Hello - Is there anybody out there?

[jps]

I have too much time on my hand these days and am frustrated there is not much new things happening. I have been spending more time playing guitar and creating some cool ideas that I have to sift into songs.

[stringsncords]

Well, I just posted this pic of my 325's on "Rickenbacker Guitars and Basses" Facebook site, and got 83 "likes" in less than 2 hours, so Rick fans are definitely out there....

[ozover50]

I still look in most days but as others have said, there's not a lot to comment on.

I think the disappearance of a few popular or 'notable' members has also contributed.

[cjj]

I'm not here... I moved to the other side of the planet...

[girllennon76]

I'm on Facebook more than here, but with that said, I pop in to see what's going on or search archives. I'm on the younger end of the player spectrum (late 30s) and it has been years since I was last on RRF that I forgot my password to log into my old account under "girllennon" , so I had to create 'girllennon76' and walk around like a newbie, when I'm not.

All the drama passed me by. I'm probably thankful I did or I may not have come back to RRF. My absence as of late was because of my 3 year old son. I'm hoping he loves Rics as much as I do. Besides, I'm pretty rusty again from gaps in not picking up the guitar, so I need to get going again so I can teach some stuff to my son and get hooked on real music.

[jimk]

I pretty much agree with what's been said. I've seen the same discussion and questions regarding activity on the Gretsch Discussion Pages. They're usually a little chattier than the RRF, but even I can tell that participation is a little slow. I thought it was just the summer time slows. Maybe I'm kidding myself, too.
JimK

[JakeK]

I still look in most days but as others have said, there's not a lot to comment on.

I think the disappearance of a few popular or 'notable' members has also contributed.

+1, This pretty much describes the last two years for me.

[kennyhowes]

I stand by what I said. I simply haven't had a lot to report in the way of new gear. Certainly I wish that I did!

[knavel]

The RIC corporate website is also way out of date (ignored?), so much so that the Gallery section doesn't even show any models that have been produced in the 2000's yet, and we're 14 years into the new millennium. The "We haven't gotten a chance to pull these out of our archive yet. Check back soon" message is just lame.

It seems that it's generally a down time in the electric guitar market, due to the fact that the music and recording industries have been in a decade-long trough of rap, hip-hop, and other non-guitar based music. I've also noticed that the guitar-collecting market isn't what it once was, either; possibly due to the economy, and/or the aging of the population who enjoy Rickenbacker's association with the Beatles, Who, Tom Petty, REM, and other -let's face it - aging acts that predominantly feature Rickenbacker instruments.

I had to laugh at that news (to me at least) of the Rickenbacker company website. I don't know anything about modern Ricks and don't ever look at the site. So I found this funny because John Hall seems to have all the time in the world to come on forums like this one and antagonize people--like he did to me for dare suggesting the pickups on the 325v58 a bandmate had made Hi Lo Trons sound as powerful as Mosrite pickups. He has all the time to litigate against boutique companies and assert ownership of things on legal bases that in some instances seem questionable. I won't even go to the company forum as I can only presume that moderation is heavy handed.

The second quote above is something that is on my mind a lot. I am quite concerned that unless Asia in particular (outside of Japan) takes a deep interest in guitars there is going to be quite a glut in the coming years. The Ventures inspired kids to go buy guitars; Kanye West does not. Elsewhere in this discussion, someone talked about being at the younger end of this forum and that was late 30s--that says a lot as well

The Gretsch site had a major crash this summer and years of "scholarship" was lost. I do believe although they won't admit it, that's why a lot of people have culled participation. It certainly is in my case at least.

[JakeK]

Elsewhere in this discussion, someone talked about being at the younger end of this forum and that was late 30s--that says a lot as well.

I'm 23, FYI.

Besides the reason I mentioned, one of the reasons that I have not been as active during the last two years is that I've become a mostly acoustic player. I haven't really found the need to play any of my electrics because of this and have been booked at parties as an acoustic solo act. Of course, I'll never stop loving Rickenbacker instruments, I just don't play them as often as I used to. But the chunky neck and thicker strings of an acoustic sure makes one appreciate the thinner neck and strings of an electric when you go back to it.

Of course, it's always busy in my offline life. One culprit is that I became a full-time student in August. I didn't post about it because I didn't see the need to. My leisure Web time is limited as it was before. Rather than posting when I'm bored and should be doing schoolwork, I'm actually studying and getting stuff done. The harder I study and the closer I can get to my degree, the sooner I can get out of school and make something of myself.

I'll always love the RRF, even if I don't spend as much time as I once did. It is a great place, and I've made a lot of great lifelong friends.

[scotty]

It is a great place, and I've made a lot of great lifelong friends.

Its the old +1 scenario .

[jdogric12]

I've made lots of great friends... and a few enemies!