Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

You will notice that there is some substantial editing of this subtopic. I have kept as much discussion as I could.

It goes without saying, however, that many comments made were unacceptable and I have done my best to let all have their say.

Unfortunately, in the interest of time, some posts may have been deleted that could have been edited more precisely. To those sensitive and caring people who did their very best to remind others that they were out of line, I thank you.

To those who feel that they can say whatever they want, there is no place on this forum for you for the next 30 days. After that we will see.

You know, I got to re-reading the beginning of this post and realized that I made the comment.

"Ken,
Just wondering, are you ever happy ???"


If that comment is what is resposible for getting this all started, I truly am sorry.

I was just referring to Ken's nice collection of basses, and the choices he has within that collection. I meant no harm, and I apologize if it was taken as a rude remark.

All said and done we all love/own and play rics for many different reasons.This forum is great for all of us who can't get enough of the rickenbacker bug,and if we have to wait for the players of the music world to realise how good these instruments and use them on tours/t.v etc etc to catch up with us then thats their problem.We already know.

Well said, Peter.

A well earned thank you for our hard pressed moderator!
I can imagine what a brutal job it's been to filter the 18 pages of this thread alone, as well as monitor the rest of the forum & try to have a life besides.

Peter - thanks as always for your tireless work and dedication to keep the discourse here positive!

Peter......thanks as always for the wonderful Forum and I am sorry that at times it must be a total pain to deal with. The normal running of the site is enough work and the fact that it isn't always self moderating isn't much of a "thank you".....hopefully some members realize that sometimes they have to put their own feelings and ego aside for the better of the community and out of respect for you. Thanks again!

Ditto...

Now that I have worked out the kinks in my neck from reading one of the longest threads in recent times, and taken my gel caps, I have decided to reinstate those who have been suspended after three days, provided they ask in writing and make it clear that they will cease the insensitive dialogue. Otherwise, the suspension is 30 days.

whoa-double them gel-caps...

I appreciate the work and time Peter spent on this thread, and I hope everyone sees that we who comment need to do a better job at moderating ourselves.

Peter... thank you, Man! Like my punk fellas say, "i give you respect", and that's not just "words, words, words"...
All the best to you.
SC.

I'm sure we all regret it getting down to the 'bass' level that it did. Well done, Peter. Once again you have displayed patience, tolerance and diplomacy.

I didn't see this until after the editing took place, but I would like to go back to a couple of the early non-personal statements.

1) Ric says this is what we make, take it or leave it.

I think that's true of most companies, even the ones that change based on consumer response usually would do so because of trends in the desires of many consumers as opposed to the requests of one or a few individuals. I know for a fact that the lead guitar player in our band would pay almost anything for a vintage-style left-handed SG with the maestro vibrato. He had one when he was younger and, regrettably, sold it. He's talked to people from Gibson and they've told him that the vibrato is NOT EVER going to be offered on a left-handed guitar, even though they have it right now on right-handed guitars. So RIC isn't the only company that can't make every individual happy.

2) RIC sells its' products to collectors or older fans craving nostalgia.

Like Paul, I was able to go to NAMM this year and I went by the RIC booth. They allowed you to play some of the guitars they had there, using headphones through small VOX amplifier. Most of the people I saw playing were younger (twenties and teens) and I can tell you this: John Hall sold two instruments that day. At some point in the next few years my son is going to be ordering a 4004L (in blue) and a 660 (also in blue but I'm really trying to steer him toward JetGlo). My son is 16 and doesn't give a "rats ***" if no star ever played a RIC. That's what he wants, and when his friends come over, the RIC guitars I have are the ones they are most drawn to. Our house has approximately 40 guitars/basses, six of which are RICs, so my son has been able to play examples from many different brands and he wants his first "good guitar" to be a 660. I think RIC can count on support long after baby boomers stop buying guitars.

Finally, I heard someone say that they can't find a 620 to play before ordering one. If you're in the Denver Colorado area I can give you some advice. If you're not, try to find someone on this forum that lives nearby and has one that they'll let you try out. When my wife bought her RIC she wanted a 650S and we couldn't find one to try, either. One of the guys at Guitar Center owned one and brought it in for her to try. Hers was ordered that day.

And Peter, thanks for policing the Forum. Nothing kills a good discussion faster than attacking people instead of ideas, and I don't care if that sounds like brown nosing.

BTW - anyone who's on the fence about the new model, it plays SO great. At least the one at NAMM did.

One last NAMM comment. If you really want to be angry about what RIC can do but doesn't, start asking John Hall to make the jewelry his wife has available to the rest of us.

At NAMM she (and I'm assuming it's his wife) was wearing a solid ring necklace with a stylized "R" as a pendant (like the tailpiece on RIC giutars). It was quite fetching.

My big regret is that I didn't go up to the ones whose names I recognized from this forum and say thank you in person. So, to Ben Hall, Kenny Howes and John Hall, as well as the others who were there, thanks for helping to make that experience possible.

Something similar to NAMM, but open to the general public, would be a great thing to see.