Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I'll call Customer Service on Monday to get a Return Authorization. Thanks for the interest Ben. Feel free to add some binding and new triangle inlays to it while its there!

How cool is that - Ben Hall reads the forum and takes interest in a customer problem. This is just one of the reasons I became a complete fan of Rickenbacker instruments , and continue to be. I can tell you from first-hand experience this is NOT the case with another well-known California (or is it Arizona?) maker Kudos to Ben Hall and RIC!!

I would have to question if the case will cause this to re-occur or if it only does it when the case is new and possibly giving off gases from the fabric or foam? Ron did the green ever return on your guitar?

I was wondering about the case again myself last night. What if the same thing happened on its way back from the factory? I can't do anything until Monday regarding contacting RIC so I'm going to try Xymol and see how it goes. If it works out I'll be happy, and I can get the pickup selector switch replaced locally without any trouble.

You might want to take a look under the pickguard and check the switch's contacts before replacing it. Sometimes a little debris
gets in between the contacts (slide a strip of newspaper between them to clean) or one of the little leaf springs might need just a bit of bending with a pair of needle-nose pliers.

If you do send it back, maybe lay a polishing cloth in the case at the body end before the guitar goes in. Might be enough to prevent more color bleed.

I line my cases with diapers, except for my 320 which is form fitted and tighter than heck. But the newest of my finishes is a couple years old now and it has an old case which I don't suspect it's spent much time in.

kelly wrote:I was wondering about the case again myself last night. What if the same thing happened on its way back from the factory? I can't do anything until Monday regarding contacting RIC so I'm going to try Xymol and see how it goes. If it works out I'll be happy, and I can get the pickup selector switch replaced locally without any trouble.

Zymol will do nothing. Don't waste your time or Zymol.it's for gloss, nothing else.

britinvasion wrote:How cool is that - Ben Hall reads the forum and takes interest in a customer problem. This is just one of the reasons I became a complete fan of Rickenbacker instruments , and continue to be. I can tell you from first-hand experience this is NOT the case with another well-known California (or is it Arizona?) maker Kudos to Ben Hall and RIC!!

While I agree that it's very cool that Mr. Hall is taking an interest, I would quickly add that the first response from customer service (wet sand the thing yourself) is ridiculous. This is a serious issue and it is clearly Rickenbacker's responsibility to make it right. If the fault is with the case manufacturer that is unfortunate for Rickenbacker, but it is still their responsibility to rectify it. I'm curious how widespread a problem this is--this is certainly not the first I've heard of it. If you own a 2009 mapleglo or fireglo Rickenbacker, should you simply NOT store it in its case, ever? Will further curing of the finish make it less of a problem? WIll Rickenbacker be replacing the defective cases?

Ted: Welcome to the RickResource Forum. Please take the time to introduce yourself and give us a bit of information about your interest in Rickenacker guitars.

Having read this thread through it certainly seems the RIC has taken an interest in this instrument and are doing their level best to resolve the problem.

This surely reflects a responsible approach. The official word on the care of Rickenbacker instruments comes from the Factory and if customer service offered this advice as a first step then within such a context it would hardly be ridiculous. At the end of the day this will be sorted out with Customer Service and without contextual knowledge of the circumstances our characterization of the problem may be a bit presumptuous.

May I please add that to suggest on your initial post that the advice of RIC is ridiculous and to offer advice as to the Company's respnsibility is insensitive. As I welcome you to the RRF I hope you will be more patient and restained in your comments in the future.

Thanks for the welcome, Peter, and I should apologize for the tone if not the sentiment of my post. I love Rickenbacker guitars, but do not agree that they should be congratulated on their customer service in this case. The tendency to pass the responsibility for dealing with a defect along to the customer should not be encouraged or congratulated. I appreciate that we are all fans of Rickenbacker's here, and that the level of customer service that Rickenbacker displays goes above and beyond industry standards in many ways, I do not feel that this should give them a free pass. If one of Rickenbacker's competitors suggested that a customer should wet sand a guitar with a defect in the finish, I do not doubt that members of this forum would (rightly) see that as an insufficient response.

I do not doubt that Rickenbacker will ultimately go the extra mile to help this and other customers with similar problems (based on the response from Rickenbacker re: the case manufacturer and other reports, this is not an isolated incident) and that's as it should be. We have come to expect nothing less.

For a bit of context: I've owned several Rickenbackers in the past 15 years or so: a couple 360s, a 370VP, and most recently a 350v63. I've been a member here for a few years now, though I've never participated actively in the forum. I'm currently without a rickenbacker, but am shopping for the right new one, and it is in that context that the above issue caught my eye and raised my concerns. I'm making a squeak because squeaky wheels get greased, and if there are any issues with Ric's new finish or the materials being used in their cases, it's in all of our interest to see that addressed ASAP. Corporations do have consciences--their customers.

So, sincere apologies again if my earlier post offended or alarmed anyone. It was written out of true concern and appreciation, and in the hope that criticism can keep a company we love honest.

Two statements here are a bit off the mark in this case:

"Corporations do have consciences--their customers..."

and

"criticism can keep a company we love honest."

Having been involved with American corporations, both huge (Xerox, GM) and small (whose names would mean nothing to anyone here) for 35 years, I developed a reliable BS detector and learned a fair amount of self-protective cynicism.

But, RIC is not like any other corporation I've known. As far as I have seen, there is little need for watchdogging the folks at RIC. It's a family business with terrific QC and very high standards, and RIC operates on a business model that is all but obsolete in this century, although much of their technology is state of the art..

Real issues with product quality or defects are taken very seriously, and corrected as soon as RIC management becomes aware of the existence of the problem and are able to check out the issues completely. It is not unusual for RIC to refinish an instrument under warranty, or replace it outright, and although the instruments can be quirky, real problems are addressed with all seriousness.

Over the years, some individuals have taken it upon themselves to personally attack RIC personnel and management, out of an overblown sense of their own comments' value, and I've seen a number of people with axes to grind, publicizing their experiences with RIC customer service, from their own viewpoint, and attempting to grind their axes unfairly in the most public of forums--the internet. In these cases, seldom is the whole story presented in context. Folks seem to have a selective memory, and a lot of people want something for nothing and try to play Wile E. Coyote with RIC.

In my experience, the worst combination of negative qualities that a customer can have are arrogance, ignorance, and a sense of entitlement. Unfortunately there are a lot of these types out there; I have dealt with a (very) few of them, and RIC customer service deals with them regularly, it seems.

This is meant as a general statement, and not as a comment on any particular situation.

My motto, and good practical advice: If you deal with RIC in an honest, attitude-free way, you'll get full consideration. But, then, this applies to most relationships, doesn't it? It's funny/strange that some adults can somehow get through life without ever realizing this simple fact.

britinvasion wrote:How cool is that - Ben Hall reads the forum and takes interest in a customer problem. This is just one of the reasons I became a complete fan of Rickenbacker instruments , and continue to be. I can tell you from first-hand experience this is NOT the case with another well-known California (or is it Arizona?) maker Kudos to Ben Hall and RIC!!

Yep, most definitely. Try talking to the other big companies, they certainly aren't on the forums!

Ted: Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I appreciate the tone of your most recent post which also provides us with some background information regarding your interest in Rickenbackers. Further, I had not noted that you have been a member here for almost two years. It is always nice to have those sitting in the wings join the dialog of the form.

I hope that in the near future you will find a Rickenbacker guitar that is just right for you.

I saw a pretty extreme example of the green rash syndrome on a FG 4003 bass at a local dealer. It had been stored in its' molded SKB case, and had developed this green rash all over the neck. They showed it to me before they shipped it back to the factory. They had two FG 4003s, one had the problem and the other didn't. I've never seen anything like that before.