Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Okay, I just bought a new guitar last weekend and it wasn't a RIC. I didn't want to risk scratching my 330 taking it to lessons every week so I bought a Mexican Strat in Midnight wine. (I'm ducking for cover) It was only $295 brand new and not a scratch on it. I sampled about 5 or 6 before deciding. The color didn't matter too much but as it turned out I prefer the midnight wine over the others. It feels very different than the 330 of course. I felt it was the right thing to do. I prefer the RIC hands down over the Strat but it's to be the "road" guitar. I think I'm coming down with GAS.

No arguing with the concept of a beater guitar. When I lived in Chicago, I had my woodie wagon "summer" car and another disposable "winter" car. Saves wear and tear on the precious one.

Midnight wine is a nice color and makes the guitar look at least $100.00 more expensive!

Your right about the midnight wine color making it look a little more expensive. It feels heavier than the 330 and seems to have a thinner sound than the 330.

I know what you mean about the nice car and beater car too. I had a brand new Midnight Blue '79 Trans Am (in 1979) when I lived in MN and parked it for the winters and drove a '70 Impala.

A friend of mine once had a Gibson Les Paul Custom in Midnight Wine, it looked gorgeous!!!
Of course, had to sell due to lack of money. He kicks himself everytime he thinks about it.

I hope he got a good price for it.
Since my 330 fireglo is my first guitar in 30 years I'll most likely keep it for many years. I do want to get a 350v63 as well. As for the MIM Strat, I could see myself selling it someday.

Dan, of course the Strat is going to sound "thinner".

It's cheap and a solid body, with pickups and electronics built in the Third World to a very low price point. You paid $295.00 for it; the dealer paid $225.00, it cost Fender about $75.00 to build and import back and forth (NAFTA has at least helped in this department). Electronics--pickups (3), switch, pots, wiring, caps, phono jack are maybe $15.00 of this total including the labor required to build the harness. That leaves you with maybe (I'm being generous here) $3.00 each on the pickups? You can buy an entire prewired pickguard/electronics assembly MIM or MIC for a Strat or clone for $39.00 from some vendors. One single Rickenbacker pickup is gonna run you around $100.00 new.

Every Rickenbacker pickup is hand-wound in their USA factory, hand-tested, etc. Their cost per unit is 7-10X as much as those on the MIM Strat, I'm guessing. Now, it is true that the American labor is 7-10X what Third World labor costs are, per diem, but Rickenbacker also uses premium components and materials. You get the picture.

This is like comparing a Tercel and a Bentley. Sure, they both have four wheels, but...

I think strats are great for certain folks, but I can never, ever get a normal one to sound good with the way I play. THis isn;t a comment on the price vs. other brands, it's a comment on the design. It holds true for MIA custom shop models as well as the MIMs. OTOH I know other people can get wonderful sounds out of a strat. They just aren;t for me. If I were looking for a beater I'd get an Ibanez artcore.

I have an MIM jazz bass that's been a warrior though.

I too have a "beater"guitar to take to guitar lessons.Mine is a 1993 Fender MIM Duo-Sonic.Where I take lessons they don't have a guitar stand and little room to get my guitar in and out of its case.Its more of a problem with my 330 than my 325 but its much easier to just bring the Duo-Sonic in a gigbag.I worry more about taking my Ricks out of the house in winter(I live in Minnesota)so that is the real reason that I got the Duo-Sonic.I kinda like it though because I have a "thing" for small guitars(My Duo-sonic is the 22.5" scale).

I have a beater bass also it's a 96 jetglo Ric 4003 that I bought for $550.00 from ebay, it needed the treble pickup rewound, has some dings in it, but it plays and sounds great and it's not a third world POS with 3.00 pickups in it. Of course cheap beat up Ric basses may be more plentiful than cheap beat up Ric guitars.
I had a 350, 70 Chevy Belair, great car, fast too.

My first car was a 1950 Chevy sedan that I bought from the original owner for $25.That was in 1969.It was in near mint condition and the color was...Jetglo!

Uff Da! Of course it was a sedan! Those old Norwegians wouldn't be caught dead in a hardtop or convertible!

My dad's 1953 Packard is Jetglo....

OOOhh nice ride!When I was a kid my Dad had a Red and Black 56 Pontiac and my mom had a Blue and White 56 Ford.By the way,I'm not native of the North Country.I got my Chevy in Connecticut.