Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

How cool is this????

I like the case.

Me no likey

wittyair wrote:How cool is this????

Not very.....at least IMO.


Much better guitars 'n' cars combos come to mind, like Billy Gibbon's Kruizzerhead Telecaster (as shown in his "Rock n Roll Gearhead" book)

or....if you're keeping with the Mustang theme, this older Fender CS Mustang strat:

http://www.edroman.com/guitars/fender/i ... ang-03.jpg

Well.......alright then!

The Billy Gibbons guitars and cars are just great! I bought that book at Borders in Costa Mesa, last time I was down in SoCal. The following evening I gave it to a close friend as a birthday gift. Easy come...etc. I MUST get another copy!

The Shelby stuff has nothing to recommend it. Carroll Shelby jumped the shark about 35 years ago, and hasn't had an original thought since. Most everything with his name on it is ho-hum, including those over-styled cars he's been flogging...

A few years back I was at Laguna Seca for the vintage races. Ol' Bionic Shel was there with one of those uglee Shelby roadsters, and he was offering laps in the car, with him driving, between races, at $100 per lap, supposedly for charity.

He had no takers.

A couple of years before that, I happened to be at the Peterson Museum, and it was a Shelby convention that day. Shelby was signing anything you'd put in front of him, for $25-100.00 per signature. The line was not very long.

Then he goes and sues both Ford and his own car club for using his name!

I value originality, craftsmanship, and beauty. I don't have any respect for licensing schemes and scams.

Oh, his chili ain't bad. But it ain't great, either.

jingle_jangle wrote:The Billy Gibbons guitars and cars are just great! I bought that book at Borders in Costa Mesa, last time I was down in SoCal. The following evening I gave it to a close friend as a birthday gift. Easy come...etc. I MUST get another copy!

Bought mine at the same store (Metro Pointe)

Yep, great book!

The Rev BFG has some pretty wild, eccentric tastes, but he obviously values craftsmanship (judging by the number of specialty luthier builds etc), and certainly has style. Not to mention the great cars etc.....and I love his strange little descriptions of each item.

Actually, got mine at the Newport Blvd. store...

Glad I started this thread

Wow, tough crowd.

wittyair wrote:Glad I started this thread

Sorry Craig, didn't mean to rain on the parade! I bet it plays nice..

Tough crowd is right. Whilst it's not my cup of tea I don't really dislike it.

OK, OK.


The headstock is nice.

I have a friend who loves Shelby, and loves teles..I'll have to show him the pic

And I have a friend who was screwed out of better than a million (1960s) bucks, "back in the day", by ol' Shel...can't mention his name, but you'd know instantly who he is...he has too much pride, name recognition, and practicality, to raise a stink, and he's doing well for himself in any case.

Personally, whether I like or dislike something has a lot to do with ethics and "honesty", as far as concept and execution go. There is ethical licensing, and there is licensing used as an excuse to fleece consumers. There are some guitars (basses, violins, or really almost anything handcrafted) that are worth $20K (or more) based upon the amount of hard work and high craft that are invested by the builder. It's a piece of his/her life, and coupled with a personal vision and the handcrafted fulfillment of that vision, an instrument/painting/sculpture/car may have an intrinsic worth in the millions, especially when considered alongside the rarity factor.

Stuff that is mass-produced in a factory is very seldom of relatively high intrinsic value. Exceptions: Ferraris and their ilk, Rickenbackers, Martins and others as instruments, based on low production numbers and a certain amount of high craft that goes into building them. The issue of branding is a valid one, too. These names are respected and have a long history and legendary significance to many. It is true that mass-produced stuff can acquire collectible value as its worth is appreciated and it becomes sought after on the collectors' market. Some of these items have little intrinsic value and yet possess great monetary value as they gain legendary status.

It's a scam to mass-produce something, tack a license onto it, and blow the MSRP out of proportion to intrinsic value. It adds insult to injury when the item in question is hyped with exaggerated claims and borrow on a famous name, without regard to true worth.

And, no, in these cases, "true worth" is not quantified in dollars and cents. It's more the validity of the concept, its execution, and the potential for it to have "legs".