Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I think 'relic'ing a guitar is fairly idiotic. I also think spending $12,000 on a repro of an artist's guitar is fairly idiotic.
That said, I kind of pine for a Strummer Tele.

Hypocrite: it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it.

Just watched the life story of Joe Strummer last night i had recorded twas good!

The strummer Teles I saw weren't $12,500.00, making them a relative bargain.

captsandwich wrote:I think 'relic'ing a guitar is fairly idiotic. I also think spending $12,000 on a repro of an artist's guitar is fairly idiotic.
That said, I kind of pine for a Strummer Tele.

Hypocrite: it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it.

I had hold of one of these, almost ready to buy it but something changed my mind at the last minute (probably the thought that I should be spending my money on another Ric ).
It's a great guitar though and is well priced at around £600.
A few days rubbing down, a re-spray and then the zymol treatment would have this looking good as new.........

Mateybob wrote: I had hold of one of these, almost ready to buy it but something changed my mind at the last minute (probably the thought that I should be spending my money on another Ric ).
It's a great guitar though and is well priced at around £600.
A few days rubbing down, a re-spray and then the zymol treatment would have this looking good as new.........

I was scoffing at it in a guitar store, but then I picked it up and played it anyways and was blown away by how light & resonant it was. It played beautifully.

jingle_jangle wrote:The strummer Teles I saw weren't $12,500.00, making them a relative bargain.

So they can relic a guitar and sell it for $800, or $12,500...The difference being what? The workmanship? materials?

It's funny because one thing I see a lot of a GC's is talented players going through the cheapie Fenders(or Gibsons etc fo that matter) looking for "the one". They should have the Indonesian workers put their initials on them, so they can be picked out of the assembly line and made master builders.

marc61 wrote:Yngwie stinks. I've been trying to prevent my son from listening to these phony guitar hero types for influence. Hopefully he won't read this thread..ha ha...

I'm not one to tell people how to raise their kids, but IMHO, this is a mistake. Let your kid listen to Malmsteen. Why not? Because you don't like it? Great reason. I'd let him listen to as many different styles of music as he can. Expose him to everything. Jazz, blues, soul, rockabilly, metal. With any luck, he'll take the best from all styles to develop his own musical voice. My dad hated most of the stuff I listened to as a kid. But I listened to it anyway. And I think I'm a better musician for it today.

There is nothing wrong with someone wanting to aspire to having the chops Yngwie does. You don't have to like the music, but let me tell ya somethin'...if listening to Malmsteen motivates your son to aspire to that level of technical prowess, then your son will be a better guitarist for it. Some of the most technically proficient (and tasteful) guitarists I know started out as shredders in the 80s. They've mellowed over the years, having traded in their BCRich's, Kramers and Jacksons for Rickenbackers, Gretsches and Fenders. But you know something? There's nothing they can't play. Sure, technical ability isn't everything, but it doesn't hurt to have it. And it's a huge advantage if you do.

And Yngwie doesn't "stink". I think it's a little unfair when one musician has to insult another musician (who is obviously extremely talented and highly respected by his peers) just because one doesn't share the other's musical tastes (or likes his signature instrument). You may not care for his music (and to be totally honest, neither do I), but to say that he "stinks"...well, stinks. Shilling for Fender to sell overpriced guitars is one thing (yes, that stinks), but at least give the man credit for his abilities as a guitarist.

Dan,

My kid listens to what ever he wants to(He's 11 with a laptop, the most dangerous species on Earth). I'm the last person he asks. All I was doing was stating an opinion. In my humble opinion..Page,Hendrix,Stevie Ray have talent...guys like Yngwie, Vai and others don't.

To sum up my kid's thoughts...I took him to see Buckethead a few weeks ago. He was excited to see some live shredding...after about 20 minutes he wanted to leave...his comment "We get it, you can play guitar, now play us a song". Out of the mouths of babes..

Now to put it back in context of the thread..Fender, we get it. You can make guitars. However, can you make it original ,beautiful, playable, and without costing an arm and a leg?

marc61 wrote:Fender, we get it. You can make guitars. However, can you make it original ,beautiful, playable, and without costing an arm and a leg?

Fender does, every single day of the week. Teles, Strats, Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Jazz Basses, Precision Basses, and about two hundred other odd models. But the ones I've quoted are the originals and classics. But they have not had an original blockbuster for nearly a half-century. I often find myself wishing for a design-driven business plan, but, like most companies in the last third of the 20th century, they let the marketing guys rule the roost. The result is a lack of respect for the musician as performer, creative thinker and doer who needs tools with function and style. This has been replaced by lowest-common-denominator scrambling for the deep pocket non-musician who wants "limited edition" bragging rights at any cost, regardless of lack of intrinsic value for money spent.

In 1977, when I watched the press kits for "Revenge of the Jedi" (yeah, I know they changed the title later...) flood into our design department at Playskool, as licensing began to get a foothold in what had previously been the milieu of creativity and original ideas, I began to see the writing on the wall--licenses would someday supplant unique concepts in business.

Little did I know how ridiculous it would become. Imagine if all that time and energy went into creating truly original products, instead of this woefully overpriced ****.

+1 on that Paul.

The only thing worse than having marketing rule the roost is when the MBA's & bean counters take over. Well, perhaps there's one thing worse, when the MBA's are done and the lawyers take over. The company I work for is starting to transition from the MBA phase to the lawyer phase...

marc61 wrote:Dan,

My kid listens to what ever he wants to(He's 11 with a laptop, the most dangerous species on Earth). I'm the last person he asks. All I was doing was stating an opinion. In my humble opinion..Page,Hendrix,Stevie Ray have talent...guys like Yngwie, Vai and others don't.

To sum up my kid's thoughts...I took him to see Buckethead a few weeks ago. He was excited to see some live shredding...after about 20 minutes he wanted to leave...his comment "We get it, you can play guitar, now play us a song". Out of the mouths of babes..

Now to put it back in context of the thread..Fender, we get it. You can make guitars. However, can you make it original ,beautiful, playable, and without costing an arm and a leg?

Re-hijack of thread alert
When I was in the video business, one of my customers was Michael Varney/Shrpnel Record Company. He had first brought Malsteem to this country. He gave me a stack of cds of artists affiliated with his label..Racer X, Tony McAlpine etc. These guys imo have tons of talent and now and then I would give a listen (even though I too was "waiting for them to play a song)...these guys are masters of modes and scales...In Malsteems playing you can hear the strong relation to classical music (Bach). This style never really found a wide audience Malsteems Rising Force and his later works have their audience but it's small in comparison.
Vai played with Zappa when he was like 16 or 17...and actually put pen to paper and transcribed Frank's work for him...I guess what I'm saying is of course these guys have talent....I don't listen to much of this style but the caliber of the playing I do respect. It's all good...

Paul, I guess I keep comparing everything to Rickenbacker...I saw a new 4003fg at MARF. It was just perfect. Playable,beautiful,incredible construction, and not the least expensive out there, but for an American made instrument, hard to find a par.

Fender makes great stuff.it just seems like you can't get it all. If it's impeccably made, it won't be inexpensive, if it's inexpensive, it won't have a beautiful finish, and or optimum construction. I think you know where I'm going.

You're 100% correct with market concept. Until they find an exec with the guts to market something original it'll always be same old, same old with them. Of course the exec that came up with the new formula for Coca Cola..I wonder how he's doing...

kenposurf wrote:

marc61 wrote:Dan,


Vai played with Zappa when he was like 16 or 17...and actually put pen to paper and transcribed Frank's work for him...

I am aware of that. Interesting note though..He was a guest on the Howard Stern show, and Howard asked him to play House of the Rising Sun..just as he's asked numerous guitarists who appeared on the show. He could not play it.

marc61 wrote:

kenposurf wrote:

marc61 wrote:Dan,


Vai played with Zappa when he was like 16 or 17...and actually put pen to paper and transcribed Frank's work for him...

I am aware of that. Interesting note though..He was a guest on the Howard Stern show, and Howard asked him to play House of the Rising Sun..just as he's asked numerous guitarists who appeared on the show. He could not play it.

I might be off on this as it was awhile ago, but as I recall Vai was asked to improvise some lines over a simple tune (Mary Had A Little Lamb?) and didn't come up with much, but either way my point... I would suggest that one could draw a comparison to that of a classical musician who has studied years of theory to perfect his or her ability to play classical works..I would guess many could not riff out on Satisfaction as well as a rocker I play insrtro surf which requires a lot of very fast tremolo/double picking. I've had guitarists who are far better players than I ask me to show them how I play some of my lines...