Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Does anyone know the reasoning behind the company's choice not only not to bookmatch the tops, but to include knots etc. I just got a new(to me) 2010 620 Fireglo that has a very noticeable knot in the top near the center. Most companies would choose not to use wood with this anomaly. I'm fine with it & see it as a character enhancer, but do find it odd. I've also noticed that sometimes a 2 piece top will have 1 side highly figured, while the other is plain as can be.
Can anybody satisfy my curiousity?

Tony

Some refer to this as Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese art of the appreciation of things imperfect. Wabi-Sabi is very much in-vogue now. Ric was jut ahead of their time!

Good wood's getting harder and harder to come by, perhaps? I think that would be referred to as "charactered." I had a 4004Cii TG with a cool looking "snake" on the back. I think there are SERF photos of it somewhere here.

Bookmatching is time consuming, expensive and wastes a lot of perfectly good wood. As for knots, we must consider two facts. 1. Guitars is made of wood. 2. Wood has knots. As long as the wood is structurally sound, RIC is probably going to use it. If the wood is ugly, there's always Jetglo.

This is strange, I was talking with my folks the other night about knots in the wood in our kitchen/dining room table and living room floor. There are a crud-load of knots in all the wood, and I was saying how guitars with knots in the wood get turned into solid colors, like a Ric with a knot is Jetglo or so, or a Fender with a knot becomes Sonic Blue or Fiesta Red or something like that.

Anyway, perhaps you could post a pic of your Ric with the knot? Maybe we can see if it should have been Jetglo or Mid Blue.

I really don't think I would like a Jetglo kitchen table or hardwood floors in my house...

I think I adequately addressed this previously here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=400925&p=690819&hil ... ch#p690819

I also deleted the carbon copy post from the corporate forum since this has been dealt with here.

Book matched or not, my 4004 Cii Cheyenne FG (the Tiger) is gorgeous. And it sounds as sweet as it looks.

Bookmatched flamed maple doesn't appeal to me at all....they remind me of PRS (no disrespect to the fine playing PRS models...but I think they have no soul).

Heck, even $350,000 '59 Les Paul Bursts don't have perfect, even book-matched flamed maple.
Irregularities are beautiful, IMO.

I think I need to clarify a couple of things. First, as I said in my original post, I am NOT complainng about my Rickenbacker guitars. I made an observation based on comparison to other U.S. made guitars. Second, I posted the same question at the other forum thinking that the question might reach different people, seeing that it IS supposed to be a different forum. IMO, the fact that my question was removed there tells me that even the implication of imperfection is not welcome there. Total fanboys only?...That would be sad.
I love guitars! Gibsons(5), Fenders(3), PRSi(4), Rickenbackers(2) & many more. They are ALL beautiful, but none of them are perfect. I asked Paul Smith a question about top wood figuring & questionable "10 Top rating" at the NAMM show in a one-on-one conversation & he asked me to come to the question & answer session later in the day & pose the same question in a public forum, because it "was a valid question & deserves explanation". He is very passionate about guitars, as am I. Sometimes that passion is morphed into redundant questions. For that redundance, I WILL apologize.
As fo the availability of figured maple in guitar friendly sizes, I does seem to be available to many companies & luthiers. Some of it finds it's way into some quite inexpensive guitars.
Thank you, Mr. Hall, for replying to my initial question yourself. For your censorship, not so much. I think an answer, even one mentioning my semi-redundance, would have benefitted both of us more. I tend to learn from my mistakes...on the good days!

Peace,
Tony

Note the major difference in construction of nearly every other guitar made with fancy wood tops compared to a Rick...the others use veneer for the top. A Rick semi-hollow has the top and sides milled from a rather thick slab of maple (glued up from 2-3 pieces or more on some very old examples). Compared to 1/32" or even 1/16" veneer a Rick requires a LOT more wood. Except for the WB types veneer just isn't possible due to the rounded top edges. On the solid body neck-thru models each wing is a solid piece of maple (or other hardwood in some models). Same problem.

The solution to all of this is simple: Jetglo

The fancy top "veneers" on most basses I own or have owned (that have/had fancy top woods) are/were ¼", except for my Martin Keith fretless Elfin 5 which is around ⅛", that one being a Spruce top.

Does a great looking top make a guitar sound better? No...
Does it make the guitar player a better musician? No...

Some cheaper brands use figure or exotic woods to pimp their guitars...
Some of the best Les Paul 50s figure tops ended up under a layer of gold lacquer...

rickenbrother wrote:Book matched or not, my 4004 Cii Cheyenne FG (the Tiger) is gorgeous. And it sounds as sweet as it looks.

BBBBBut it's not black??????

coolhandjjl wrote:

rickenbrother wrote:Book matched or not, my 4004 Cii Cheyenne FG (the Tiger) is gorgeous. And it sounds as sweet as it looks.

BBBBBut it's not black??????

Hey, I never said I only loved JETGLO!
FIREGLO rocks too!