Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I plan to send this letter to the editor of BASS PLAYER magazine. Am I leaving anything out? I think that we should start an e-mail campaign to have a feature on our beloved Rick basses. ANY feedback will be helpful!

Dear Mr. Herrera

I was wondering if you would consider a feature on the legendary Rickenbacker Bass. I am the owner of three and I truly love these instruments. I have long dreamed of a cover featuring Paul McCartney Geddy Lee and Chris Squire. It seems these instruments have been placed in "cult" status. They were VERY popular in the 70's and their sound was very uniqe. Rickenbacker has been Lemmy's main choice for his entire carrer. Les Claypool, Robert Trujillo, Cliff Burton, Chris Ross of Wolfmother, Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand, Dr. Matt Destruction of The Hives and Nikolai Fraiture too name a few. An issue dedicated to these unique instruments would be a fitting tribute. Without the Rickenbacker Bass, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, many Rush tunes and EVERY Yes album would not be the same. I know Fender is always going to be the popular pick, but why not showcase a company with rich history since the 1960's,with every guitar built with custom shop quality right here in the USA. I do realize getting McCartney to play along would be tough, especially since he was on the cover a few years ago, but he loves publicity and may just comply. His 4001 and Chris Squire's, may be two of the most coveted basses on earth.


Thank you for your consideration. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

- Richard J. Roosa

The editors name is Jonathan Herrera his email is [email protected]

i believe i have a copy of bass player before it came out as its own magazine and was an insert to another magazine and it featured squire.

I like to see an issue dedicated on the Rickenbacker Bass and its impact on rock music from the kinks, who, britrock, to prog, to contemp, Kind of like the Les Paul vs Strat.

I e-mailed it to three people

BASS PLAYER MAGAZINE
Senior Editor - Jonathan Herrera --- [email protected]
Associate Editor - Brian Fox --- [email protected]
Group Publisher - Joe Perry --- [email protected]

I'd like to start an militant e-mail campaign. LET'S GO BOY'S & GIRLS!!

Geddy Lee, Chris Squire and Paul McCartney have each been featured several times in Bass Play Mag. I remember one issue featuring Squire, where he was saying he really liked his new Tobias 5 string bass because the string spacing was the same as on his Rickenbacker, making it easy to play and there was a picture of his Rick and Tobias together. That was before Gibson bought up Tobias basses. I must have seen at least one article on RIC and I also remember a review on the 4004 Cheyenne and Laredo models, which I think was '93 or '94, but not an issue dedicated to Rickenbacker basses. They certainly give enough props to some other bass manufacturers. I've long since stopped my subscription to BPM and rarely buy an issue anymore, but I'd buy an issue that finally featured my favorite bass guitars!

congerz83 wrote:I plan to send this letter to the editor of BASS PLAYER magazine. Am I leaving anything out? I think that we should start an e-mail campaign to have a feature on our beloved Rick basses. ANY feedback will be helpful!

The Bass Player booth at NAMM 2010 was right across from the RIC booth, so I think Jonathan knows they exist.

Actually, in recent years there have been many interviews with Rick wielding bassists. I suppose a review on something like the C series basses would be nice but given their relative scarcity it might be difficult for BP to secure one to review.

As others have noted, Ric has had some coverage in BP over the last few years, but not a lot:

Sept. 2009: BP had a transcription of Macca's bass part for "Hey Bulldog", including a photo of him playing his Ric, and a discussion of his Ric in the accompanying article.

Jan. 2009: BP had Chris Squire on the cover with his Ric bass, and a nice article including some discussion of his Ric.

Dec. 2007: Peter Cetera (Chicago) on the cover with his Ric.

Oct. 2007: Dave Pomeroy's "Retro-Rama" column featured a 1959 Rick model 4000.

Ric chooses not to advertise in BP... perhaps there's a reason why Rics have not been featured in the "Soundroom" section (product reviews)?!

The Ric bass coverage in BP has not been substantial--it's always circumstantial, like, "Oh yeah and this guy does own a Ric." Chris Squire got into some detail about his, probably more than any other interviewee in all of the 2000s. Who knows what they left out, but what they quoted him for saying was that his bass sounds different from other Rickenbacker basses, distancing it from the rest of them.

I honestly think BP couldn't care less about Ric basses, because they will spend what seems like entire pages waxing poetic about how great a Jazz Bass is just for having a tone control or a red finish, and they're that way with just about anything else too (they love to embellish reviews with hip terminology like "dig that greasy howlin' wolf tone" or whatever). But with a Ric bass it's always very matter of fact and dismissive. They don't care about Rics, and I doubt you'll hear a response to your letter. I wrote something similar to Bill Leigh once. They had just covered all of the new features on Fender basses and how great they all were and I suggested an update for readers on how Rics had been updated also, like the push-pull pot, the inlays, the finish, and now the two-piece necks. I got no reply. Funny though, that was not long after the 4003 was voted very high on a reader's poll, alongisde a Modulus model and a Fodera IIRC.

There are other basses that don't get much coverage either, but when they finally do get a moment in the spotlight it's pretty substantial and attention is paid. Rics are always pushed as far back as possible. Maybe BP has an ethical issue with RIC or some other beef. Maybe RIC isn't paying them to care about their products like other companies do.

I finally let my subscription lapse because I felt like I was getting the same magazine with the same comments and the same lessons every month.

Amen Josh.

I don't think i'll renew either. I don't know who the Halls have ****** off over the years, but it seems like Rickenbacker is always on the outside looking in.

One thing you need to remember is that magazines aren't there to disseminate information to their readers for purely educational purposes. Magazines are commercial ventures whose main point is to sell advertising space. If a company pays for lots of advertising, you can bet the magazine will cater to that company by writing all sorts of articles featuring their products. If another company doesn't buy space, the magazine has little incentive to "waste" space on products that don't generate advertising revenue...

congerz83 wrote:I don't know who the Halls have ****** off over the years, but it seems like Rickenbacker is always on the outside looking in.

I can understand them not wanting to get involved in the rat races with all of the other people in the guitar-building world, since they are small and family-owned. Like CJ and I said it's probably $$$-related in the case of BP. I just got sick of reading these redundant reviews month after month about how the Jazz Bass and its numerous big-dollar copies are the messiahs that have come to save us all, oh yeah and here's a pedal we've been paid to tell you about too, and some highly generic entry-level lessons. One month I said to myself, "Wonder what next month's five pages of Jazz Bass will be dedicated to," and it turned out the next issue was literally THE JAZZ BASS ISSUE.

There were always good stand-outs in each issue but they got fewer and fewer with time. Even if there is no real bias against RIC besides the financial one, I'm just totally bored with that magazine.

congerz83 wrote:Amen Josh.

I don't think i'll renew either. I don't know who the Halls have ****** off over the years, but it seems like Rickenbacker is always on the outside looking in.

I don't know if anyone's teed off, but I don't think it's a bad thing that Ric is a small company with a small, but loyal following.

It seems to me I remember hearing that there is no love lost between Bass Player and John Hall. It's been years since RIC has advertised basses in BP (and not that much anywhere else, for that matter). I don't know what the furball was about, sorry.

But on the subject of advertising, I DID see a full-page color ad for RIC in the latest Guitar Afficianado magazine, talking about the quality of the instruments. It shows a pretty flamey 380 Mapleglo, just the upper left quadrant of the body showing the German carve and checker binding.

In the same issue is a short piece on the new Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, showing one of the display rooms that contain guitars. In there is a Frying Pan and another Rick or two. They quote Matt Hill who is the American instruments curator, and mentions that Hill has known John Hall since he (Hill) was a teenager. I've not met Hill (yet), and don't know if he is about the same age as JH or not. Hill is the current possessor of the RIC company archives and is apparently making a book on RIC for his PhD thesis (I think I have that right).

congerz83 wrote:Amen Josh.

I don't think i'll renew either. I don't know who the Halls have ****** off over the years, but it seems like Rickenbacker is always on the outside looking in.

Maybe so, but being on the outside, they are making all they can as fast as they can and are still way behind.

I think it has to do with what music the editor/writers like and play, what the "traditional instrument" for those genre have been (Fender), and the industry's dirty little secret - "scratch" my back and I'll scratch yours. RIC doesn't advertise with BPM.

Anyone else tired of reading about the next latest, greatest Jazz bass variation that goes for $3000 ++? [edit] Doh! Should have read the whole thread. Josh stated it very well.

Yeah. I left BP many years ago. Right after Roberts left, actually.