Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was just thinking about something, and wondering if maybe someone can help me figure this out.

I was reading on the official RIC forum about the backlog, and 18 months - 2 year wait for new models, and then thinking about the recent heyday of RIC in the 80's & 90's...and remembering seeing them in stores, and wondering to myself, if they were selling so many of them back then, why wasn't there a backlog like there is now, or was there?

You'd think with the more you sell, the longer you have to wait, but it seemed like there were a lot more in stores and ready to buy new back then. Can anyone shed some light on this, or am I remembering the past a little too fondly?

I think ric's are just on a trend of popularity (and thus huge demand) at the moment with the young and old. A few months ago I was the only young guy locally with a ric... now it seems like all the young bands have them.

I'm no expert, but one reason is the ever more stringent environmental codes enacted in California, especially So. California, to try & belatedly deal with the huge emissions problem.
The changing requirements have plagued the finishing stages of all guitar makers remaining in the area.
Every time the regulations change, a formula change may be required for the manufacturer to meet the new code.

This is probably anticipated as far ahead as possible & much testing ensues to try & maintain the relative quality & durability of the finish. Sometimes unforseen problems show up & need further lengthy testing.

I believe that's one of the biggest bottlenecks in the process.
It's essentially the same as auto makers having to implement new emissions standards.
The cause is the same, & the result is a lot of money & time spent for absolutely no gain to the company, so costs inevitably go up.

This is also one reason so many companies have moved offshore...much more lenient environmental standards (not to mention labor costs, overhead, etc.).

In the UK in the 80s/early 90s you couldn't give them away...

I work with Steve ... he is going a little crazy waiting for his new Ric 4003 bbr ... he is wondering why the wait is 18 months ... is production down? or is demand up? or both? or neither?

I wonder about that too sometimes. As evidenced by Ebay and forums like this, a whole lot (tens of thousands?) of Ricks were made during the 70's. Seemingly a lot more than are produced now. Even with that apparently busy production schedule they still managed to do out of warranty repairs, re-fins and custom work. How many '75 to '80 4001s had to have been produced for a dozen or so to be available on Ebay every day of the week the year round? And that is just one model! It has been said that guitars out-sold basses by a factor of 2 or 3 back then. The hollow bodies are more labor intensive than the solids. All models combined, they must have been producing a few hundred finished instruments per day for the populations to be as large as they are today.

I think the 80's and 90's were slow times for Ric... so they scaled down. I remember reading that ric is looking to scale up again... but that kind of thing takes time if it is to be done properly.

A little crazy? Did you see me banging my head against the desk today, Jeff?

That makes sense John. The bulk of the available Ricks are from the 70's and early 80's. You don't see as many late 80's or 90's instruments around. The late 80's are when the true limited editions started. Perhaps that was a move to spark sales.

I agree with you, Ted, and that's what kinda made me wonder, everyone was playing them, buying them, and yet when I walked into a music store, they had 3-4 on the wall, and this is in B.F. Northern Michigan!
Just seemed like there were an abundance of them, and no wait time, yet they were more popular than ever.

My local dealer always had 3 or 4 new basses and at least as many used ones. Another dealer in my area had dozens of Ricks at all times.

Thank god our local guitar stores don't deal with rics (though they do pop up now and then in used shops I am told)... I would be so poor... happy, but poor.

another part of the equation ... many of us used to be happy with one Ric 4001 bass ... now many have big collections ... and the minute a model is discontinued the collectors snatch it up ... and some are now snatching up color of the year instruments for future collectable status ...

It is true, we do pull them out of circulation more now than ever before but the thing is, they continue to be available.

Interesting certain guitar brands "couldn't be given away" in the 80s. Makes me wonder how Jackson and Charvels are doing these days. Hopefully much of the current RIC demand is id due to hip underground bands that one day will make great, ahem, melodic music. In other words, it's not just a bunch of guitar hording old codgers like me.