Hi ,Tim at Sound Affects here. Thought I’d chip in on this one to try and clarify a few points if I may. Please excuse the lengthy response, but it’s a tale worth telling:
This guitar was sent to us by Rosetti as a replacement for a previously faulty 370/12 which we had sold to a good customer (Hotzenplotz - Sascha). On his previous guitar the lacquer had flaked away from the binding after a few months; quite minor, but a defect nevertheless and we and Rosetti were happy to resolve the issue.
When we received his replacement 370/12 we inspected it as we always do and found no issues, so sent it on to Sascha. He was happy on receipt, but almost immediately he polished the guitar and found an issue. There was an area on the bottom of the guitar that had no paint. This had been covered over but was easily revealed with a quick polish. It appears as though it had been over-buffed at the production stage before the final lacquer was applied, but not noticed. Once fully lacquered it had a thin coat blown over it, or Sascha felt maybe a marker – I personally think the former is true. But the finish is like glass. You cannot feel it, its just clear lacquer over unfinished wood – strange….
Sascha immediately informed us, but we struggled to understand it, until, as requested he returned the guitar for us to see. Once we had the guitar back we immediately resolved the issue for Sascha, who by this time had had is fill of 370/12’s and asked if we would instead replace with a 330/6 again in midnight and some toasters and a few other bits he required – we were happy to help. So I can see why readers may find it difficult to visualise the defect – we did too.
I personally think this guitar did indeed leave the factory in this state. Maybe somebody panicked and covered over the defect – who knows?
We sent the guitar back to Rosetti for them to inspect. Their conclusion was the same as ours, albeit they had never seen this before. They asked if we would like to buy the guitar as a B Stock at a reduced price, but we declined (politely) feeling that the asking price was a little on the high side.
Rosetti then allowed another shop to advertise the guitar as B Stock, but they never actually bought it and were unsuccessful in finding a buyer at the price they were asking.
Two weeks ago we went down to Rosetti and bought a large number of Ricks, one of which was this 370/12 – the first time that we or any other shop has bought it. This time the price was right
Rosetti are treating it as new, although quite rightly B Stock. The new element is quite important. Although I acknowledge it has travelled to Germany and back, it is still new in that it has a full warranty (excluding the known defect) and we are the first buyer. Many people will buy a guitar that has been on a wall and played many times as“new” or one where a customer has exercised their rights under the distance selling laws to return a guitar within 7 days – again it would be regarded by most people as “new”. It is a tough one, but I don’t think that treating this guitar as new we are in any way trying to mislead – we do state its B Stock and it does have a warranty. We don’t actually display many of our Ricks due to a shortage of space, but will only ever sell a guitar as new if it is free from any defect or we explicitly state otherwise.
Just in regards to B Stock, whilst I agree that Rickenbacker’s QC is second to none, some guitars do slip through. Its rare and I should know as we get offered the majority them – very small numbers. I don’t think in any way it’s a UK vs US thing as implied – it’s just that mistakes do happen.
The other thing that’s worth clarifying (although I’m guessing most people know) is that for a UK purchaser the only warranty that a UK buyer will get is with a Rosetti supplied guitar and the warranty is with them. Equally they have no recourse to Rickenbacker. This doesn’t seem to worry them as the numbers are so very small, and they like us are proud to be associated with such a prestigious brand. So this guitar has never been back to the US for diagnosis, and they will be unaware of the problem.
Anyway I hope that clarifies some points on this guitar and once again apologies for the lengthy post. Happy to answer any questions.
Tim
