Quality of "R" tailpieces
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lyle_from_minneapolis
- Advanced Member
- Posts: 2530
- Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:13 pm
This here's my bus stop, but, Manuel, I would like to say that I do indeed respect your opinion, and I thoroughly enjoy these conversations. I wish you the best in getting your Rickenbackers back to perfect. 
Here is where I hide my music:
http://www.soundclick.com/MarkKaufman
http://www.soundclick.com/MarkKaufman
I don't really want to re-open a can of worms here, but in fairness to people on BOTH sides of this issue I'd like to make two points.
#1 - These tailpieces DO exist. I'm switching my 330/12 from black to chrome hardware and I just got one. The tailpieces on my '91 360/12WB, my former '96 360/12 and the original one on this '85 330/12BT were all beautiful. When I was wrapping the black one to send in for trade my last thought was "too bad, because this would make one hell of a cool belt buckle". The replacement which arrived today, on the other hand, may well be the crudest piece of hardware I've ever seen on a guitar. Two-thirds of the string slots weren't even open due to being flashed-over with stuff as thick as 1/16" and there is a big nasty burr along the underside of the front lip. This is certainly not something that you just smooth out with a Dremel tool in a couple minutes. So anybody who doesn't believe that these things can exist or that they can be pretty darned nasty look at this:
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/tailpiece%2002copy.jpg
#2 - I did actually think seriously about trying to grind out the bad spots, but decided it was just more work than I wanted to put into it, so I called Kenny at RIC customer service. Without even seeing it, he was friendly, he was courteous and instantly said he was sorry that one slipped through and gave me a return authorization to return it for replacement. He could not have been nicer or more helpful and I appreciate it. Having spent most of my morning on the phone with multiple representatives of my cable company, trying to get a bogus charge off of my bill for the second month in a row, dealing with Kenny was like a breath of springtime.
So it's certainly possible to get a rough tailpiece and hopefully the folks at the factory are working to correct that issue, but from what I can tell, there isn't much reason to go on a rampage about it because fast, friendly help is just a phone call away. Thanks Kenny!
#1 - These tailpieces DO exist. I'm switching my 330/12 from black to chrome hardware and I just got one. The tailpieces on my '91 360/12WB, my former '96 360/12 and the original one on this '85 330/12BT were all beautiful. When I was wrapping the black one to send in for trade my last thought was "too bad, because this would make one hell of a cool belt buckle". The replacement which arrived today, on the other hand, may well be the crudest piece of hardware I've ever seen on a guitar. Two-thirds of the string slots weren't even open due to being flashed-over with stuff as thick as 1/16" and there is a big nasty burr along the underside of the front lip. This is certainly not something that you just smooth out with a Dremel tool in a couple minutes. So anybody who doesn't believe that these things can exist or that they can be pretty darned nasty look at this:
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/tailpiece%2002copy.jpg
#2 - I did actually think seriously about trying to grind out the bad spots, but decided it was just more work than I wanted to put into it, so I called Kenny at RIC customer service. Without even seeing it, he was friendly, he was courteous and instantly said he was sorry that one slipped through and gave me a return authorization to return it for replacement. He could not have been nicer or more helpful and I appreciate it. Having spent most of my morning on the phone with multiple representatives of my cable company, trying to get a bogus charge off of my bill for the second month in a row, dealing with Kenny was like a breath of springtime.
So it's certainly possible to get a rough tailpiece and hopefully the folks at the factory are working to correct that issue, but from what I can tell, there isn't much reason to go on a rampage about it because fast, friendly help is just a phone call away. Thanks Kenny!
Glad it worked out. I've never been in manufacturing, but it makes sense that sometimes things slip through and I think your point that Rickenbacker was polite and responsive is an important one. I've had similar experiences with Mesa Boogie, Voodoo Amps and Saab (believe it or not).
My personal experience with Kenny has been somewhat less positive. When he was last in Atlanta, I lent him a car, and he thanked me for it by slapping me across the face with a wet fish... Thwapppp!
Seriously, without brown-nosing too much, we all know the Rick guys surf this forum, so I did want to highlight Todd's appreciation.
JKC
My personal experience with Kenny has been somewhat less positive. When he was last in Atlanta, I lent him a car, and he thanked me for it by slapping me across the face with a wet fish... Thwapppp!
Seriously, without brown-nosing too much, we all know the Rick guys surf this forum, so I did want to highlight Todd's appreciation.
JKC