Hello all. I have been a Rickenbacker fan and player for a long time. I currently own 3 Ricks, along with a couple other guitars, and I feel like it might be time to pare down the collection a little bit.
Having visited the Rickresource forum from time to time, I know that it is full of great information, as well as a bunch of friendly people who dig Rickenbacker instruments as much as I do. So I figured that if I'm going to part with one of my Ricks, I ought to see if anyone here might be interested before I list it on ebay or something like that - ideally, I'd like the guitar to find a nice new home.
The Rick I'm considering parting with - if anyone is interested, and the price is right - is a 700C "Comstock" acoustic. This is the jumbo style body, with spruce top and maple back and sides. It is an early 1996 model, made at the Rick factory - not one of the newer licensed instruments. (To be clear - I'm am only including this fact for informational purposes, and not as a put-down of the newer acoustics. Although I have not had the pleasure of playing one, they look like BEAUTIFUL guitars made by a real artist.)
The guitar is in nice condition, with one caveat - there is a (repaired) hairline crack in the wood that runs from the sound hole up towards the top of the body along the bass side of the fretboard (near the low E string). Before I purchased the guitar (in '98, I think), I contacted the Rickenbacker factory, and was told that the crack occurred after they shipped the guitar to the dealer and was probably caused by weather/temperature changes. They told me after the crack happened, the guitar was sent back to the Rickenbacker factory, where it was repaired, and then shipped back to the dealer.
In spite of the repaired crack, the guitar sounded great, and was truly a gorgeous looking instrument. (The crack is more or less invisible when the guitar is viewed from a reasonable distance.) I chose to buy the guitar - in spite of the repaired crack - for a few reasons: - It had a really nice sound. - It looked cool as heck. - It had a real uniqueness, as I had only seen Rick acoustics in pictures. - It felt very comfortable (and familiar, since I was already a Rick player). - I figured that the repair would hold up, since it was done by the folks at Rickenbacker.
Fifteen years later, the repair HAS held up, and all the reasons for my purchase are still valid. But I simply do not play the guitar very often. I mostly play my 330 - still my favorite guitar. I also have a different acoustic, which I prefer over the 700C. In any case, I feel like it might be time for the 700C to have a new home - one where it might see more play-time.
Some additional info: It has an original hardshell, locking case with key and polish cloth. (Don't really remember what I did with the rest of the "case candy" - may be around here somewhere.) The only modification I had done was the addition of a Sunrise pickup, which I have since removed from the sound-hole, although the wiring to the strap-pin remains, and the pickup could easily be put back in. The Sunrise pickup, unfortunately, left a couple small scratches near the top of the sound-hole. Also, there are some minor pick scratches in the strumming area below and above the sound-hole, but nothing too drastic. (In fact, ALL of the scratches are so minor that they don't really even show up in photos.)
So I guess I'm looking for some input from all of you. I never really intended to sell this guitar, in spite of the fact I don't play it much - It's just so cool and interesting and fun to play. So should I hang on to it, or should I sell it to someone (perhaps one of you) who would put it to better use? Let me know what you think. And let me know if you might like to add this guitar to your family. Thanks!
