Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

No no no no no no no no!

I'm still holding out hopes that my 660 AFG I have on order might show up with some sweet birdseye!

I'm curious: why is it such a problem that we discuss this? For thinking people, this is a reasonable, intellectual, and non-personal discussion. With due respect to you Mr. Hall, why the sarcastic, knee-jerk comments? I for one would really love to have your thoughtful comments on the matter. I'm sure we're all in that boat & I'm sure we all agree that they're fab guitars, regardless. And, thanks for participating.

I wouldn't object to a change to a more accurate description. If the description says "charactered" then any member of the buying public should reasonably expect to get a charactered guitar. If it says "very select maple" that doesn't imply the use of charactered wood, ergo one should not necessarily expect to see any. That would be a good change, in my humble opinion!

"No no no no no no no no!

I'm still holding out hopes that my 660 AFG I have on order might show up with some sweet birdseye!"

It seems like you are under the same delusion I was. I too thought my 660 would show up looking "birdseye/flame/quilt etc..." Your 660 still may be delivered that way.

I do not think Rickenbacker will be changing the wood that 660's are made from....JH said he might change the words used to describe the wood. When your 660 AFG arrives, it will still be a luck of the draw if you happen to get one that looks birdseye/flame/quilt etc...

I agree with the posts regarding Ric's description as being misleading, as I took delivery of a 660/12 MG last Spring that was nice but had no figuring of any sort. A bit of wavy grain, but none of the things I would have expected. The picture of the 660 on the catalog is a gourgeous, but probably very rare example. I didn't keep the guitar, for other QC related issues, but have another one on order and will be very interested to see what I end up with.

I think " charactered" is perhaps the best way to put random issues such as the amount of flame/birdseye in a natural material, into words without promising too much. To seize upon this word because you're disappointed in the graining does nobody any good. But if John decides to change the wording, may I suggest "parsed maple", as it seems to be what you guys are doing.

If you want really way-out figuring in your grain for whatever personal reason, then talk to a dealer and have him hold one out for you, if he hasn't done it for himself or someone else.

My first two Ricks were high-end new models--a MB 660/12 and a MB 381V69, bought from the stock of two different dealers, two weeks apart. Both had nice grain; neither is spectacular; I suspect that that's why they were finished in MB. MG guitars seem to have the best figuring, especially the 381s. So be it.

Was/am I disappointed? Not in the least! They are both gorgeous hunks of wood, besides being wonderful instruments.

The recent comments and conjecture about figured wood prompted me to visit my newly acquired 660-12 MB(as if I needed an excuse)and it doesen'tr have a dramatic grain,but if it did, I think that it would actually detract from it's overall beauty,which resides in the MB finish.

Don, I've got a 660/12, too, in MB. It does have some figuring--nothing dramatic--but just enough to set off the beautiful burst.

MB is a fabulous color. Gold guards set it off perfectly.

jingle_jangle wrote:I think " charactered" is perhaps the best way to put random issues such as the amount of flame/birdseye in a natural material, into words without promising too much.

WHAT!!!!!!! If I sold you a diamond and said it was flawless....then it arived at your house with a few random flaws you would call me a liar. If I sold you a guitar and said it was charactered...then if it arrived at your house with no character/flame/birdseye etc.... you would call me a liar.

Words have meanings.....words are not just letters strung together for the fun of it....

This is not an issue of "my guitar did not have enough "character/flame/birdseye" in the wood for my taste".....my 660/6 BBR arrived with NONE, ZERO, ZILTCH.
This is not shades of gray....If my guitar had the slightest bit of bend in the grain, I would never have said a thing.

I have been trying to sell this guitar....no one will buy it from me...I wonder why, I'm asking a fair price (a few hundred less than I paid for it).......Oh wait...I don't wonder....When potential buyers see a Rick 660 as boring looking as mine they are DISAPPOINTED!!!!!! Just like me....

You are getting your knickers in a twist over semantics, Mark. Sorry you feel so betrayed; it's been my experience that people who look for things to take issue with, have no trouble finding them. The other side of that coin is that they often find their outrage non-transferrable and their battles end up being solitary pursuits.

Your "flawless diamond" analogy is flawed and, worse yet, it has been skewed by your negativity.

Your guitar will sell. It's not a particularly good time of year; sometimes the market will pick up in time for Christmas, other times you'll have to wait until May or June. My own 660/12 in MB has a bit of flame, but is 90% straight grained.

Nobody has ever called it "boring". In fact, everytime it has come out of its case in public, there are folks "ohh-ing" and "aah-ing" over it.

Anyway, sometimes I feel that when someone is too invested in his outrage, and self-righteousness sets in, words contrary to what he wants to hear will inevitably fall upon deaf ears. I think that is the case now, so I'll parachute out of this bomber before it goes down.

If you get a jetglo 660 then you won't have to worry about the grain-figuring on the maple, just the fingerprints...

On the other hand my 620MG, you know "the poor man's 660", has great figuring. Go figure (oh, is that a pun?)

I have a simple solution; in the next catalog and the website version of it, we'll just remove "charactered". It IS a very select Maple used on these instruments, in any case, but if I do this we won't have to have this kind of discussion.

Or as I said before, we could just switch to plastic.

Yes, thanks, that's constructive. Sorry if this offends, but it seems to me there's a legitimate question at play here, so a legitimate response (or none, if preferred), would seem to be in order.

This is what folks think they're ordering:



If this is not what's delivered, there's a reasonable question on the table.

Bill

Heres some grain on the front and some flame on the back
Its any old excuse to get my ric out!

Here's my long awaited 381/12V69 BBR. 2.5 year wait. Nice guitar, but not worth the wait.
I could have bought a nicer one and had it reshot in BBR in less time. '97 to '99 had the best
wood.....

I think your guitar is lovely Paul.Very nice indeed.

It may not be as spectacular as some other 381's, but I'd say thats some pretty nice maple you have there John. Any shots of the back?