MAJOR Kudos

[wittyair]

MAJOR Kudos to Ben, Eric, John and the rest of the amazing people at Rickenbacker.
Just received the newest one off Amber Ash 350 and it is killer......THE lightest guitar
I've ever played.....you could stay on stage all night with this thing. The guitar is absolutely
gorgeous.....kind of a mustardy amber with great grain in the wood, a selection of pickups
that goes from true Rick jangle ( love that HB-1 ) to funky blues, and those way cool vintage
tuners. Home run on this one guys......( not that the others weren't.....but you know what I mean!! )

[cjj]

Congrats on getting that one Craig! Looks pretty cool even if it does have too many strings...

[8mileshigher]

Very cool !! Congrats

[JakeK]

Something told me you scored this one, Craig. Congrats! How does it compare to the 350 Hoffs model(s) you've previously owned. This guitar has that same pickup/number of frets configuation as a Hoffs...

[admin]

A wonderful guitar Craig. Congratulations.

[wittyair]

It's a LOT lighter, Jake!!

[johnhall]

While I'm very pleased that you're enjoying it, Craig, it didn't really seem like a home run to us on this one. With only one bid, it made us feel that there wasn't really much interest in instruments from us that vary too much from the usual fare, as this guitar did.

While we've always felt that there's some resistance out there to new things from us, this tended to reinforce my thinking that the limits of what our customer's expect from us are even narrower than we already thought.

Still, we all liked this guitar in particular, it certainly was a pleasure to play, and only Craig has one now!

I'll also mention that one previous instrument . . . I won't say which . . . was a special request from a customer who said he had to "have one at any price". We told him we'd make it but in order to be fair in light of our backlog, we said we'd put it up on eBay to give everyone a fair chance at it.

He didn't even bid on it.

[captsandwich]

Congrats Craig!

If you're running out of storage space, I could arrange something at an incredibly reasonable rate.

[fireglo67]

Nice guitar Craig.

[weemac]

While we've always felt that there's some resistance out there to new things from us, this tended to reinforce my thinking that the limits of what our customer's expect from us are even narrower than we already thought.

This may be true in the guitar department, as guitarists tend to be a rather traditional lot, but Rickenbackers one off basses and new ideas usually get a fairly warm welcome from the bass players. That may be where the interest for custom models lies..

emac.

[Folkie]

Congrats, Craig, on scoring a very rare beauty!

[antipodean]

While I'm very pleased that you're enjoying it, Craig, it didn't really seem like a home run to us on this one. With only one bid, it made us feel that there wasn't really much interest in instruments from us that vary too much from the usual fare, as this guitar did.

Could be a reflection of timing. Demand at the premium/collectors end of the market seems to be staying soft, maybe even deteriorating further.

As to the guitar - it's fabulous. Congrats Craig!

[8mileshigher]

While we've always felt that there's some resistance out there to new things from us, this tended to reinforce my thinking that the limits of what our customer's expect from us are even narrower than we already thought.

I'll also mention that one previous instrument . . . I won't say which . . . was a special request from a customer who said he had to "have one at any price". We told him we'd make it but in order to be fair, in light of our backlog, we said we'd put it up on eBay to give everyone a fair chance at it.

He didn't even bid on it.

John, those are very interesting comments you make about the Rick customer's narrow expectations. It is especially enlightening, in view that we always see several "wish-list" threads, on a fairly regular basis, offering "suggestions" on re-issue models (that would divert manufacturing resources away from the backlog) in order to re-create folk's "must-have" Rickenbacker(s).

[nukebass]

Some of the bidding may be how much money people have at a given time and, even, who knows it is there. The guitar looks like a really interesting combination of things, but, since I'm not in the market to buy anything right now, it wouldn't have mattered how cool I thought it was. Congrats, Craig!

[Matt Clark]

Congrats Craig! Nice catch!

My 2 cents, (filled with overstuffed baggage)...

With only one bid, it made us feel that there wasn't really much interest in instruments from us that vary too much from the usual fare, as this guitar did.

I would love a custom RIC that came officially from RIC. In fact, I've asked. I've even ask Paul to check into it for me to see if he could make me a one off. But, just because this particular guitar is a one-off doesn't mean that this is the custom guitar I want, or want to even spend 3K+ on. Something this specific is going to make a few people really jones, but first you've got to have the money when it becomes available, or be a wealthy enough person that can drop money on something just because it may be or may become collectible. I really don't think this is a fair test of people wanting new things. I would think people are asking all of the time for new stuff, and if they aren't it's because you rapidly find out that RIC doesn't cater to the custom customer so you stop asking--I know I have.

Amber yellow 350, no thanks... canary yellow or white solid body 370/6 (or even 12) double bound with bound neck and head stock (not vintage) with with black trim and hardware, now your talking! But, who else wants that!?! The one other guy multimillionaire in the world besides me that has the cash right when you decide to e-bay it and beats me out of it? How ****** am I then!

Then again, perhaps as a high end RIC community, everybody new Craig wanted it so they let him have it. Maybe...

I'll also mention that one previous instrument . . . I won't say which . . . was a special request from a customer who said he had to "have one at any price". We told him we'd make it but in order to be fair in light of our backlog, we said we'd put it up on eBay to give everyone a fair chance at it.

He didn't even bid on it.

Neither would I. I'm asking for you to do something for ME and I am willing to pay your price, whatever you quote me, and you make me win a bid--really, No thanks. I might even be vindictive enough and agree just to make you waste your time.

But, I am guessing you did sell it and that you met your reserve amount, so no time wasted and no harm no foul.

I'd be willing to bet you could open a second or licensed custom shop, advertise it and keep a whole additional company going from it. Especially if you made low end for the poor folk and high end versions for the rich guys with special desires. Could be wrong. And, before you say, "then start your own company if you think you can do it better...", can I use the RIC I.Ps?