Rickenbacker cases.......

[jdogric12]

Sell the Porsche AND Chevrolet, and buy a hybrid!

[Memphis Blue]

Here's a scary little Halloween story about Ric cases...It's long and I'm gonna try ot condense it.
In 2002, I did something that I will never do again...loaned my Ric 330 to a band my friend played drums in. The Reigning Sound is a great band who, at the time was based here in Memphis. The leader of the band is left handed and his guitars were in Canada for some reason.
He is left handed like me so I was the likely choice for a decent guitar.
So, I loaned the Ric and my Gibson J-160E for the sessions for the cd Time Bomb High School....A GREAT cd by the way.

After the end of the session, in the parking lot, my guitars were left BEHIND my drummers car...I guess they were going in the trunk and he forgot to put them in after chatting.
He runs over the Ric and luckily the Gibson case was so tall that it "skooched" it along the parking lot.

He shows up at my office to return my guitars and told me he ran over them. I said.."C'mon man don't joke about something like that!"
He wasn't joking.
The case for the Gibson was rashed up really bad.
The Ric case allowed the car to roll over it and the only damge was a cracked back...don't get me wrong...it was bad enough but the guitar was not destroyed and the neck was undamaged.
My guitar repair guy, Tom Keckler, who worked for Schecter and built guitars for Townsend, Page, Beck and now runs Saint Blues guitars here in Memphis, told me how lucky I was. He sealed the crack...I refused to let him refinish the back becasue I wanted a reminder every time I played to NEVER EVER EVER loan my guitars again.
I have gigged with that guitar at least a hundred times since the accident and the guitar NEVER goes out of tune and is as stable as a rock.

So...remember this the next time someone asks you to borrow your guitar...being a nice guy almost cost me my beloved left handed 330 Jetglo...AND my J-160E.
Accidents can happen.

oh....and my friend is buried in a shallow grave just outside of the county line.

(Disclaimer: the last line is artistic license because it is Halloween...but the rest of it is, unfortunately very true>

[captsandwich]

I bought an SKB style case for my 6 string (it came with a gig bag).
My 12 came with a black tolex case, but the guy I bought it from told me his dog chewed on the corners when he was a pup. Must've been some pup, because he chewed right through the plywood in one spot. Anyways, just for my own peace of mind, I swapped'em. The 12 lives in the plastic case and the 6 lives in the tolex. I like them both, but I wish the new case had a flap of some sort on the storage compartment. I have visions of the case opening while on it's side and my cable/string winder/wire clippers falling out and dinging the neck. I realize the solution is to keep all sharp objects in the other case, and I do, but nobody ever said I had to be rational about my guitars.

[jdogric12]

oh....and my friend is buried in a shallow grave just outside of the county line.

LOL!!! You should have gone to the state line though.

The Ric case allowed the car to roll over it and the only damge was a cracked back

It could be worse, you could have done this yourself! I played in a ska band in the 90's with a guy who ran over his own trombone. It was quite mangled and unplayable.

[paologregorio]

I bought an SKB style case for my 6 string (it came with a gig bag).
My 12 came with a black tolex case, but the guy I bought it from told me his dog chewed on the corners when he was a pup. Must've been some pup, because he chewed right through the plywood in one spot. Anyways, just for my own peace of mind, I swapped'em. The 12 lives in the plastic case and the 6 lives in the tolex. I like them both, but I wish the new case had a flap of some sort on the storage compartment. I have visions of the case opening while on it's side and my cable/string winder/wire clippers falling out and dinging the neck. I realize the solution is to keep all sharp objects in the other case, and I do, but nobody ever said I had to be rational about my guitars.

A pocket flap would be nice, but have you thought of buying a small zipper bag or camera type bag to keep these things in-it would be a closeable bag that could hold your tools and fit in the case pocket.

[JakeK]

I never lend out guitars...I only did it once to my friend who sold the 360/12 I sold him, because he needed a 12-string desperately. I told him if ANYTHING happened to it I was going to [bleep]ing mess his [bleep] up. It was returned to me, safe and sound.

Onto the case: Owned an SKB and currently own a vintage silver. Love that silver and blue...but it doesn't offer good protection, in my opinion. I really want a black tolex, but I don't think they make those for the 600 series, do they? I hope that when I get my dream Ric (RoMo RI), it comes with a black tolex case.

[berth]

One of those is a Porsche, the other a Chevrolet.

One has a hot chick inside, the other someone's granny.

You choose.

My granny ('73 4001) goes into the SKB (Porsche?) for best protection and better looks.

[goofyfoot]

As John Hall stated in Post #5 in this thread, G&G is the current supplier of RIC vintage cases. They also make the vintage variety for G&L Guitars in Fullerton. They are the coolest and my G&Ls rest comfortably in 'em. Peace, out.....Goofyfoot.

[kiramdear]

When was the RI silver case first offered to the public, and which models came in them? Just curious ...

[JakeK]

Jdog told me the 360/12V64 he sold me (in transit as we speak!) has a silver case. I think they were protyped around '88/'89 and became standard with reissues by '91

[romo1950]

Just a little history here.
Ben Germain who used to work at Victoria luggage started G&G cases along with another ex Victoria luggage employee Gus ,
Ben son Gerry now runs G&G Quality case Co. and has for many Years. AN excellent company and great guys, I have had the please to work along side Gerry on several case projects and designed a heavy duty Roadcase that echoes the original G&G Rickenbacker case, for those people that gig with their Ric,s but want more protection and this also allows you to leave your cool vintage style G&G at home so it doesn,t get beat up, Gerry approves of my design and we have discussed in the past the possibility of joint production of the Roadcase concept.

[kiramdear]

Nice work, Robert. That looks swell

[romo1950]

Nice work, Robert. That looks swell

Thanks Kira, we try to do the best we possibly can

[kiramdear]

I think that's the nicest road case I've ever seen.

[jps]

How much for one of those for a Rick bass?