Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wilczynbacker

Frikinbacker?

Pwilckenbacker?

Pickenbacker?

Swerving violently back on-topic:

Y'know, these acoustics that Paul is making are REALLY going to be rare and precious items years down the road.

Any forward-thinking Rickenbacker aficionado should be clamoring at Paul's door, ordering these acoustic guitars as fast as their resources allow!

Just think, this is a true artisan build plan, like making Rolls Royce autos. That's superior to the corporate Custom-Shop skunkworks like Gypson run, in every sense of the word. These are authorized and blessed by RIC and carry their nameplate (despite JH's initial urges as reported by Paul), and I suspect that Paul puts his heart and soul into the highest-quality, most incredible detail and finishes that you can find anywhere. If Rick did take it in-house, you know the quality would go severely downhill simply due to hiring and training new folks and the Learning Curve of Production starting off at a non-optimal point at first. Of course, that's if their "house" is big enough in the first place. I suspect that JH is out of room in the building he has now for such an operation, not to mention trying to staff it from SoCal.

Having said that, I wonder if Paul has ever thought about making this an industry of his own, and creating a PRS type business by hiring and training other luthiers from the school and surrounds and expanding his prototype shop into a small factory? And if he has, is there the "fire in the belly" to do so? It would be a lot of hard work and stress...

Whatever, my encouragement FWIW is to order these very special fine acoustics from Paul, and Do It Now while you can.

JH said that the problem with the present location is finding people who can afford to live close enough to the factory to make commuting practical and have the skills and inclination to do the work. The factory will move someday to a less expensive neighborhood. I think he said he has already been considering possibilities.

That does make perfect sense, Ted. A factory should not remain long in an area of real property that has become priced beyond the ability of its essential skilled workers to find housing close enough to easily commute each day.

Annapolis had the same problem. PRS had to move its primary production out of the area, although its corporate and design offices stayed here in Annapolis MD. A single-family house that cost $100K twenty years ago in most areas of Annapolis now costs nearly $1M or more.

Fortunately, city planning was done early enough here so that we have some of the fastest commuter highways and beltways around DC and Baltimore that could possibly be built, and they are pretty commuter-friendly. So it remains feasible to host specialty manufacturers with a large viable labor pool upon which to draw here, and it is not hard to get folks into the building on Monday mornings. Tax structure is lots lower than CA too

You guys have all veered away from the John-Hall-suggested (in jest) name for the acoustics.

Thankfully, I might add.

Thanks for your faith and observations, Elys. Your thoughts run right along with my own ruminations regarding acoustic production.

First, odd that you mention Rolls-Royce, because the two Rolls-Royces I have owned--and in one case repaired and restored--were the most satisfying of all the cars I've ever owned. This is largely due to their philosophy of construction. I could spend a few hundred words on this, about half of which post would be required to dispel all the myths which have risen up concerning this very topic.

What impressed me most was the philosophy of renewability of each small assembly. Things were not discarded in a repair; rather they are broken down into the smallest part, the failure detected and analyzed, and then the tiny part is replaced or repaired, cleaning and adjusting the remainder of the subassembly when reassembling.

This, however, applies to acoustic guitars not at all. What does is the high standard of workmanship, the solid design and engineering principles backing it up, and the patient belief that if "very good" is a standard to be achieved, "excellent" and "flawless" are only a few hours or days down the line and worth pushing toward.

Yes, Elys, the first thought upon being entrusted with this responsibility and opportunity, is naturally, "how can I best serve this?"

Well, I'm not interested in volume. What it requires is an effort that runs counter to my whole reason in becoming involved in guitars as opposed to other hobby/business pursuits that are on the border of art and craft: I love doing the work and the never-ending challenge presented. The rewards are always close enough (even the toughest restoration will only stretch over six months of actual work) to satisfy my age-shortened attention span.

In the past I've run small craft- or trade-oriented crews, sometimes for myself, sometimes for others. The skills required to do this, although I have them, are less interesting to me than doing the actual work to a high standard and making my customers happy while giving them something that they cannot get anywhere else.

Do I want to start a small luthiery? Nope. Do I want to train staff? If it was as easy as simply "training" someone to build, assemble, or finish guitars, I'd have produced a couple of hundred Rick acoustics already, instead of the mere half-dozen that have so far trickled out of my shop since last Fall.

The reason: training alone does not a a competent craftsman/artist make. Besides many other factors, it takes lots and lots of experience with constant attention to what is being put into the memory banks, in both the muscle-memory and the analytic memory area.

I do not want the stress of managing staff who are still learning and potentially running a school for luthiers, as job loyalty is running a bit thin in our culture these days.

I will remain a one-man shop. If I EVER encounter a person in my geographical area who twins my attitude, talents, and outlook, I'd partner up with him or her. That's really too much to expect, after a career in design, precision prototypes, and fabrication and painting, and now in guitars. I'm certainly not actively looking for such a person--it would waste time better spent as a design educator (my "day" job) or luthier.

Part of the reason that JH has passed this baton on to myself is that he knows I will do the name justice, because (I'm paraphrasing his post on the RIC corporate website) my standards are at least as high as RIC's acoustic shop's were, and because, since I'm one the one and only guy building these, and can afford to spend the extra time getting them "just so", quality and playability (not to mention emerging collectibility) are assured.

A small number of far-sighted RIC enthusiasts have ordered in the first "small wave" following my initial announcement. That means I'm booked up until this Fall in the acoustic arena. (RIC had a "Department", I have an "arena"; go figure...)

In the Fall, I will be showing my acoustics at Yokohama, for Japan and the Asian market. My goals have nothing to do with volume--they have to do with making each guitar myself, giving beauty to enthusiasts, both to look at and to hear, and to make a living doing this.

What's the conclusion we can make here? It is that my prices will inevitably be going up, probably substantially, to balance supply and demand in Japan and the East for Rickenbacker acoustics. So those who are already entered in my order book, will benefit from the current lower, though by no means low, prices for an exclusive, handbuilt, and in most cases, one-of-a-kind instrument that plays and sounds like no other.

"Whatever, my encouragement FWIW is to order these very special fine acoustics from Paul, and Do It Now while you can."

Elys, I don't see your name in my order book...

I was just waiting for you to notice, Paul! Can you put me down now on the dance card (for starting next fall I suppose), and let me know what deposit you need? Doesn't matter what the price is, I won't even ask unless it is important to you. Just consider it done, and the only details will be the finish and build details that you envision for the ultimate instrument that you think would match me?

I can get you lots of top-quality abalone for inlay too, if you share the special passion for fingerboard and headstock inlay that I do, or else I can get it subbed to an ex-Alembic guy I know of - only if you don't want to bother with inlay details

I can tell you that such a creation would be treasured and played for the rest of my life, and then some (I have five kids who doubtless will try to find a new version of Solomon's Solution too someday, after I am gone).

Umm, maybe I need to book your next five available acoustics, to best avoid THAT situation years down the Road

A very interesting read Paul. Originally I thought that your involvement with Rickenbacker may have been the precursor to a northern California RIC acoustic workshop, headed by yourself. In lieu of that scenario, I can certainly appreciate your desire to make the best Rickenbacker acoustics possible, and if that means that you do all the work yourself, so be it.
But to the question at hand... with all due respect... Paul + Rickenbacker.... dare I suggest... Prickenbacker?

Ah, Steve, you've won the prize...

Where do I send the Rickenbacker vintage guitar *****, erm, pick?

Elys, e-mail sent.

Paul, I left you a voicemail

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Paul, I'm glad you held out for "Rickenbacker!"

That was an interesting read. Someday I would love a PW 12-string Comstock in Aquaglo.... Someday, perhaps....

Hey Melissa! So, do you have a photo you could post of a Comstock 12-er in Aquaglo? Or at least a good Comstock that you would choose as representative of the marque? I have seen your 325V59, and it is absolutely gorgeous!!! It is a little too green a color for an acoustic for me, though, only because I just don't have the good taste that you do I am sure

I love colors that almost approximate Sheaffer's Fountain Pen "Peacock Blue", a favorite of my tired old self when I was a teenager in the 1960s. I would buy bottles of that retro color at the local five and dime, and fuel the already-archaeic fountain pens that I loved for school. No one else on the planet it seemed used fountain pens anymore, and certainly no one else that particular color ink.

So, I have always wanted a great handmade acoustic in Sheaffer Peacock Blue. Dumb, I know

I have seen a few posts with guitars having a rich "peacock bluish" light blue gloss finish, with all the grain of the wood glowing through in clear blue splendor.

I do need to acquire a set of the Smith and Rittor books, and of course in them I am sure I will learn what the Comstock was.

Until then, do you have any photos you would be willing to share?

Thanks Melissa! It's worth many potins to me

Actually Elys, I think both of those books npredate the newest RIC acoustics, including the Comstock.

Here's an Aquaglo in progress:

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/jangle_jingle/special%20acoustics/DSC00051.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/jangle_jingle/special%20acoustics/DSC00054.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/jangle_jingle/special%20acoustics/DSC00055.jpg