Why so many "Bass" posts vs. "Guitar" posts?

mojo_jojo · Post by **mojo_jojo** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:07 am

I noticed that the "Bass" posts outnumber the "Guitar" posts on this forum by 12,155 to 4,902. Does this mirror the balance of RIC sales (basses vs. guitars)?

lars · Post by **lars** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:42 am

Bass players are just more communicative!

lyle_from_minneapolis · Wed May 09, 2007 10:52 am

Very interesting. Hope it isn't some sort of psychological effect of all those Rick bashers declaring that the guitars are mainly for rhythm players...

squirefan01 · Post by **squirefan01** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:09 am

Interesting point Mark. I play bass, but thinking of it now, I wonder what the best recorded lead solo on a RIC guitar was?

YouTube links anybody?

For me, the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" solo work comes to mind. I assume that was on a Rick?

ken_j · Post by **ken_j** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:39 am

Look more closely and you will see that the ratio is higher than it appears. The guitar section goes back to last Sept. The bass section is only back to Feb. of this year. The bass section does have one thread, "Post of picture of you PLAYING your ric", that dates back to 2004 with over 2600 post alone.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:52 am

Fewer strings, more down time.

leftybass · Post by **leftybass** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:57 am

The ratio used to be more even for sure.

There was an influx of bass players that found the Forum around 2001-2002 which provided much more discussion about basses, naturally.

In the 'old days' of the Forum the dicussions were more related to vintage Rickenbackers IMHO, but as more people found the internet and the Forum, other Rickenbacker-related interests began to be discussed. And now we also have Fests. A wonderful world it is.

leftybass · Post by **leftybass** » Wed May 09, 2007 12:00 pm

I'll add that everyones registration date doesn't accurately reflect many of us who have been on the Forum for quite a while, John Williams for one, Tony Blair too. Maybe they can comment about the earlier days of the Forum as well....

jimk · Post by **jimk** » Wed May 09, 2007 12:16 pm

I wonder what the best recorded lead solo on a RIC guitar was?

It isn't flashy, but it is tasty. I'd nominate George Harrison's solo on "Please Please Me."

JimK

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:02 pm

I'm not convinced that this tells us anything...Guitars are divided into so many categories, and general interest topic areas cater to both guitars and basses. This is so complex that we'd have to go to an individual post count in order to get an accurate group of figures.

I think in a general way, this may mirror bass vs. guitar popularity within this forum...they're generally pretty equally popular, or perhaps not...

...is that specific enough?

Nobody is privy to RIC's sales figures outside the company, but in my half-dozen factory visits in the last couple of years, I have not noticed a substantial predominance of either instrument. If I had to give a kneejerk estimate (myself being the Knee Jerk, of course), I'd say 54.95% bass, 45% guitar, .05% mandolin.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:31 pm

Quote: "I noticed that the "Bass" posts outnumber the "Guitar" posts on this forum by 12,155 to 4,902. Does this mirror the balance of RIC sales (basses vs. guitars)?"

Ric basses are that much cooler than Ric guitars ...

The guitars are happy jangley quaint instruments that remind us of the 60s ...

The basses are nasty snarly instruments that can fit in with the 60s jangley music, or 70s progressive rock, or 80s metal, or modern rock ... the basses produce low notes that rearrange your intestines ... when we get out the Ric bass women and children run for cover ... we dare not play chords for fear of misaligning the planets ...

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:42 pm

F#*@ that happy jangley quaint '60's ****, no offense.

(I play both Rick basses and guitars, recording and otherwise).

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:44 pm

... the basses produce low notes that rearrange your intestines ... we dare not play chords for fear of misaligning the planets ...

Oops!

leftybass · Post by **leftybass** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:57 pm

IIRC, John Hall has said the biggest selling Rickenbacker in the 'modern' era is the 330 6-string.

elysrand · Post by **elysrand** » Wed May 09, 2007 3:03 pm

Well. of COURSE Rick basses get way more posts than Rick guitars. Rick guitars are delicate little things, and subject to the Toothpick Effect.

What, you may ask, is the Toothpick Effect ?

It is the explanation why there just aren't as many guitars around as there are basses anymore, because when we bass players crank up the Ampeg SVTs to 11 and start doing Squire chords, the guitars all around us just shatter into toothpicks. The rate of attrition due to Rick guitars being shattered into toothpicks by monstrously powerful Rick basses has become so great in recent years, that there just aren't enough folks around anymore whose Rick guitars have survived to still play one in the presence of Rick basses anymore. Ergo, less folks to post about the guitars, leaving all the basses are still in existence, and so more of us to post about the basses.

Hey the numbers don't lie!

Now to move on to the Fendurz and Gypson out there, and introduce THEM to the Toothpick Effect