Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hello!

I am new to this forum, in fact it is the first time I have ever created a thread in a forum so this is new territory for me. I hope I am doing it right! Anyway, I am bassist who is moving into the world of six strings! I have come into some inheritance and want to spend it on something worthwhile and not a car or rent. My immediate thought was "Rickenbacker!". One of my favorite bands at the moment is Tame Impala who's front man plays a 330 Jetglow. I looked into the 330's and stumbled across the Blueburst. I immediately fell in love. This is the guitar I am going to spend my Nan's inheritance on! So I phoned my local stockist to see if they had it. "Your're going to have to wait about a year for that guitar mate, get one that's in stock would be my advice" was the reply I received. A year???!! WTF? Why so long? Is he right? I have emailed Rickenbacker to enquire but to no avail. So I have joined this forum to see if you guys and gals could shed some light on the matter. It would be greately appreciated. I am on the verge of spending over the odds to have a second hand one shipped over form the states. Oh yeah, I should have mentioned that I am residing in the UK...

Thankyou in advance

JC

Hi Josh, and welcome to the forums!

A waiting time of around a year for a new instrument from RIC seems about right these days - they currently have a production backlog and cannot make new instruments quickly enough to satisfy the demand for them. However, I don't think RIC are offering blueburst as a current finish option. I too recently came into an inheritence and spend a lot of money on Rick basses, mostly obtained from Ebay and all of which I'm very happy with. I notice that there are a couple of 330 Blueburst guitars on Ebay at the moment so maybe one of those is one that you're interested in.

One point to bear in mind before you bid though - beware that guitars imported from the States are subject to 20% import duty, including the shipping charges. So, if you're looking to buy an instrument that costs around £1,700, and the additional cost of shipping it over the Atlantic is £220, the total would be close on £2,000. The import duty charged to you by UK Customs would be around £400...

Ash

Wow! Thanks for that info Ash. I have been in contact with some sellers from the states so I will keep that in mind and try to get the price down a bit.
Thanks again!

Ashgray wrote:
One point to bear in mind before you bid though - beware that guitars imported from the States are subject to 20% import duty, including the shipping charges. So, if you're looking to buy an instrument that costs around £1,700, and the additional cost of shipping it over the Atlantic is £220, the total would be close on £2,000. The import duty charged to you by UK Customs would be around £400...Ash

Strictly speaking, this is not correct. UK Import Duty on electric guitars and basses is 3.7% of the cost of the instrument including any carriage and insurance. The problem is that you are then charged a further 20% VAT (Value Added Tax) on top of everything. So imagine, for example, if you import a guitar which costs (say) $2,000 and you pay Shipping/Insurance costs of (say) $200 - a total of $2,200. HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) use the official exchange rate (currently $1.537 = £1GBP) to convert that to a figure of £1,431. They then levy Customs Duty of £53 (3.7% of £1,431), which takes the total to £1,484, and then add 20% VAT to this new total - a further £297. Total Import Duty and VAT payable is thus £350, which when you work it out, is almost 27% of the original cost of the guitar - so beware!

redamber wrote:

Ashgray wrote:
One point to bear in mind before you bid though - beware that guitars imported from the States are subject to 20% import duty, including the shipping charges. So, if you're looking to buy an instrument that costs around £1,700, and the additional cost of shipping it over the Atlantic is £220, the total would be close on £2,000. The import duty charged to you by UK Customs would be around £400...Ash

Strictly speaking, this is not correct. UK Import Duty on electric guitars and basses is 3.7% of the cost of the instrument including any carriage and insurance. The problem is that you are then charged a further 20% VAT (Value Added Tax) on top of everything. So imagine, for example, if you import a guitar which costs (say) $2,000 and you pay Shipping/Insurance costs of (say) $200 - a total of $2,200. HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) use the official exchange rate (currently $1.537 = £1GBP) to convert that to a figure of £1,431. They then levy Customs Duty of £53 (3.7% of £1,431), which takes the total to £1,484, and then add 20% VAT to this new total - a further £297. Total Import Duty and VAT payable is thus £350, which when you work it out, is almost 27% of the original cost of the guitar - so beware!

The product is taxed first for UK, so it's guitar + shipping and insurance + 20% tax then + 3.7% duty on the total and then an £8.00 or £13.00 service/handling charge (for delaying the package for around 10 days ) depending on the price and shipping service.