I'd like to know too how that unique guitar became a eunuch guitar. If only it could talk! And not in a high voice!
I can attest to the fact that the 381JK is an extremely versatile guitar thanks to the electronics. Mine has a replaced lower pickguard (I still have the broken-in-shipment original); how nuch will that knock the selling price down?
(that's a rhetorical question)
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
When I knew that I wanted to try scatterwound pickups on my 370/12RM, a major factor in deciding whether to unwind the original pickups or buy new ones was the hugely inflated price of Rickenbacker spares here in the UK.
7.4 kilohm pickups available for $90 to US buyers from Rhoads Music and other U.S distributors cost a staggering £100 each from Rosetti, the one and only legitimate source available to UK buyers. That's $190 each at today's exchange rates - more than twice the U.S. price - completely dispelling any concern about devaluing the guitar.
"But the man has a 47-string guitar." (Grace Slick on Paul Kantner's attempt to tune his 366/12 during a Winterland show of October 31 1969).
Mark is absolutly right. The cost of parts over here bear no resembelance to the price of the same part in the US. If Marks figures are right (& my own experiences support him), then how can $90 turn into $190 here. If I buy some thing gtr orientated from the US, I would have to add carriage, import duty at 3.7% & then vat tax at 17.5%. OK, on guitars the carriage can be significant, but on a p/up etc., it is difficult to see that all the extras, including profit can amount to $100, more than twice the price.
But because of franchise rules, we can't buy new Ric items, even strings, from the US. Why do we want to? Not only the crazy price difference, but also the availability. Rosetti just don't keep the stock. They also import Gibson & this name is what appears on their spares order form, included with new Rics (see my Ric general, case candy post). It sounds like I am really anti Rosetti, but all I & other Brit Ric fans want is an even deal. Parts made available at a reasonable price, from stock & a higher Ric profile in the UK (advertising, unusual models etc). Rosetti might argue that the demand is not high, but as the UK importers, I feel that they have a duty to look after the current Ric owners & not just look for the safe 330/360/4003 sales.
If this is impossible, then talk to us & tell us why!
'Rickenbacker'...what a name! After all these years, it still thrills me.
I wonder whether or not it's the franchise rules, themselves, that dictate the high retail prices. A recent posting on another thread suggests that Australian RIC spares aficionados have a similar issue when finding value for their dollars. For all I know, there may be other issues at play here, such as export tariffs on particular merchandise imposed by the U.S. government, perhaps?
I want Rosetti to do well and I found the staff very helpful when I wanted to order individual parts for a RIC twelve-saddle bridge, but I was far from impressed at having to wait a year between 1998 and 1999 for a RIC silver vintage case. After three-monthly assurances that the case would probably turn up in the next consignment, I eventually found out that my order didn't exist, because the staff who had taken it had been made redundant.
The previous UK distributor (Rickenbacker International UK, based in Bury) was much less of a music industry name (its modest address is now an estate agent), but it made more of an effort to reach out to known RIC spares customers, by sending out a brochure and a price list for guitars, t-shirts, strings, straps, mugs etc. on an annual basis.
"But the man has a 47-string guitar." (Grace Slick on Paul Kantner's attempt to tune his 366/12 during a Winterland show of October 31 1969).
I bought a JG CW 360/6. I replaced the stock p/ups with RIC humbuckers and the white guards with silver guards. Sounds great and looks like one of a kind! Every mod can be put back to stock. http://www.homestead.com/aurs3/moddedCarl.html
