The Japan-only new limited 4003 with checker binding

[bluewhale]

RIC CEO John Hall discusses his views on checked binding for 4003 and related topics in a few posts in this thread from 2013:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=409840


I still hope for a U.S./North America limited run of basses with CB. I believe they would all be spoken for in a matter of hours. Meanwhile, production of the CB'ed 381V69 and 660 continues.


bluewhale

[cheyenne]

So close to a V68...........

[squirebass]

Very nice stuff.... Maybe we shall be so lucky to have something like this offered in USA soon. I was wondering once they went back to the wide inlays, about how long it would take them to produce something like this. I'm still looking for a MG 4001v63, early '90s, if anyone has a bead on that...

[Colonel Sanders]

The word is...
http://www.rickenbacker.com/forum/viewt ... a0#p174774

Ugh! And this is one of the reasons why JH is so endearing to most everyone. He's got a knack of annoying people with his words. I hear his dad was not this way, quite the opposite I'm told. Unfortunate, it really is.

Sepp

Dunno... I kind of like his "toughen up Princess(es)" attitude.

It must be annoying sometimes to be told what he should do by an army of pennyless Rickenbacker experts that knows better...

This being said, I'll now chip in with my two cents. The new skinny body post 2009 coupled with the checkerboard binding does not float my boat. It looks unbalanced to me.

Not that I am pennyless, nor that I am an expert.

[Gilmourisgod]

Now if they could just bring back the full-width crushed-pearl fretboard inlays combined with Checker binding...... perchance to dream!

Having been on the receiving end of one of JH's cranky flamer responses, I don't miss him. There are always a few Trolls looking to grind their personal axe on any Forum, and to the extent any of my posts ever came off that way, I apologize. I think this forum needs to maintain some distance from JH and the Rick corporate line, or it will just be a calcified Fanboy site, not an open exchange of ideas and advice for Rick owners. It has to be OK to say "this doesn't work well", or to point out QC problems inherent to any semi-mass produced consumer product without worrying about offending the CEO. My $.02

[sloop_john_b]

I think this forum needs to maintain some distance from JH and the Rick corporate line, or it will just be a calcified Fanboy site, not an open exchange of ideas and advice for Rick owners. It has to be OK to say "this doesn't work well", or to point out QC problems inherent to any semi-mass produced consumer product without worrying about offending the CEO. My $.02

This forum isn't, and has never been, that place. I don't mean that disparagingly, it's just a fact.

There are lots of other forums that don't operate under any influence from RIC. Many former RRF members are much happier freely speaking their minds at those forums.

[Kopfjaeger]

Not to turn this thread into a JH themed rant but I for one miss his input here but not the attitude that went along with it. Yes, we had a few go arounds but it was nothing personal, at least on my end. Listen, I have a few hobbies and I'm a member of numerous other forums in which the CEO's of larger corporations post replies and field questions about their products as well as aid in customer service issues. For the record, none of the other forums are without controversy or trolls to bait others and cause issues. In the many other forums I belong to and am active in, no other CEO or business owner has turned his back on the forum and it's members or refused to participate when the heat got turned up on their product.

While JH's approach in dealing with people has been at many times "snarky", him turning his back on this forum only shows he can dish it out but he most certainly can't take it. Does he have to?? Certainly not but his actions certainly say something about him as a person. If the CEO is going to promote his product and accept accolades when it's well received, he certainly has to expect to deal with backlash when the product is not received well. To take his ball and go home was, disappointing to say the least.

End of mini rant.

Sepp

[DriftSpace]

My thing is, you can't buy from Japan cause they won't ship here. How can we get these goodies without sending them out for refinish etc?

Ishibashi has shipped instruments directly to my house in Colorado, and many other Japanese retailers with on-line portals have staff for overseas sales.

[Gilmourisgod]

Well spoken Sepp, i hope I haven't "poked the sleeping bear" as it were. Now that we have both vented a bit......

I remember seeing a link or thread someplace on somebody doing their own crushed pearl inlays, can't remember if it was on this forum even. Anybody remember a post like that or have a link?

[sloop_john_b]

I remember seeing a link or thread someplace on somebody doing their own crushed pearl inlays, can't remember if it was on this forum even. Anybody remember a post like that or have a link?

Dale Fortune, Curt Wilson, Mark Arnquist, Collin Whitley, Paul Wilczynski, to name a few.

[Kopfjaeger]

Well spoken Sepp, i hope I haven't "poked the sleeping bear" as it were. Now that we have both vented a bit......

I remember seeing a link or thread someplace on somebody doing their own crushed pearl inlays, can't remember if it was on this forum even. Anybody remember a post like that or have a link?

Thanks Alex. I'm done with my rant, but I've said that before!

I've seen Paul W's crucshed pearl inlays and they are spectacular. See guys, i give praise when praise is due! !

Sepp

[rickyfricky]

If checkered binding was offered as an option in the US, how much more would it cost?

As someone who has opened his wallet pretty wide over the years for various Rickenbackers, I would be willing to pay extra for CB.

So if a brand new 4003 is $1800, would one with CB be $2500? Or more??

I realize at this point I'm preaching to the empty luxury boxes, but I figure I'd throw that out there anyway.

[RickyBubba]

I can't weigh in much, but having CB added to an instrument should be a minimum cost. John was kind enough to send me some advice recently following up on a comment I had made about cleaning frets. So he is still likely around to some degree.

We all go through things and phases, and could be other things are going on in his life right now? I know that can easily happen to me, and affect other parts of my life.

[Kopfjaeger]

I can't weigh in much, but having CB added to an instrument should be a minimum cost. John was kind enough to send me some advice recently following up on a comment I had made about cleaning frets. So he is still likely around to some degree.

We all go through things and phases, and could be other things are going on in his life right now? I know that can easily happen to me, and affect other parts of my life.

Spot on. JH still frequents the forum and communicates with quite a few members here in private about posts, so he he is still somewhat connected to the goings on here. Maybe one day he'll see the bigger picture and realize we all care about the brand to some extent and it's nothing personal when others don't agree with his views.

Sepp

[iiipopes]

I do wonder if part of it is our own fault. Many of us on the forum have at least a few years of playing under our collective belts. We remember wanting a Rickenbacker instrument from years ago. We also priced them then. Just like for new cars, we go looking at a new one, with our perspective entrenched mindset from when we were younger, and have the "sticker shock" reaction when we look now.

For example: my 320 was purchased new for me in 1981 for @ $625. My 1981 360/12WB FG ckbd I got used in 1989 for $750. My 1981 4002 I got used in @1993 for $1500. Compare that to new prices for similar instruments today. Many of us, as we get older, get more fiscally conservative. So we don't lay out the big bucks as often as we used to for another instrument.

We are going to have to collectively decide it is a priority and pony up the $$$$ to get RIC to decide to offer checkerboard domestically again on a regular basis.