Rickenbackers In Your Home Town

[admin]

Over the past decade I have seen more musicians in my small city in Eastern Canada playing and talking about Rickenbackers. This is great to see and I am wondering what others have noticed in cities like mine where guitars may be thought of as Fenders and Gibsons.

[BuddyDog]

Fresno is still a Ric wasteland. No Ric dealers in town, currently.

We have a choice of Guitar Center, 3-4 mom & pop shops. FWIW, the stores are nice stores, but they cater more to mid priced guitars (except for the PRS and Gibsons at Guitar Center).

[Tommy]

I am from a huge city, New York, and I have to tell you, when I was in my twenties jamming with different guys, jamming with friends, going to studios and meeting other players, going to small local bars and seeing small bands...all that and I never ever saw one guy with a Rickenbacker! I was the only guy who had one. People used to come over and want to look at it and play it. No one had one in New York City at all!

Now clearly there had to be Rics in New York, so I just figure my seeing none comes down to the style of music that was big at that time - Grunge - and all the players I was surrounded by seemed to be playing that style of music. I saw Les Pauls and Strats and the Grunge sounded authentic, but I never saw a Ric until I owned one.

[admin]

Steve And Tom I am most interested that our experiences are so similar with regard to the relative scarcity of Rickenbackers regardless of the size of our cities. While there are limited dealers selling new Rickenbackers used models are showing up more and more in local online classifieds.

[cjj]

Montana is a total Rick wasteland. Heck, I think I probably own at least 20% of the Ricks in Montana. I've never seen anyone else playing a Rickenbacker in this state. As for dealers, there are none in this state or even in any adjoining state. I've got to go over 500 miles and 2 states away to get to the nearest Rick dealer...

[Folkie]

The only Ric dealer I know of in my part of Ohio is our Sam Ash chain store. (Our Guitar Center stopped carrying Rics about ten years ago.) They currently have two or three new guitars and three used ones, including the 360/12C63 I used as the prototype for the string-spacing mod on my Fireglo 360/12. They have a few nice basses, too. I must say (and I think Jeff Scott will agree) that, aside from their guitar tech, the folks there don't know much about things Rickenbacker. I just wish I lived in Chris Clayton's part of New Jersey, so I could have him do my setups!

[jps]

I must say (and I think Jeff Scott will agree) that, aside from their guitar tech, the folks there don't know much about things Rickenbacker.

Agreed.

[jps]

I just wish I lived in Chris Clayton's part of New Jersey, so I could have him do my setups!

It would be a lot easier on the two of us if POTR was in, say, South Euclid.
That being said, I know of a few Rick owners around here but have never seen one being used on a stage, unless I were on that stage; the lone exception I know of is RIO!!!, where Chip Fycik played his Ricks, too.

[jimk]

I live in a wasteland, period. What's the difference between yogurt and Kansas? Yogurt has culture. Needless to say, I think I'm probably the only guy in Lawrence (a relatively sophisticated university town, as these things go in Kansas) who packs a Rickenbacker. The last time I saw a Rick live was several years ago at a Bob Dylan retrospective here in Lawrence at a watering hole called The Gaslight. The guy (who was from Kansas City, IIRC) was playing an amberglo 360/12 and of course he and his band did all the Byrds/Dylan covers. Lovely!

JimK

[scotty]

Rickenbackers and Glasgow well they have always been here many many bands play with ricks.The first Rickenbacker i ever saw was my sisters BF brought his in the house one day it was 330 BG from the 70s. Interestingly the first Rickenbacker guitar i saw was a second hand MG 360 that belonged to Lloyd Cole in a small guitar shop called CC music.I was about 15/16 and Dogged school (Bunked off) and went into the Westend to give it a try.I think it was the late 80s and the guitar was about £800 ish IIRC way out my league then.
In Glasgow right now in the guitar stores i would say between them all there are about 15/20 at any given time lots to choose from all for the taking.The Internet in the UK has opened peoples eyes to the best prices as this naturally happens throughout the world.In the Glasgow stores 6 years ago i could buy a bog standard 330 for £900 now one will set me back £1400.Then again price of diesel back then was cheaper too.What is interesting for me as a UK customer ive bought 7 ricks in the last 10 years and vintage was always,well i thought out my league this however has changed.When i weigh up the cost of buying new to buying vintage im getting better value buying vintage.
I understand this, its just the dealer making money and thats fine everyone's prices have to rise to accommodate the running cost of being in business im in that boat i do the same.So in a nutshell im probably not going to buy new again but this isnt just with the rickenbacker brand this is probably through the board vehicles included.

[rickenbrother]

I can gladly say that within the vicinity of where I live, there are plenty of Rickenbackers. A few authorized dealers in the general area (but I'd still rather buy from POTR), the usual So Cal gang with their collections that frequent the forum and the RIC factory ain't too far away either. I know there are plenty more people in my area that don't post on the forum, but have Ricks as well.

[kiramdear]

Having grown up in San Francisco in the Sixties and Seventies, I can say that Ricks were uncommon, but certainly not unknown. I saw and played many in the stores and they appeared on many a rock and roll stage around town. Maybe because the psychedelic and folk-rock bands were heavily influenced by the British Invasion groups, but Rickenbackers were held in high esteem among the local musicians. Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner used them, so did The Charlatans' Mike Wilhelm, Everyone in the Flamin' Groovies, too, and the list goes on. It's safe to say that San Francisco has been a hotbed of Rickappreciation since the Sixties.

Haight Ashbury Music Center still stocks them heavily. Guitar Center traditionally always had them, Don Wehr's Music City (now I'm really dating myself) always had them, Leo's in Oakland ditto; these SF institutions and more have made Rickenbacker a big part of the local music scene since way back.

I think I bought my first one in '72, and I still have the 320 I bought in '82, just to illustrate my point.

[winston]

I don't know of any other Rickenbacker guitar players in the small city that I live in. I did manage to buy two 4001 basses in pawn shops here but both were brought in from out of town.

I know that we have another member on the RRF from the same city who rarely posts, so perhaps between us we own most of the Ricks in the area. I took my 4003 into the local music store a few years ago because the owner at the time was a bass player and he had never seen one in the flesh before. He was amazed at how good it sounded.

[qwezirider]

In spite of the former existence of one of the biggest Rickenbacker dealers around (Ed Roman), in six+ years of living and working in Vegas, I have the only Rick I've seen out and about working. I know they have to be here, but I have not seen one yet.

[david/wales/u.k]

The nearest dealer from me would be in Birmingham, about 100 miles away and there is limited choice even there. ...I have never seen anyone playing a Ric (apart from Peter Buck!)..When I play a lot of people comment on it but they tend to be older ( often hear words drifting up to the stage such as...haven't seen one of them in ages....Pete Townsend played one e.t.c )...One young musician, well into his twenties, didn't even know what it was ...He thought it was some sort of clever acoustic guitar ( that was before I played and nearly split his ears open with max treble