Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Limited-Ed ... 27f9d8fa49

I kind of missed that Rickenbacker's colour of the year of 2004 was obviously reintroduced 10 years later...

Japan has a lot of special runs we never see in the states

Needs a toaster...

Yes they did a special run for the Japanese distributors early in 2014. They also did 620s and 330s as well, which are really nice in that finish as they have the smaller headstock. The ones from 2004 /2005 are more the paddle shape. The other special finishes were Santa Anna Skyglo (a much lighter shade then Midnight Blue), Plumglo (which was a much lighter shade of Ruby) and Snowglo (white).

http://www.rickresource.com/register/in ... 14&order=5

At the risk of sounding whiney, what's with all the special finishes and vintage features like checker binding available only to the Japanese market? Don't American buyers deserve a little TLC? And why Japan only, is it that because they can be sold for much more than they would in America? I'm sure there is some business sense behind it, but kind of sucks for American buyers not to access to these basses unless you have the scratch to pay import duties and inflated Japanese prices. If I had the cash, I'd buy a checker binding Jetglo in a heartbeat.

Gilmourisgod wrote:At the risk of sounding whiney, what's with all the special finishes and vintage features like checker binding available only to the Japanese market? Don't American buyers deserve a little TLC? And why Japan only, is it that because they can be sold for much more than they would in America? I'm sure there is some business sense behind it, but kind of sucks for American buyers not to access to these basses unless you have the scratch to pay import duties and inflated Japanese prices. If I had the cash, I'd buy a checker binding Jetglo in a heartbeat.

John Hall has addressed this. I'll quote him from the corporate forum:

"Gray market control. We have offered a variety of special models into different markets to make it impossible for domestic dealers to ship into areas they're not supposed to.

Also, our experience has been that consumers in most overseas markets do not whinge about the extra cost of these expensive-to-produce models. Here in the USA and to a lesser extent in the UK, buyers want all the high end goodies but are only willing to pay an Asian guitar price.

In simpler words, the Japanese and the Germans are more likely to put their money where their mouth is."

Well how will they know that till it's offerred? More than a few people seemed willing to overspend on the limited edition GC Maccabass,and it shouldn't even have cost more.....

woodyng wrote:Well how will they know that till it's offerred? More than a few people seemed willing to overspend on the limited edition GC Maccabass,and it shouldn't even have cost more.....

Precisely. To my knowledge, Ric hasn't offered a checker bound 4000 series bass since they were discontinued in the 70's, so how would they know if there is no American market for it? They are all made in the US, so it's not like they couldn't advertise them and see what the demand is. Maybe they will get into a Custom Shop scenario now that the backlog has calmed down a little. I'm finally seeing a few 4003 basses hanging on the walls in GC and other stores long enough to be test played, so I know they aren't all pre-sold like they were for a while a few years ago.

I hope the Japanese Blue Boys are actually blue instead of green.

It's ok for John Hall to basically say that certain markets will pay top dollar for certain basses.
That is true. Is it not also true that the 75th anniversary models (that also were not cheap) also sold to the domestic markets just as planned?

If Ric wished to make a limited run of 100 basses in a particular finish, say Monte Brown, with checker binding and an original style split pickguard, they would be sold out well before they were made.

If the plan is to make MAXIMUM BUCKS rather than to give domestic customers what they want, I can understand the reasoning. Ric are in business to make money, but it would be nice for some unusual basses to find their way into the hands of US and UK buyers.

My personal example of how this works is that at 30 basses and 10 guitars, including 3 Ric 4003's, I had maxed out on my desire to own any more. I was sticking to this quite happily with my guitar addiction seemingly cured finally...... until I saw a walnut 4003.

John Hall wrote:"Gray market control. We have offered a variety of special models into different markets to make it impossible for domestic dealers to ship into areas they're not supposed to.

Also, our experience has been that consumers in most overseas markets do not whinge about the extra cost of these expensive-to-produce models. Here in the USA and to a lesser extent in the UK, buyers want all the high end goodies but are only willing to pay an Asian guitar price.

In simpler words, the Japanese and the Germans are more likely to put their money where their mouth is."

By supplying something that can only be bought in Japan, it certainly seems to make US buyers seem less important. Some companies think all their customers are important.

The remark about US and UK buyers only wanting to buy at Asian guitar prices is merely a nasty little dig at them. The people in the US and UK who HAVE put their money where their mouth is and have paid the higher asking price without whingeing must be utterly charmed by his comments.

It is common knowledge that the relationship between RIC and their Japanese distributor is very strong. I believe that the distributor has the initiative to work with RIC on special order ideas, and is prepared to pay the premium for the relatively small order size for each special run, as the Tokyo street price on these instruments is substantially higher than that for standard Rickenbackers (which is itself higher than US prices). Essentially the distributor is assuming the risk inherent in low-volume production runs, making such runs a feasible activity for RIC.

There have been a few exclusive US production runs for particular dealers over the years (GC springs to mind), but is my contention that there isn't a dealer in the US that can consistently play an analogous role to the Japanese distributor for a wide variety of reasons. As a result, fewer special order runs are produced for the US market.

12stringbassist wrote:By supplying something that can only be bought in Japan, it certainly seems to make US buyers seem less important. Some companies think all their customers are important.

I don't see it as much different than the Guitar Center 4001s basses. A dealer (or dealers) in Japan wanted some unique versions and were willing to spend enough money to make it profitable for RIC to do it. I have no doubt that any dealer who has the money can entice RIC to do it for them.

lordblackmore wrote:

12stringbassist wrote:By supplying something that can only be bought in Japan, it certainly seems to make US buyers seem less important. Some companies think all their customers are important.

I don't see it as much different than the Guitar Center 4001s basses. A dealer (or dealers) in Japan wanted some unique versions and were willing to spend enough money to make it profitable for RIC to do it. I have no doubt that any dealer who has the money can entice RIC to do it for them.

The main difference is, are there enough US and UK buyers who will gladly step up to the plate without beeching and moaning about the instruments? As I understand it, the Japanese crave these instruments and worship them without picking them apart.