| Author | Message | ||
     wayne perri (Org_fifth_beatle) New member Username: Org_fifth_beatle Post Number: 8 Registered: 01-2005 Posted From: 205.208.227.30 |
Ever wonder why people like to have thier strats all banged up looking like they went throu the mill and Ricks are well taken care of? because RICKEBACKER's are the ROLLS ROYCE of guitars! | ||
| Jeffrey Scott (Jps) Senior Member Username: Jps Post Number: 2978 Registered: 02-2003 Posted From: 67.38.245.140 |
I always thought of Rickenbackers as the Ferrari of the guitar/bass world. | ||
| Geoffrey Lawton (Golfo) Junior Member Username: Golfo Post Number: 33 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 24.61.21.170 |
it's funny, isn't it? i certainly agree. if i saw a banged up strat or tele, i would certainly consider buying it if it was what i wanted at the time. but i don't think i'd ever purchase a marred rick. it just doesn't look right. geoff | ||
| Ron Plichta (Highway_star) Senior Member Username: Highway_star Post Number: 364 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 138.88.122.21 |
It's that old bluesman mojo that's supposed to go into a worn-out Fender. I don't buy it and try to keep mine a clean as possible. | ||
| Philip Canard (Philco) Senior Member Username: Philco Post Number: 889 Registered: 02-2003 Posted From: 209.151.114.196 |
Fenders get banged up because when you finally find a good one, you enjoy playing the hell out of it and it becomes a favorite. Funny how the same factory can turn out a hunk of coal and a diamond in the same day. If you ever see a Fender that isn't banged up, you need be be very cautious as to why that is so. I speak from experience. Getting a good wood neck on a new bass or guitar is a crapshoot. The straightest and most seasoned wood blanks can warp over time as opposing forces that kept the blank straight are stripped away unequally and the new neck slowly assumes its desired final shape. It doesn't matter how long the blank was cured as long as strong opposing grain forces exist within the wood. A big company like Fender will put out a lot of gems and a lot of garbage. Some neck warps will only happen under pressure and not in the drying racks, due to uneven density/strength from heel to headstock. Even the most experienced luthiers can't totally cull out such necks beforehand (and they generally don't work at Fender). Fender necks are generally too cheap to pull the frets and plane the neck flat again. Fender will slap on a new neck under warranty, and the dice are rolled again. Blame the maple tree, or varying weather conditions that caused unequal growth through the years. My favorite bass is one that I bought used after it had a couple of years to sort itself out. The huge amount of used Fenders for sale means that a player has a good chance of finding a Fender with an excellent neck. It's a numbers game more than a brand game. Fenders are there in huge numbers, and came from various factories throughtout their production history, with different quality standards. Fender aficionados know their axes and can pick out the gems from the coal bin. Don't kid yourself; I've seen Rickenbackers with seriously warped necks, and Ferrari's like to stay in mechanic shops too much for my taste and their owners are too familiar with finish maintenance to make me ever want to join their club. My idea of deep cleaning my Ford finish is the hailstorm it survived last Monday night. Not a rust spot or clearcoat peeloff anywhere after 8 years of braving the Texas elements without ever being garaged. Bring on your Ferraris. Today I go fishing, not washing and waxing. I've owned a Mercedes, but my best vehicle has been a Ford. That by no means can prove that Fords are better, just that they are a better value for me. Ford has built some real duds, just like Fender has. There are some Fordlike guitars and basses out there. Sort of how I view Fenders. | ||
| paul wilczynski (Jingle_jangle) Senior Member Username: Jingle_jangle Post Number: 1845 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 24.23.164.148 |
Well said. Your workmanlike approach to both guitars and cars shows long experience and good analysis of the results of that experience. You speak directly of the opposite poles of playing / collecting, or driving / collecting. Most of us are somewhere in between those poles, doing a bit of both. I think Ricks are closer to Rolls Royces in philosophy and construction than they are to Ferraris. Geoff, if I see a beat-up Fender, I walk the other way. If I see a beat-up Rickenbacker, I want to RESTORE it! | ||
| Geoffrey Lawton (Golfo) Junior Member Username: Golfo Post Number: 34 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 24.61.21.170 |
paul i don't beat on any of my guitars - fenders included. just my nature, i guess. i want them all looking good. however - a beaten fender looks in context to me. a beaten rick looks - well... abused. but i'm brand new to ricks - so i could later see a battered rick and say, "that's for me... to refinish!" regards geoff | ||
| paul wilczynski (Jingle_jangle) Senior Member Username: Jingle_jangle Post Number: 1846 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 24.23.164.148 |
Geoff: You and I have similar natures. I think that Fender's bulletproof construction leads them to go through lots of owners, or the fact that they keep on playin' for their original owners with minimal maintenance, means that they last a long time and still play and sound as expected. SRV's #1 was as messy as his persona. A lot of us Rick owners are more fastidious than the median, I think. I also think that Ricks are kept longer by most of us than your average Fender, because they're harder to find and their rarity makes them intrinsically more valuable. | ||
| R. C. Bengston (Rcbengston) Senior Member Username: Rcbengston Post Number: 252 Registered: 04-2002 Posted From: 63.214.252.112 |
My Strat receives that same care as my Rickenbackers do; no more, no less. | ||
| Mike Ferguson (Fergs40) Member Username: Fergs40 Post Number: 53 Registered: 04-2004 Posted From: 86.129.103.143 |
In some senses I think you're actually asking the wrong question here. Sure there are a lot more beaten-up Strats out there than there are beaten-up Ricks - but that's because there are a lot more Strats out there than there are Ricks! A guitar gets beaten-up for two reasons - either it's loved too much or it's not loved enough. And I think you can tell the difference (usually the neck is still attached to the one which is loved too much...:-) ) There's a 1995 on auction at the moment which clearly falls into the 'well-loved' category. And I hope that one day my 620/12 will look a little like this - missing a bit of finish here and there but generally singing away just like it does now. Maybe even better, who knows... |
