How Far Away Is Your Nearest Rickenbacker Dealer?

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 3:26 pm

Philip-- Heads up on purchasing anything from Ed Roman. Be sure to read Josh Phillipson's sad experience with that guy over in the "Ric Guitars" room.

philco · Post by **philco** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 3:55 pm

I bought my Tacoma C1C Chief from Ed Roman, and at a great price. It plays and sounds terrific. It's known as "the acoustic Telecaster" and is a very advanced new design. My youngest brother, who has more guitar sense than I do, tried it out and was very impressed. He noted the ultra low action that was like an electric guitar. He also loved the long sustain and rich harmonics of the notes. Play one quietly with your ear near the offset soundhole and see what I mean. Scott Krell at Ed Roman talked me into getting it and steered me away from cheap imports that cost only about $300 less. Great American quality all the way and light as a feather. It's a definite keeper.

The guy that had problems did a modification on his Rickenbacker. If he had left well enough alone, he might have been alright. Never forget that wood has a mind of its own sometimes! Ed owes him some warranty service, I would say. I wonder if Ed set the problem straight.

lawnjockie · Post by **lawnjockie** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 4:53 pm

Waaaaay too close! I use him to point with....commonly known as my MOUSE! OUCH!

Lately, the more I point the more I spend. The two RIC dealers that I have the utmost confidence in are Chris at Pick of the Ricks, and Paul at PM Blues.

http://www.pickofthericks.com
http://www.pmblues.com

I live in central Pennsylvania so the closest actual store would be in Pittsburgh (2 hours plus), or over towards Philly (4 hours plus). I don't fret over that too much though....because dealing with the two listed above....the governor doesn't see his 6% tax....and for the standard run of the mill RIC, that's around $60.00.

rkbsound · Post by **rkbsound** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 5:47 pm

Scott -- Don't forget Rhoads Music in Elizabethtown. Got my 360 from there and I am most satisfied with the transaction and guitar!

mdbuck · Post by **mdbuck** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 6:05 pm

The dealers here in the Portland,Or. area are becoming scarce. I bought my last Ric (325V59)a couple of months ago at Tombstone Music. They told me at that time that they were no longer going to carry any Rics. Very sad. The Ric I bought from them was built in February of '97 and I bought it as new since it had not been previously sold, fresh out of warranty I might add. The only other place I know of that sells Rics is Portland Music Company, downtown but, I can not confirm that as I haven't been to that store and probably won't because I detest going into downtown Portland. Also, I was under the impression that Rics were sold at Guitar Centers. Both the local stores here say that they don't sell them. I have been to both and have not seen any on display. It looks like the dealers here are dwindling and soon may be non-existant. This is also sad. Although I don't mind buying off the Internet and have, I would much prefer being able to go into to my local Ric store and trying them on for size, so to speak. However, I've already made my mind up to buy a 380L PZ as my next Ric and this guitar seems only to be had off the Internet. Anyway to make a long post even longer, I wonder if there are any negosiations going on to re-establish another Ric dealer here in the Portland area? Would be nice and very welcome by me anyway...

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 6:14 pm

All Guitars Centers should have them coming out of their ears in the next few months.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Tue Feb 25, 2003 8:40 pm

My local RIC dealer is a few suburbs away, but they very rarely actually carry any stock, which is not that surprising, because RIC's take such a long time to sell here in New Zealand, and usually end up being sold pretty cheaply to move them.

It's very disappointing, because the NZ distributor, Roger Smith, is a pretty good guy to deal with, and in the local context, the new RIC's I have seen have been very keenly priced. I guess he gets them at the same price as US dealers.

What this means to me personally is that I am most likely to buy off eBay, despite the risk and the shipping charges.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:34 am

Roger Smith is a very nice guy but he's also not the distributor in New Zealand. CMI in Australia is the legitimate distributor and it's possible that Roger is a customer of theirs.

But the problem everywhere is one of supply- right now we simply can't build enough product to keep up with all the orders. In your case, it's likely (and quite understandable) that the Australian distributor is keeping instruments they receive from their orders in-country for their larger dealerships.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 12:38 pm

Michael - Fred & Toody at Tombstone music are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet (and their band, Dead Moon, absolutely rules! In fact, I'll be seeing them tonight in SF). Sorry to hear that they're no longer a dealer; they had several nice Rics hanging up the last time I was there, but they didn't look like the kind of thing that they sold a lot of, so I'm not surprised to hear.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 2:54 pm

Mr. Hall,

After looking at the Dealer's page on the Rickenbacker site, I was wondering if "Tony's One Stop Music Shoppe" located in Chatham, Ontario Canada is still a dealer? I only ask because in 2001, I was unable to place an order there, which is why I ended up going to Murch Music in Cambridge. Tony's is still listed as being a Ric dealer in the phone book, etc, but from my experience, he doesn't take orders.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Thu Feb 27, 2003 10:21 am

> "Roger Smith is a very nice guy but he's also not the distributor in New Zealand. CMI in Australia is the legitimate distributor and it's possible that Roger is a customer of theirs."

Thanks for clarifying, John.

Roger, and his now former retail outlets - though he still has one - are the only places I've seen a new RIC fs, but I'm not aware of any RIC stocks for some time. The last time I saw a new RIC here was at last year's Music Expo in Auckland. IIRC, there was just one RIC bass on display on Roger's stand…maybe a guitar too. I’m pretty sure CMI's stand exhibited no RIC's at all.

> "In your case, it's likely (and quite understandable) that the Australian distributor is keeping instruments they receive from their orders in-country for their larger dealerships."

Yes, I understand completely...but it's disappointing all the same.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Sat Mar 01, 2003 6:44 am

The only two Ric dealers within 100 miles of me became dealers at my request & instigation. Neither have any Rics in stock at present, nor have they stocked any since their initial orders.

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 9:04 am

The only Ric Dealer that's listed for the whole state of New Mexico is Encore Music, Albuquerque, NM. When I wanted to order something from them, they told me that their dealership has expired or is no longer viable....WHAT GIVES????

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 6:03 am

Al,

I know that feeling all too well. I tried 4 "Rickenbacker dealers" in 3 different cities before finally finding one that actually, you know, takes orders and stuff.

beatlenut · Post by **beatlenut** » Tue Apr 22, 2003 3:48 am

My closest dealer is 2 hours away (Pekin). Chicago is 2 1/2 hours for me and Des Moines is 3 hours away. Living in West Central Illinois is not the place to be if you want to try/buy a Ric. I'm not even sure if Pekin or Des Moines has any in stock. They haven't returned my emails from last week! Not the best of service.