i think you all need to see THIS!!!

[teeder]

Some web site I visited, I believe it was Warmoth, was saying that birdseye maple was rarely used in bodies. Anyone know why this could be? They acted like it just never happened, for some implicit reason. Of course this behavior applies to a lot of things RIC does and many of those things are things I happen to appreciate--so maybe like those other things Warmoth was just point out convention and ignoring exceptions.

Congrats to the winner by the way.

From Warmouth's website talking about birdseye maple:

"This figure is only found in the eastern hard maple trees. Birdseye does not usually run deep in the boards, so solid bodies are not available. As a bookmatched top it can be quite striking.

Underlining and Fireglo font color added by me. They probably don't get enough of it to offer consistantly.

[dog]

It's also possible that this was a marketing thing. What better way to see if there is an interest in a particular color/hardware scheme then to produce one and make it available. Of course being a one-off raises the interest, but even replies on different forums from Ric's biggest fans could help determine interest. Of course if it were offered for free in some type of contest, even devout Fender guys would want it and there would be no indication of any real interest. Anyway, who knows.

[cassius987]

This bass is really neat but I don't want to see any of this custom aesthetic features become standard until the backlog is dealt with. What's important is that the 4003s they are kicking out right now are some of the best of the best of the best as far as player's basses go and I want to see THAT be what they continue to do.

[teeder]

I don't care what Rick does as long as they have my 4001V68 done by the end of the year.

[s4001]