the outsourced parts are "Made in the U.S.A.".

Not everything that comes from America is great.

You gave us............

New Kids On The Block
Steven Segal
Cable TV shopping channels
George Bush

I could go on all night.

All I ask is that people are a little bit more careful and considerate when dismissing anything that is made outside of the US to be rubbish, and by slave child labour.
Supremist attitudes are not at all attractive.

[cjj]

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that not everything made in America is the best but...

I don't think that stating that someone loves the fact that all the parts of an American made product are made in America is exactly saying things made elsewhere are lousy or built with slave labor. In this day and age of outsourcing and offshoring just to make the ultimate buck, it's refreshing to see a company that wants to make a quality product and wants to keep the revenue stream localized to their home country.

[fireglo67]

Yes, I'll be the first to admit that not everything made in America is the best but...

I don't think that stating that someone loves the fact that all the parts of an American made product are made in America is exactly saying things made elsewhere are lousy or built with slave labor. In this day and age of outsourcing and offshoring just to make the ultimate buck, it's refreshing to see a company that wants to make a quality product and wants to keep the revenue stream localized to their home country.

Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that the perpetuator of the quote had said those things, that's why I sort of split my answer into two.

But the 'slave, child labour' thing has been mentioned before, by more than one person, and in both forums, and some of those people are probably wearing clothes and eating food produced by unscrupulous, exploitative companies from all over the world.

I applaud Rickenbacker for wanting to keep the revenue stream localised to their home country, but just because most of the componants for their guitars are sourced in the US, doesn't necessarily mean that it goes without question that those componants must be of high quality, though I'm sure that the ones that they use are.

Over the last 15 to 20 years, for design, quality, craftsmanship, attention to detail and value for money, I would personally say that some of the best guitars have actually come out of Japan.

But that just comes from my own personal experience of having had the opportunity to have played lots of different guitars whilst travelling all over the world for the last 20 years.

[jazzsmith]

Rob - I appreciate you clarifying your response and, actually, I was talking about morality more than I was talking about the quality of merchandise made in certain countries (China). A few years ago I was involved in the "Free Tibet" movement. At that time, I made a point of boycotting all things made in China. Now, I've given up. I recently bought a Cambridge Audio CD player. I searched the online photo for a country of origin nameplate and found an impressive embossing that said "Designed and engineered in the United Kingdom". When it arrived there was a peel off sticker that said "Made in China". I know three married couples who have adopted orphan Chinese girls. Those girls now go to private schools in New York City. Had the flying fickle finger of fate passed them by, they would be working 14 hour days on assembly lines in the most polluted regions on Earth - or they would be teenage prostitutes. So, forgive me if I do not embrace all the great, cheap new stuff coming out of the People's Republic at the expense of child labor and environmental rape. I applaud Rickenbacker's insistence on making American guitars made with American parts by American workers.