Guitar Center sale on 325c58

rob · Post by **rob** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 10:02 am

Not to get anywere off subject, but this reminds me of when I bought my Fireglo 330 at my GC.
I bought mine used from them for I think around $875, plus I traded my Jetglo 4003 towards it. (Still kicking myself for that!) At the same time, someone else was just walking in to purchase it when I was taking out my charge card. He was kinda bummed, but he instead bought the last Ric in the store, which was a Desertglo 330 for I think around $1275. I never have seen another Ric in that store since.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 1:02 pm

Since GC will no longer stock Ricks, and has apparently dissed them on numerous occasions, I say every forumite walk into his or her nearest GC, plop down a credit card and say give me a (fill in the Rick model(s)). When the sales personality says wait, we'll have to order it, thrust your card back into your wallet and say, that's ok, I'll order it from (fill in your favorite Rick dealer)...sort of a class action "up yers".

rob · Post by **rob** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 7:59 pm

A few months after my purchase, I commented to a salesman that I don't see any Rics there (including the jetglo 4003 I traded in) on display. He said something to the effect of that they don't really care for the 6 month waiting period. During this period, they can sell a bunch of Fender Squires, Epiphones, and other mass produced instruments. I can sort of understand the waiting period. But they could at least once in a while order a few, like four or five to display on the walls. I'm sure other GC's are probably like the one near me. It has tons of room to display guitars. What's only five spaces on the wall reserved for Ric fans going to do to their sales of the mass produced stuff that fills the rest of the store? There's so much of it, I'm almost tripping on them all!
Oh, well. Maybe I should just visit Jackson Music more often, instead of GC. They're not afraid to have a Ric display, and it's only as big as a slightly oversized garage compared to GC!

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 5:50 am

Of the three GC's within a short drive from my home and office, in the last ten years I've never seen a 6 series, seen maybe one bass, a handful of three series. I've been looked at like a weirdo (ok I'm used to that) when I asked a GC sales personality about Ricks. I know if they had 'em, they would sell, fast. So why not stock? (we're not talking the niche 325c58's)
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think it would be wonderful for a little shop to open with just Ricks (an authorized dealer, of course), as many models as possible. These would all be demos, not for sale. Twits like myself could go in, try a 650, see if I liked it. Feel and hear the differences of a 4003 and 4004. Then, plop my deposit down and make an informed choice. NOTE: I am in no way trying to tell JH how to run his business. I'm trying to tell somebody else what business I'd like them to run

There's an amp shop down the road a piece from me full of amps I've never heard of, all expensive. This Rick idea makes more sense to me than foo-foo amps.

kennyhowes · Post by **kennyhowes** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:29 pm

Edited.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 3:39 pm

To avoid any possible hissy fits of misunderstanding, let me re phrase: since the Ricks GC occasionally have in stock don't stay in stock long, and my personal experience regarding the sales personalties at GC and the attitude I witnessed from them toward Rickenbackers (they're very pleasant when I pick up a strat or tele), I feel the Rick showroom idea would be a pleasant alternative. There. I've edited and I feel better.

adam_swapp · Post by **adam_swapp** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:06 pm

I don't know if the guitars would sell or not. A local store has had a pair of 620's hanging there for years. If memory serves, one's a 2001 and the other is a 2002; Jetglo and Mapleglo (don't remember which is which). I was checking them out when I was restoring my 625, and the sales drone said I was the first person to play them in months. So I offered to buy them both at cost.

They're still there, as far as I know.

I can echo Jerry's observation about the GC sales guys. When I was looking at the 2 C58's that were hanging in the San Jose GC, the guy that pulled them down for me said he didn't even know they were there.

Are we sure that GC will no longer stock Ricks? The San Jose store has a couple of 330's that weren't there a few months ago. Maybe it's just an inventory shift from another store; I didn't scope the serial numbers to see when they were made.

Of course, I have a another local option that usually has 6-8 Ricks in stock at any one time. They could use a little more variety though; they're all 330's and 360's. Or basses - but who cares about them?

webhead · Post by **webhead** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 1:31 am

I think the reason why Ricks have a long shelf life at GC is because they let every customer from the ages of 7-55 pick up the guitar, try it out, and dcratch it up. So when US normal people check out the axe, it's all screwed up and so we don't wanna buy it. It then turns into a used instrument. About a year ago I went down to my local GC, saw a Susanna Hoffs up on the wall. I asked the guy I know there what the deal with that one was, he said nothing was wrong, no one has played it. It was high up there. I took it down. It was flawless. I admit- that is the only time I was satisfied with a GC purchase. The price was soooo cheap too.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:15 pm

I've seen atleast a couple of 325C58s at the Guitar Centers in San Diego, but none here in Colorado, where I've been for the past two weeks.

GC seems to try and preserve the 12 strings a bit more though, as the only time I've seen them in the stores, they're hanging about 20 feet above the ground, in a "blind spot" to most customers.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:58 am

I recieved the new GC mailer yesterday, and there's a photo of a wall of guitars (used twice in the booklet). In between the Gibsons and the Fenders I count no less than 13 Ricks on that wall!
Don- what you say about turning new into used on the showroom is true - when I purchased my Alembic from GC, I bought from a store at which I knew the manager (he was drumming for me at the time). The guitar at his store had been manhandled, so I asked if they had a 'new' new bass. Yep, at another store. I had no problem driving to that store to pick it up, and did so. It was straight out of the box from the factory, not even out on the showroom. My friend, the GC manager told me later that the manager at the GC from which I picked it up had made a comment to him about it's being so pristine that he had wanted to scratch it before giving it to me! I remember an almost hostile look in his eyes when I took delivery and his comment about it's fresh condition to me at that time struck me as not happy!

rob · Post by **rob** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:05 am

Jerry,
You should've let him know to not be suprised when he finds a key scratch across his driver side door, if anything happened to your Alembic!

webhead · Post by **webhead** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 6:23 am

It's the same story with GC. When the Ace Frehley Gibson Les Paul came out in 1997. I drooled over one BIG TIME. I went to 3 GC stores in my area- all were manhandled to the extent of a condition downgrade from Mint to VG-. I was bumming- I had to have one transferred from an out of state GC store. I think in the near future- GC is going to take a hit either from lack of sales- or with a lawsuit, because their gonna screw the wrong person some day. Then the GC name will be synonymous with the name "Mud."

69z28man · Post by **69z28man** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:50 pm

I have 5 of these guitars Rick C58's for sale. Three JG and Two MG models. They are available for sale in either stock form or I can include Burns or Hofner knobs a Bowtie bridge and B-5 Bigsby.

Here's the link to the guitars.
http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid5313811

Jim

webhead · Post by **webhead** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 2:57 am

Are you selling them for the same $900 they were selling them at?

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:16 pm

Now why would Jim sell these for what he paid for them? How much are they anyway?