Ric dealers with no Rics!

bill_jenkins · Post by **bill_jenkins** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:02 pm

OK, I have to voice a complaint and see if anyone else is as frustrated as I am. I'm looking to purchase my first Ric, and I want to play a 330 & 360 & 12 to feel and hear the differences before I buy one. The closest Ric Dealer has two basses and will have some guitars "soon." An hour and a half away they have one 330, as does the one further south (I'm in upstate NY). Long story short, I'm gonna have to drive two and half hours each way past three "Authorized Ric Dealers" just to audition a 330 and 360 side by side. One of the delaers actually said, "we don't get much call for them so we don't typically stock any, but we can order one if you want it." I don't think the brand is well served by that kind of dealer!

Maybe this is a question for Mr. Hall. What's the point of having dealers who don't stock any of your product? Is this just an east coast thing? I realize Rics aren't mass produced and appreciate that, but it sure makes it tough to make a purchase if you want to play one first.

OK, done now. Sorry to use bandwidth on a complaint, but I'm loath to buy an instrument without ever playing it first.

eatswodo · Post by **eatswodo** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:10 pm

Demand >> Supply

It's as simple as that....

I was lucky enough to get my 650D at a time when Musician's Friend had 19 in stock. Now they're quoting August+ as a delivery date. Many of the mailorder outfits have stock of 330s and 360s - and generous return policies. Why don't you give one of them a try?

tony_carey · Post by **tony_carey** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:37 am

I used to get very frustrated at the lack of Rics available in the UK, but I've got so used to it now that I actually ENJOY the chase. But with seven & rising, I know what I want....more Rics! It is difficult to get the standard models, let alone the unusual ones, but it's great fun tracking them down.
This forum is a great place to start. In the UK, we're lucky with Mike Smith at RicsR Us, who seems to have the more unusual used Rics when no one else stocks them. Ebay can be good too. I know you are talking about new standard models, but Rics are hard to get, which ever model you want, but I have managed to turn my frustration into a kind of hobby.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:28 am

Authorized RIC dealers who don't regularly stock or reorder instruments don't last too long with us. However, we have no way to definitively gauge a new dealer's intentions in advance, even though we go through a qualification process, so we have to give them a chance and see what happens first.

We are currently in the process of both weeding out some dealers as well as filling in the holes due to our termination of Guitar Center. However, following deletion of their orders, our back log is greater than ever right now, in fact we're booked for 385 production days now, up 26.8% since just last November. In other words, the fact that a dealer doesn't have stock may be more our fault than anything and at the same time it may not be the best thing to even have more dealers.

As an aside but related to this: our new website allows you to check recent shipments to our dealers on a model by model basis. Look for this very soon now.

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:42 am

Cool....a new website! I can check for 4004LK shipments to Mike Parks......excellent

....the larger backlog doesn't sound good though

joepee · Post by **joepee** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:46 am

Is this the breaking 7 March news???????

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:50 am

......I kinda thought that myself....we'll know for sure if it gets edited

.....maybe this was just a planned "teaser".....

Scastles · Post by **Scastles** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:50 am

That will be something, seeing the models as they roll out and the destination. It will give everyone a chance to see what's out there and where. That's good, JOhn!

joepee · Post by **joepee** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:36 am

C'mon, Mr. Hall. Are we on the right track????

phlemmy · Post by **phlemmy** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:51 am

my local rick dealer has a pretty quick turnover on their basses. they just started dealing them again after almost a decade without them.

johnhall · Post by **johnhall** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:57 pm

Naw, I actually thought the website would already be up for general use but there's a few more things still to do.

Some of you were already invited to see and try it, however . . .!

simer4001 · Post by **simer4001** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:37 pm

Gosh! Why wasn't I invited? sniffle, sniffle

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:54 pm

Who's gonna break silence?

jaymi · Post by **jaymi** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:55 pm

Or Break wind??

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:02 pm

I'm anxious to see the new website!