Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was cleaning out some old boxes and found all the old RIC catalogs I kept. I have forgotton about them until now. Back in the 80s-90s I see RIC had all kinds of options, Silver, White, Ruby, Walnut, etc... Black trim, checked binding, binding on both sides, etc... What happened? Why the restrictions? Why a yearly color?

Demand for product outstripping production capability perhaps?

Sounds more like demand not enough to justify cost.

It's possibly a good deal more complicated than this.

Think about Rickenbacker--a smallish company with a dedicated workforce, most of whom are specialists at their jobs. They still manage to put out something like 40 different models of guitars (RIC had 44 guitars with them at NAMM, with no duplicates). Each model requires different tooling and a bunch of changes in the production routine. Guitars are built in batches, to order. A good percentage of the guitars are cycled back through at least a part of the woodworking, finishing, or assembly stations, in order to fettle them or tweak them a bit to get them "just right". So you already have a situation where managing the production cycle is a matter of keeping a lid on controlled chaos, although to a casual observer, the factory is on the surface a very well-ordered, clean, and measured place.

Now, toss in a dozen more options, which could occur at one or several different stages in the manufacturing cycle. Things can get bogged down very quickly.

So, you know from experience just what your most popular and predictable colors and options are. You trim the option list down to a minimum, in order to maximize efficiency and keep profitability up.

Now, you're running a lot leaner and with fewer interruptions. You know your costs and can predict what each unit will cost, based upon past performance, not upon one from column A and one from column B.

There might be enough demand for an option to keep it going, and show a typical margin, but if it disrupts the cycle, it has potential for causing across-the-board difficulties with a sort of "domino" effect.

I'd bet that if RIC opened the options list to thirty options, they could sell the heck out of all 30, and go nuts trying to keep a lid on things.

But, this way, things stay in line.

I was going to say something like that but I took the short cut instead. Too much typing for me today. LOL

My friend bought a 370/12 in the '80's, and told me he got stuff on it that no one else was getting. I suppose he wanted it decked out like a '60's Rick. He said the kind folks at Rick, at his request, searched the parts bins for NOS thingys. He said he and they were surprised Rick had something he was looking for. (I don't remember what, as I knew nothing about Ricks at the time). I just remember it being JG, checkered and toastered. He sold it later when he couldn't come up with rent. Doncha hate it when that happens?

See, this is the issue. They stopped all the options, now people want options. If they kept the options throughout the years, then there wouldn't be that much of a demand.

Very wise observation, godfather. You might say that some of those Ric options sleep with the fishes.

I want the option that makes my fingers play like Eric Clapton.

Eric Clapton on a Rick. Boggles the mind.

SRV played one. So anything is possible.