Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

admin wrote:Black guards are stunning on the Pearl White.

This thread has generated much discussion. There are so many changes that have occurred over the years. It is easy to see how different members would embrace different features.

Thanks Peter! I think they turned out pretty good too..even so, at the moment I'm still favouring white-on-white...but WAIT!! I have another idea.....

You're right about the amount of discussion....but it's good to talk, right???

Eddie, talking is what we do best. Sound holes come in many forms. Thanks for your comments.

RicukStu wrote: Jeez now that is petty

That's like buying a Ferrari and taking it back because you "don't like the shape of the wheels, they're just too round"
I can fully understand John Hall's decision not to do this again if there are people that get upset and return a guitar due to the shape of a headstock, are there really people that fussy and over critical with nothing better to do?

I don't quite agree with the Ferrari analogy Stuart. I think a better one would be this.

Imagine a customer spends £150,000 on a Ferrari California. He is incredibly excited about receiving the car. The dealer calls him and tells him his dream car (which he'd saved hard for and waited many months for delivery) will be with him the next day. The day arrives and the dealer personally delivers the car to his house. The customer rushes to meet the dealer and take his seat at the wheel for his very first drive. He presses the launch control button and revs the powerful V8 in readiness to depart....but just as he is about to set off he realises that something is not quite right. He scratches his head. He'd seen all the pictures in the brochure before he ordered the car...yet something doesn't seem to be quite as he expected with the car's interior. He finds himself staring at the centre of the steering wheel. Then it hits him like an arrow to the brain. Instead of the classic prancing horse of Ferrari staring proudly back at him from the centre of the steering wheel, there is a small and cheap plastic badge with the legend "Fiat 500". His jaw drops....his brain is telling him 'this cannot be'....and yet it is. He winds down the window, and calls forward the dealer who has been standing proudly on his driveway ready to wave him off on his maiden voyage.

"Excuse me, Mr Dealer, but I think there has been a mistake of some sort here...why does the steering wheel say "Fiat 500" instead of having a picture of the prancing horse?". There is a pause.

"Ah, well Sir, I thought you might say something about that. I noticed it myself when the car was delivered to us yesterday morning. In fact I called the factory in Maranello immediately and discussed it direct with the manager there. He told me that I should not worry. He said there had been a small problem at the Ferrari steering wheel supplier and they had not delivered a batch of steering wheels on the week your car was built. The factory manager told me he had called the Fiat Group Engineering department in Turin to explain the problem and had personally spoken to the Head of the Department. The Engineering Director had told him not to worry. He said he had personally designed the steering wheel for the California and that it was technically almost identical to the wheel on the Fiat 500 (which he had also designed). The director said they had plenty of Fiat 500 wheels in stock at the factory in Turin and so they sent 25 down to Maranello later that day to be fitted into the Californias which were waiting for a steering wheel....including your car"

"But it's not a Ferrari steering wheel! And it's in my brand new California! That I paid £150,000 for! And that I waited six months to be built!" ...protested the customer.

"I completely understand your opinion, Sir" said the dealer, "and I made that point myself to the Factory Manager yesterday. He told me not to worry as Fiat and Ferrari are all part of the same big happy family of Fiat Group and if we fit a Fiat 500 steering wheel to a Ferrari California it is no problem...it works exactly the same as a California wheel, and both steering wheels are correct Fiat Group approved parts...okay maybe they look just a little different, but be happy and enjoy your 175MPH sports car as the engine works just great...I mean really, there's no problem."

Now Stuart, would you really be so surprised if that customer on reflection decided to hand the car back, get a refund, and then go straight to his local Aston Martin dealer? It's just possible that one day, that customer could be you...

What if you were to make a Fireglo set of guards and a TRC. You know what I mean. It would be a total reverse guitar.

Eddie...well put!

Ivan... that cracked me up.

IvanMunoz wrote:What if you were to make a Fireglo set of guards and a TRC. You know what I mean. It would be a total reverse guitar.

I'm starting to think with a white background, just about anything would be possible as it's such a perfect blank canvas. I am working on other ideas..

k43rover wrote:I don't quite agree with the Ferrari analogy Stuart. I think a better one would be this.

Lame would be my opinion on your analogy, Eddie. And obvious you haven't worked in automotive, btw, or you'd know the truth about Ferrari

Eddie..........enough already

Wildberry wrote: Lame would be my opinion on your analogy, Eddie.

You are welcome to state your opinion Werner, and I'm so glad that you could be bothered to express it in such a well thought out way.

Wildberry wrote: And obvious you haven't worked in automotive, btw, or you'd know the truth about Ferrari

You must be very well qualified in stating the obvious Werner. I spent eight years working in the the automotive industry. How many years have you worked in it?

8mileshigh wrote:Eddie..........enough already

I'm glad you're enjoying the discussion Graham

As so many forumites still seem to have such deep insight into this topic, there may yet be more to be squeezed...

While some members are digging deeper into this topic others remain more guarded.

In the interest of moving on, I will be locking this topic in the next few hours should it not Peter out by then.

I thank all who have pushed the envelope with their posts while keeping the delivery courteous. Almost two weeks and more than 200 posts later it has been a good run.

admin wrote:While some members are digging deeper into this topic others remain more guarded.

In the interest of moving on, I will be locking this topic in the next few hours should it not Peter out by then.

I thank all who have pushed the envelope with their posts while keeping the delivery courteous.

It's obviously down to you Peter if you feel the need to lock a topic. I respect your decision.

Personally I feel the comments on this thread have, in the main, been fact based and expressed in a respectful way. I think everyone can feel that their opinions have been openly expressed. As a paying customer for one of the guitars, I certainly feel I have had the opportunity to articulate very clearly what I feel about the subject. Even in locked down mode, I think this thread will be very useful to present and future forumites who may be doing some research into these rare and beautiful guitars down the line.

To those creative souls who may have been looking forward to seeing more results of my experiments with the plastic on this guitar, now you will just have to use your imaginations...

Eddie: I am satisfied when a post has allowed members to comment fully. I saw nothing disrespectful in this thread. Unless a thread such as this is locked it can be filled with tangents that lose the original focus. Of course, there is nothing to stop you from adding your new ideas in another thread.

admin wrote:Of course, there is nothing to stop you from adding your new ideas in another thread.

I am coming to your view that there's already been enough discussion on these guitars Peter. For those who want to learn about them, they can go back and read what has already been written.

So Rickenbacker created some custom guitars, the dealer sold them all, Rickenbacker thus had a successful transaction and so did the dealer and so did the customers. Everybody profited, I don't see a down side.