Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I spotted a few of these recently on the Kurosawa Music website. At first I thought hmmm, v63's, but they are clearly advertising them as "Rickenbacker 1999"s. All skirting around 2500-3000 quid (sorry, 4000USD for those not UK based) and all fireglo. They had about four up when last I looked.

I don't think I've ever read anything about these basses before and given that most people (me included) will drool at the mere mention of an RM1999, I'm surprised it hasn't come up as a topic here before.

Anyone know more about these? Are they leftover V63's or C64's that were made with the headstock the "right" way round?

Check out this thread:
http://rickresource.com/forum/viewtopic ... nniversary

1 and only 1 of these was shipped to Chris at Pick of the Ricks, and now belongs to a forum member. Cant remember who though.

cheyenne wrote:1 and only 1 of these was shipped to Chris at Pick of the Ricks, and now belongs to a forum member. Cant remember who though.

Todd

johnallg wrote:

cheyenne wrote:1 and only 1 of these was shipped to Chris at Pick of the Ricks, and now belongs to a forum member. Cant remember who though.

Todd

Yep, Todd.

Lucky guy... I think if any of us were at POR when that 1999 came in we'd get weak in the knees and reach for our credit cards!

I would say that is an accurate assumption.

teeder wrote:I would say that is an accurate assumption.

Yuppers.

johnallg wrote:

teeder wrote:I would say that is an accurate assumption.

Yuppers.

Let me think about this...............yup.

Oh, no no no no no........yes...

eden

Oddly, they aren't exactly flying out the door in Japan. Kurosawa has had a reasonable inventory for months. The pricing point may be just a little too high in the current economic climate - and the price at Kurosawa is already at a hefty discount to the initial retail price of JPY 504,000.

While they're great basses and I RAS over them hard - 5K is too painful for my blood.

They look to be great basses but are essentially a V63 with extra "RM 1999" style features.
You could get a V63 FG and add the thumb rest bakelite nut vintage (C64) keywinds etc and effectively have the same bass.
As I said at the time the Japanese basses went out, in my opinion a true "1999" re-issue should have an active HS pu possibly with a surround styled with a longer "tail" and a vintage accurate aluminium bridge etc. otherwise its a tweaked V63.
I dont wish to detract anything from the fine guitars that they are but from my point of view a true representation of the 1999 in re-issue form has yet to be made because of the hardware issues mentioned above.

And if it were ever made that would be one pricey Rickenbacker.
Should I keep my fingers crossed?

Cheers guys!

Stunning looking basses but yeah, wallet-worringly high in the price. Ah well, I shall continue dreaming.

Pete - could it be a tweaked c64 rather than a v63? The tweaking would have included correcting the headstock.

And could it be this run of RM style basses that's responsible for Chris Squire's Fish Out of Water bass that he's currently packing live?

Any chance to turn it into a Squire-related thread!

seyesbass wrote:They look to be great basses but are essentially a V63 with extra "RM 1999" style features.

Something like this?

Last time I checked.......I'm sure these were starting to sell for around 248,000 yen ($2,800?) ....not so bad huh?