Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

My 4003 arrived in late November and sat on the porch for a while before it was brought inside. As I'm reading the notice on the outside of the box I felt a bit like Pinto from Animal House, angel on one shoulder, devil on the other. The devil won.

Hey Paul, I have a different theory about keeping guitars in cases. I left my Hofner bass out, laying on the couch for a couple of days and the neck bowed. Since then I'm a firm believer regarding keeping guitars IN cases when not in use. This is especially true if you have small animals or children running around. All my 40 guitars and basses have cases and they are inside the cases when not in use.

I love playing the waiting game when a new instrument arrives. That's probably one of the reasons why I won't buy a guitar out of a music store. The other reason is that I want to be one of the first ones to touch the instrument. Another "cool thing" is what you elated to regarding the unforgettable "nice smell".

"I want to be one of the first ones to touch the instrument."

I ordered a Jerry Jones Longhorn bass from a shop here in Austin. When it arrived they called me and I hopped in the car. As I walked in the door the owner of the shop handed me a box cutter. They held off opening the shipping carton so I could. Very nice of them.

Thanks for the advice, Joe.
However, don't worry.
I don't have kids and running animals in the house.
The babies sit on stands (whose "neck hoops" are set very low for the least pressure against the backs of necks) in my study/musicroom. It's usually only me in the room as a moving being. I like them to stand within my reach to keep me good company ( I even gave them names). They pretty much share equal playing time as each is equally accessible.

Yes I did once break the headstock of my Gibson Les Paul Special 8 years ago by leaving her on a stand (neck hoop open) in the living room and inadvertantly tramped on the cable which was still attached to her. BANG!!! Face down she fell...Man, I shed tears and kept saying sorry to her. Fortunately, a local luthier glued the headstock back and refinished the head/neck joint. I can still see the crack at the back of headstock but the fingers can't feel it as the refinish was good.
Ever since the accident, I always detach the cord before putting my guitars on the stnds and lock up the neck hoops, and remind myself to be always very careful.

That was top class service, Ronn.
What's the name of the shop?

I have my basses hanging on a wall out of the way- seems like a good idea to me

I did that once with a Hamer Special. Went from the factory in Chicago to the distributor in Connecticut to the guitar store in St. Paul (where I used to live) and I got to open the box. Very cool.

In retrospect it would have been cooler if it had been a Rickenbacker.

Ouch, Paul.... It hurt just to read about the accident with your Les Paul! The same thing almost happened to me once, and ever since then I have been very careful to case my instruments after each use, or if I plan to leave the room for more than 5 minutes during a playing session (I do have 2 kids that like to run wild!).... If I do use a guitar stand, I make sure to unplug the guitar, too! At least it wasn't one of your beautiful Ric babies; the pain would have been too much to handle!

I keep all of mine in their cases unless I am doing some recording or practicing. Some of the cases are inside cardboard boxes as well, as empty boxes take up a lot of space. However, I rent, so my options about wall mountings etc. are limited. If/when I have a house of my own, I probably will have some of my rarer RICs (e.g., the 1993 370/12v64 FG, the 1970 331LS Lightshow) in wall-mounted display cases.

All sarcasm and humor aside, I think these beauties look fine with their stickers on:



Then again, I always was a fan of Minnie Pearl... (Wait! Didn't I just say "all... humor aside..."!!!)

Thanks for sympathizing, Melissa.
My heart still aches when I think back of what I did to her. I pray for it to never happen again.

Gary,
Are you telling me you have one of those rare Minnie Pearl Ltd Ed models????
And what is that gorgeous fireglo guitar next to the Hoffs model? What a beauty, and three pickups???? What is that, a 620 old model or a 630?

Cool photo, Gary! That's a sweet-looking pair of guitars you have there. Delicious. Wait.... I guess I'm thinking of the "31 Flavors" thread, LOL! (Mmmmmm....raspberries and dark chocolate....)

Gene, I don't have the ulta-rare Minnie Pearl LE (boo hoo; I hear it came with a hat, too!).

The 620 Fireglo is a 1999, and the person I bought it from stated that it was a custom order for a RIC employee. I haven't yet looked under the pickguard yet to confirm that, but I have no reason to doubt the seller. The addition of the third pickup does give some interesting color to the output - when I check the wiring, I'll see how it has been wired (I'm guessing that it's the 'standard' three-pickup wiring).

To me, this 620 harks back to the bygone era when a model 450 could be ordered with an optional third pickup (I've seen one or two such 450s for sale over the past few years). As far as 'correct' nomenclature for it, I have no clue; I postulate either "620 SPC", à la models 1997 (2PU) and 1997 SPC (3PU), or "623", à la models 480 (2PU) and 483 (3PU). Maybe Kenny, "Mr. Inside RIC", can shed some light on this.

Melissa, you were actually correct, if you count a Ryder as a Rickenbacker, as I have exactly 31 right now:

320 Silver
325v59 JG
331LS BG
350SH JG
360 TUR
360 CW JG
370/12 RM MG
370/12v64 FG
381 JK JG
450v63 BG
450v63 JG
460 BG
480 MG
620 'SPC' FG
660/12 TP FG
660/12 TP JG
730L Mapleglo
1997 PT FG
4000 FL BG
4001 Ruby
4001 WAL
4001 FL BG
4001S WHT
4002 AUT
4003 WHT WT
4003 FL TUR
4003S/SPC Blackstar (JG)
4003S Redneck (Red)
4003S Tuxedo (WHT)
4080 JG
Ryder 1000 FG

OOPS - I just noticed that the 380L PZ is missing from this list (as is a 1975 4001 FG, but that one may get sold next week), so I guess it doesn't matter if you count the Ryder or not! What's nice is that no two are exactly the same, e.g., the two 660/12TPs are different colors - how nice is that?

Oh man.... Gary, I am jealous! How do you decide which one to play?

"That was top class service, Ronn.
What's the name of the shop?"

South Austin Music. Ask for Bill. Or Brian. Tell 'em Ronn from The Eggmen sent ya'.