Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Well, Kurt, from the way a lot of the Rickenbacker crowd seems to view basses and automobiles, I think that I have found the perfect vehicle for them.

CAN YOU SAY HEMI?

Fender=Yugo
Gibson=Volvo
Ibanez=Ford Pinto

Rickenbacker=Bigfoot rolling over them all.

You like F-150s and I like F50s, F40s, too.

I'd like to see a Ford F-150 vs. Rickenbacker shoot-out in next months issue of Car & Driver. Rick will win for "Most Chrome" but I'm sure the F-150 will blow the Rick away on the skid pad...

I like this better!
Notice the toaster door handles and the oven knob wheels.

...or a Silverado vs. Rick Bass.

Paul, you set it up and I'll record the test results!

At your service anytime!

This is an interesting thread ... I would agree with the consensus that there's no real "direct competitor" to Ric in the bass department, but there may be good analogies with other musical instrument manufacturers. What about guitar companies like Heritage or PRS which make high-end (but not "boutique"), instruments, at volumes considerably smaller than the "big guys"? Or keyboard/synth companies like Clavia (Sweden) or Waldorf (Germany) which manufacture high-quality gear in the analog-emulation niche market (Clavia's Electro, for instance, seems to be regarded as the best Hammond/Rhodes/Clav all-in-one emulator) that is expensive, but not as expensive as the high-end Roland/Korg/Yamaha synths (in the same way that new Rics are still less expensive than the highest-end Fender/Gibson custom shop gee-tars).

All I can add about cars is that I would have no use whatsoever for a vehicle as "high-end" as the Rickenbacker instruments I own, so the Honda Civic (with room for a bass stack under the hatchback) is plenty of automobile for my purposes ...

Very cool picture Paul.

Regarding RIC's competition; Nothing sounds like a Rickenbacker so that narrows the competition considerably regardless of price. If you want Rickenbacker sound you buy a Rickenbacker. If you don't, you don't.

I have no issues with the amount of money I paid for any of my RIC basses.I believe they are an excellent value.

My 4004L cannot achieve as low an action as my ReBop. My flatsawn 4004L neck has wolf notes, and my graphite reinforced 3-piece ReBop neck has none. I can make the ReBop sound like a StingRay, P-bass, J-bass, or Spector, and a few others. The 4004 always sounds like a nice 4004. The ReBop cost just over half of what the 4004 cost. If the 4004 is excellent value, what shall I consider the ReBop?

On another subject, I have a USA built S&W 915 that cost me $350. I have a Czech built CZ-75 that cost me $285. Both were bought new. Anybody but a complete firearms ignoramus can instantly tell that the CZ-75 clearly outclasses the 915. Experts around the world agree, and the CZ-75 is among the most produced and copied pistols of all time. The CZ-75 parts are hand fitted by very skilled craftsmen (that can be hired for $3/hour). The 915 parts are mass produced on CNC mills with no hand fitting. The CZ-75 is carried by militaries and police departments around the world. The 915 is only carried by anybody because of the lighter aluminum frame and low cost (i.e., the cop is saving up for a Glock or an H&K, but got a deal on a used 915). CZ is also noted for its excellent hunting rifles that are real bargains, and probably the favorite sniper rifle during the latest Balkan war. Czechoslovakia was the FIRST country that the Germans invaded in 1938 in order to secure their world renowned armaments industry. Their tanks were actually better than the German tanks of that time, and huge amounts of armaments came from Czechoslovakia during the war. The fact is that on basses and firearms, the Czechs beat the US in actual value at their price point. A U.S. gun collector will readily admit it, but will an instrument buyer? The 915 seems like a nice enough pistol......until you get your hands on a real CZ-75. No comparo. The Italian Tanfoglio TZ-75 copies are not their equal. SIG Sauer of Switzerland built some copies that were at least equal during the cold war years.......for about $2000 each. It's not just the workmanship; the design of the CZ-75 is also superior. Now lets take an older bass design from the USA and compare it to a newer bass design built in the Czech Republic. Factor in what each set of workers make per hour and figure how much care can be lavished by comparison. Consider that the Czechs have been buiding excellent stringed instruments since before Bach was a baby, and the hand craftsmanship is probably superior to what would come out of Germany these days. Consider that each bass costs about the same in the store. One has more hours of workmanship lavished on it and thus better build quality. Sound quality is subjective, but build quality is objective. Need I remind you of the present standing among musicians and audiophiles of the famous JJ tubes built by the Czech Tesla factory in the same area? Subjective or objective, JJ tubes rule. Beyond a doubt, the Czech Republic is a good place to get certain things made. Free your mind, and your bASS will follow.

I just bought a 1966 Guild Starfire bass made in the USA. Pretty beat up but really great low end. I thought it might out rumble my Shadow but it doesn't. I sure like these home grown guitars.

http://www.alembic.com/club/messages/411/1926.html?1049484848

Alembics, and a lot of others, are overpriced and past their prime from a value standpoint. Some engineering types just can't see that lowering the price without reducing the most important quality aspects is the name of the game in the manufacturing world. "More For Less" becomes the overriding principle. The top end designs rarely turn out to be the bread-and-butter designs that keep the company afloat. They mainly exist as R&D tools. Value seekers tend to stay away from them.

Phil, what do you think of the now discontinued Dean Jeff Berlin edition made in the Czech Republic? I've been seeing them on E-Bay lately, and am thinking about bidding on the next green one that comes up...

John, I don't know, but I intend to check them out now that you mentioned it. Most American people are ignorant of Czech quality because of the old cold war ban on the import of their products. Otherwise, I think prices would be higher. I happen to know that the Czech MAG-58 machine gun is better than the U.S. M-60, because a lot of U.S. troops were on the wrong end of them during the Vietnam War. In other words, if it's Czech, it's worth checking out. High quality on a low wage scale. Check the Czechs for guns and guitars. Deans are often rated as good buys for the money, but I never owned one. If you are getting a closeout deal, it could be a real bargain.

John, I checked out the J. Berlin Sig. model Dean bass. It looks like a good one. I'm going to stay on the lookout for one myself, but not until I get a Spector NS4CRFM. My ReBop is superior for punchy tones, but it doesn't have as much piano ringing fundamental tone as a high end neck-thru bass (4004L). If JB used that Dean bass, it had to be good. Dean's average customer buys the Asian stuff, and it may have been a bit too upscale to see good sales numbers, and the USA Dean customers may have ignored it out of ignorance. When the ignorance dies off somewhere down the road, Czech basses may see a big rise in value.

BTW, Spector will be announcing upgrades to its Czech built Euro line at the NAMM show, so Stuart Spector has targeted the Czech models as the value/quality leaders in his lineup. He is NOT going to sell many USA Spector basses at $2.5K to $7K MSRP, and the Czech models that give basically the same sound/quality/look for $1K-$1.5K street price with case will be the strong sellers to the average pro user and serious amateurs. That's exactly where RIC prices their basses. The new Czech Spectors will have a wide variety of exotic woods as options just like the USA Spectors. I think the preamps are also upgraded to proprietary circuits used on the USA models. Anyway, the old Aguilar preamp was killer for the price of the ReBop. Also, I have recently read where Warwick owners are saying that the new German built Warwicks are lower in quality than the past. I have no doubt that the Czech basses are far superior in the same price range, as there is still a vast difference in wage scales. Compare a CZ pistol to an H&K pistol at any local gun shop, and look at those price tags. German wage scales should cause no loss of sleep for RIC management. Czech wage scales and quality have been kicking butt ever since the old cold war trade barriers were dropped, and it should cause more than a few to sweat blood. Groove Tubes had started building the old STR Sylvania 6L6GC tubes using the original tooling purchased from Philips. They retail at something like $90/pair. Then along comes JJ with their new 6L6GC built in the Czech Tesla factory (using high end Philips tooling) that competes head on against USA NOS tubes like RCA and Sylvania, for $30/pair street price. Which one is Joe Musician-On-A-Budget more likely to buy? The Yugo Ei and Russian Svetlana tubes aren't exactly slouches anymore as well. The JJ preamp tubes I tested outperformed some NOS USA tubes I had laying around. If I didn't have a stash of NOS 5881 tubes laying around, the JJ 6L6GC would be in my YCV40 tube amp as I write this. Like I said, "check the Czechs" before buying tubes, guns, and guitars.