Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

jingle_jangle wrote: But Rickenbackers? Unique, not for everybody, but filled with history, and having a lot of heart and lots of mystique, they're for me, that's for sure.

Thanks for the validation on the Rics, I was beginning to question my wisdom for buying so many.
Rics have a hand built look and feel to them as well as being a functional work of art. What they have in common with a commodity is product consistency that allows them to be priced and purchased sight unseen, something you can't do with a more esoteric guitar. I specifically am drawn to items that are undervalued and can be easily resold when it's time for a new acquisition.

Blueberry guitars is a venture that appears to be "selling dreams to dreamers". I can't imagine a guitarist wanting one.

schoolside wrote:
Blueberry guitars is a venture that appears to be "selling dreams to dreamers". I can't imagine a guitarist wanting one.

Very, very well put. And this is a common theme in any business that includes in their pitch, aspects of "collectibility" or "exclusivity". We should be wary of anything that comes into an established market with guns blazing, claiming superiority.

jingle_jangle wrote: even a Fender Custom Factory Shop guitar or bass

Ouch.

jingle_jangle wrote:

schoolside wrote: Bob Taylor is a person I admire very much for his perseverance, innovation and accomplishments. His legacy as a guitar builder will live on for a long, long time.

That would be, "guitar manufacturer", Dwight....and my observation is that there are a lot of fine points of distinction here; however, the major one is between craft and manufacturing, which parallels the distinction between crafted object and commodity. (McDonald's has made a hamburger a commodity...I highly recommend "The Omnivore's Dilemma" for enlightening reading on the state of eating in the USA today.)

A less obvious one was the original point I was trying to make in this thread: that you can't take a mediocre craft item and, by manufacturing a point of difference, re-invent it into a commodity masquerading as collectible high craft.

"Handmade" is no guarantee of any sort of superiority over machine-made. However, there is at least an opportunity to inject passion and "soul" into the process when it's controlled by one person or a very small group of people.

"I've been building guitars for three and a half decades, and even though my factory has grown large, I’ve personally made thousands of guitars. One at a time. There is something so gripping about painstakingly making a guitar—a single guitar—and putting attention into every detail, sandpaper and chisel in hand. A luthier never tires of this." Robert Taylor from the R Taylor website.

He said what you said and that's what I said... I like your guitars better Mr Jangle because every one is a masterpiece, but I doubt anyone has worked harder than Bob over the years.

While I take issue with his numbers, ("thousands"? Do the math...35 years, say, three and a half thousand...that's a hundred per year, or 8+ per month, more than two a week ? Personally? By hand? Cut it in half and it's still one a week...I'm fast, and I'd be lucky to do one a month... ), there's no denying his commitment and passion.

Back to the OT, here's Blueberry;'s latest "Auction" notice, via Acoustic Guitar magazine:
...and this "connection" is the reason I read The Fretboard Journal, religiously.

Gawdawful IMO..............

I would like to cut the headstock off and use it as a door knocker.

I was privileged enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the R. Taylor section on the Taylor campus a year or two ago and it was impressive. Every kind of exotic wood you could imagine and about five guys working feverishly with chisels and saws, opining half-seriously against the incredible mechanization of general Taylor production.

The chief luthier in their shop told me he used to own an old lap steel Rickenbacker!

The direction of this thread reminds me of a poem by Edgar A. Guest

Good Enough by Edgar Guest

My son, beware of “good enough,”
It isn’t made of sterling stuff;
It’s something any man can do,
It marks the many from the few,
It has no merit to the eye,
It’s something any man can buy,
Its name is but a sham and bluff,
For it is never “good enough.”

With “good enough” the shirkers stop
In every factory and shop;
With “good enough” the failures rest
And lose to men who give their best;
With “good enough” the car breaks down
And men fall short of high renown.
My son, remember and be wise,
In “good enough” disaster lies.

With “good enough” have ships been wrecked,
The forward march of armies checked,
Great buildings burned and fortunes lost;
Nor can the world compute the cost
In life and money it has paid
Because at “good enough” men stayed.
Who stops at “good enough” shall find
Success has left him far behind.

There is no “good enough” that’s short
Of what you can do and you ought.
The flaw which may escape the eye
And temporarily get by,
Shall weaken underneath the strain
And wreck the ship or car or train,
For this is true of men and stuff—
Only the best is “good enough.”

I always work worked to a high standard (an early Cadillac mission):
"Craftsmanship a creed...accuracy a law"

A tremendous relic of times gone by...

jingle_jangle wrote:A tremendous relic of times gone by...

Is this a statement on yourself or on Guest's poem?

Oh were that today's creed.....

I hope it's not too crass to quote Dorothy Parker:

'I'd rather flunk a Wasserman test
Than read a poem by Eddie Guest.'

Well......I've actually HAD a Blueberry. Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to try one.
I put in a rather low bid on one of their ebay auctions and actually won the thing. By all accounts
it was not a BAD instrument.....it had a decent feel, projected well and had a fairly rich tone. It
was presented well with a nice hardshell case. I sold it shortly after I got it. Made a few bucks as well.
A JJ Rickenbacker it is not, nor a Martin, or Gibson or Taylor for that matter. The carvings were nice
but rather primitive, I still don't get what's up with the floor tile thing.

I am brand new to this forum and wanted to weigh in on this subject. First I am not a bass player but happen to have a basket case ric so I need to pick all of your brains. It seems like a great forum thanks.
I would like to comment that "Manta's" reference to the carving on one of the guitars was silly and prejudicial. The subject was a Roman soldier. How "Manta" can tell his sexual orientation and where he worked (the Vatican) is beyond me.
I can't say that I am in love with these Blueberry guitars but I can say that the Master luthier associated with them is a fine craftsman. In 1980 I attended the School of Guitar Research and Design "GRD". Charles Fox (Paul, I'm sure you're familiar with him) ran the school and George Morris was his associate.George was the instructor/mentor for our 6 week guitar building class. He is a brilliant builder with many years of experience. In 1980 if I can remember that far back I believe he said at that time that he had built 120 guitars. Since 1983 he has run his own lutherie school. Vermont Instruments.com. He has a lifetime of experience building and repairing guitars. I don't know how much he is involved in Blueberry guitars but I can only say he was a great teacher and he must believe in them or he wouldn't associate his name with them.

Gerald: Welcome to the RickResource Forum. Your comments provide additional information with regard to Blueberry Guitars. I confess to having missed the comment regarding sexual orientation and this post has now been edited accordingly. I thank you for bringing it to my attention.