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*Official* MF MID Rickenbacker Sale thread
- Thread starter tk4207
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I recently returned a FG Ric to Wildwood for the same reason. The neck was fairly straight but the action was high. So I brought it to my local guitar tech, and he showed me what you have described. Said that he has seen this on quite a few Rics and its a real pain to get around it. Since this was a new bass he advised me not to keep it. When this sale came around I was really tempted to get one but, after seeing the hit and miss experiences of this group of buyers, I'm glad I didn't do it.
Rics are unique and beautiful instruments but, considering their cost, they should have more consistent QC.
Good luck. I'm still with you on ordering from overseas, although mine is on the way, and should be here in about a week.
Well I got mine.
It looks awesome , sounds great and even though the action out of the box was a tad high , it played great still and there was no fretting issues. The finish looks great , you can see the body glue lines.
Areas of concern , the nut looks ok but when you look at it from the side on the G string side its not sitting flush in the route for the nut , there is a small gap , under this gap there is a super small chip , very small but still there. Makes me wonder did someone try to push the nut down? and the tool slipped and chipped it , i dont see it really causing a playability issue, but the slight gap bothers me , the small chip on a bass thats new isnt the coolest.
The binding is very yellow by the horns , you know its going to happen eventually but when you buy a new bass its nice for it to look , well new.
I could live with one issue or the other but both things bothers me , I maybe sending in for a replacement. Bash me for being to picky , but I expect a quality product when dealing with a bass of this caliber, it doesnt matter what i paid.
It looks awesome , sounds great and even though the action out of the box was a tad high , it played great still and there was no fretting issues. The finish looks great , you can see the body glue lines.
Areas of concern , the nut looks ok but when you look at it from the side on the G string side its not sitting flush in the route for the nut , there is a small gap , under this gap there is a super small chip , very small but still there. Makes me wonder did someone try to push the nut down? and the tool slipped and chipped it , i dont see it really causing a playability issue, but the slight gap bothers me , the small chip on a bass thats new isnt the coolest.
The binding is very yellow by the horns , you know its going to happen eventually but when you buy a new bass its nice for it to look , well new.
I could live with one issue or the other but both things bothers me , I maybe sending in for a replacement. Bash me for being to picky , but I expect a quality product when dealing with a bass of this caliber, it doesnt matter what i paid.
+1. I can excuse a couple weeks' bs if I come out of it with a quality Ric 4003 for the price I paid. I watched that guy's YouTube vid of Rickenbacker vs. Fender, and obviously he's a Fender biased guy who bases his whole argument over the difficulty to service a Ric over a Fender... but I don't like the Fender tone. I LOVE the Rickenbacker tone.
A Step, let us know how well you're able to fix your action and adjust your neck. The binding on mine had significant yellowing on the same parts, and the way my neck is, I think these were stored in HOT conditions, maybe for a long time. On one hand this is MF shooting themselves in the foot, on the other its a level of "Quality Control" in itself... if you got one of these batches of Rics and its perfect, then it must be pretty bulletproof from environmental wears.
I wouldn't call the negative neck angle thing a QC issue. Maybe a design flaw. This used to be a much bigger issue on the early basses with high tension round wound strings prior to the three piece necks. The bridges on these couldn't be adjusted low enough to compensate. From the early 70's on it wasn't much of a problem, while the current two piece necks are the best.
Hand me any bass, at any price, I'll find a flaw. Gauranteed.
Not bashing, it's your call on whether to keep or return, but it is refreshing to hear someone admit that they are picky.
Yep mines getting returned. I wont be adjusting the neck on a bass I am returning and NO I am not returning it due to action , post 310 explains why I am returning it.
From what I have read from others experiences I dont think the 2nd one will be as um "ugly" ?
Its costing me 25 cents in dollar store tap and another 25 cents in gas to drop it off for a return , worth it to me to possibly get a better bass.
From what I have read from others experiences I dont think the 2nd one will be as um "ugly" ?
Its costing me 25 cents in dollar store tap and another 25 cents in gas to drop it off for a return , worth it to me to possibly get a better bass.
If anyone wants to drop a ton of money on a bass and then has to monkey with it just to get it to play like its supposed to, that's their business.
But a flaw in a new $1000+ instrument that affects playability and cannot be remedied by a routine adjustment doesn't seem worth the price to me. I expect, but don't always find, problems on inexpensive basses and amps. I just think you should be able expect to get what you pay for.
But a flaw in a new $1000+ instrument that affects playability and cannot be remedied by a routine adjustment doesn't seem worth the price to me. I expect, but don't always find, problems on inexpensive basses and amps. I just think you should be able expect to get what you pay for.
I dont want people to think mine was unplayable , it had high action and still played great , I had yet to tweak the truss , if i did i think it would have played great.
I have even accepted that anyone I get will probably have yellow binding, and thats not something worrying me. It was the poorly seated nut , the huge gap on the G string side and the chip below it , small chip , small gap but it just looked half ass. My squier jag i paid 144$ new for has a better nut seating on it, thats why I am willing to return it . There has to be a better one then that.
btw they didnt "set" on aside for me , so when I return it there may not be one to replace it. In a way I want that so they will possibly give me another color.
I have even accepted that anyone I get will probably have yellow binding, and thats not something worrying me. It was the poorly seated nut , the huge gap on the G string side and the chip below it , small chip , small gap but it just looked half ass. My squier jag i paid 144$ new for has a better nut seating on it, thats why I am willing to return it . There has to be a better one then that.
btw they didnt "set" on aside for me , so when I return it there may not be one to replace it. In a way I want that so they will possibly give me another color.
I understand where you're coming from. I currently own three Ric 4003's, have owned several others in the past.
None were perfect. All have played and sounded great (after a little "monkeying," of course).
Frankly, the average skill level of most DIY non-professional luthiers makes me take alot of these reports with a grain of salt. I think when someone says, "I'm not going to put any time and effort into this bass, I can already see a flaw so I'm just going to send it back and take advantage of the MF return policy and gamble on a more perfect specimen," that speaks volumes to me.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, but resulting cries of general QC issues are wholey unconfirmed in my mind. Most, if not all, of the real flaws I'm hearing about are probably MF's fault, not Rickenbacker's.
Mine is sitting in my living room while I am at work. I am afraid to open it when I get home!
An Aside: I bought a new jetglo 4003 (2007), paid the full $1949 from Musiciansfriend. It was a real stunner, looked amazing, and played beautifully. Unfortunately, it had a dime sized ding near the input jack. There was no indication in the paint (it looked perfect) that it hit into something, just looked like maple was dented and it was just painted over. I sent it back to MF hassle free, but they did not have any replacements in stock, so I went with a Stingray 5 which I was much happier with in so many ways.
Here goes round 2 with the Ric, I really want to love it. I will give it an honest review after I spend some time with it.
An Aside: I bought a new jetglo 4003 (2007), paid the full $1949 from Musiciansfriend. It was a real stunner, looked amazing, and played beautifully. Unfortunately, it had a dime sized ding near the input jack. There was no indication in the paint (it looked perfect) that it hit into something, just looked like maple was dented and it was just painted over. I sent it back to MF hassle free, but they did not have any replacements in stock, so I went with a Stingray 5 which I was much happier with in so many ways.
Here goes round 2 with the Ric, I really want to love it. I will give it an honest review after I spend some time with it.
Yep, thats true. I wouldn't even go so far as to call myself a "non-professional luthier".. I'm just a bass player. I know how to set up a bass, but once it needs work beyond a truss rod or string height adjustment, its pretty much out of my court. The fact that I have the option for a quick n easy return is why I'm jumping straight to that solution.
But I can't tell if you're trying to criticize us or what... I spent the entire weekend trying to get it perfect, I really don't want to return it for a replacement, or gamble on a better specimen. But the fact that mine has significant yellowing, and an inherent neck issue, tell me that its not much of a gamble, most likely I will spend 1 week without a Ric, and get a better one in return. Since its brand new, its not costing me a dime to return.
So, are you suggesting that I should have taken it to an experience pro luthier for work, maybe got it fixed at added expense to me, or maybe ended with a bass that I can't return or be happy with? And I'm doing this for what, purely out of principle? Nah, I paid $1300, if theres a flaw they can replace it
And I don't mean just a setup issue, I mean a flaw. So far, those in this thread who have had to return theirs, did not do so just because they don't know how to set up a bass.
Yep, thats true. I wouldn't even go so far as to call myself a "non-professional luthier".. I'm just a bass player. I know how to set up a bass, but once it needs work beyond a truss rod or string height adjustment, its pretty much out of my court. The fact that I have the option for a quick n easy return is why I'm jumping straight to that solution.
But I can't tell if you're trying to criticize us or what... I spent the entire weekend trying to get it perfect, I really don't want to return it for a replacement, or gamble on a better specimen. But the fact that mine has significant yellowing, and an inherent neck issue, tell me that its not much of a gamble, most likely I will spend 1 week without a Ric, and get a better one in return. Since its brand new, its not costing me a dime to return.So, are you suggesting that I should have taken it to an experience pro luthier for work, maybe got it fixed at added expense to me, or maybe ended with a bass that I can't return or be happy with? And I'm doing this for what, purely out of principle? Nah, I paid $1300, if theres a flaw they can replace it
Thats how I feel. I was playing mine, great sounding bass and i am super excited to get another one. I am not wanting to return it but when your staring a sloppy looking nut , that I can wedge a .73mm pick under , with a nice little chip where its obvious someone tried to push it down or push it out to redo it , I get a feeling of wanting what I paid for and this bass is not an example of it.
Also there was a ton of glue crap I could svrap off at the end of the fretboard , something I was willing to live with and remove.
Other then that and super yellow on the binding its a fantastic bass , and If it gets sent back and marked as used someone can buy it cheap and take the but off and reseat it.
How many are in route for return? so far I count 4 including the damaged one , which is not alot when your looking at 40 basses or so being delivered, that have sat in a warehouse a year. I dont see this as rick's quality problems but how they were stored.
Yes, but some basses are affected more than others. It's almost never been a problem on any newer RIC bass I've worked on. I'm guessing this is dependant on the particular piece of wood used for that bass.
No, not when you have MF and Ric backing it up.
We just have to assume alot, none of us have witnessed your set-up efforts or the results. None of us can hold your bass and make first-hand observations and suggestions. We are all left to trust that (A) you know what you're doing and (B) you've done everything you can to make the bass play well.
Hey, it's the internet. This is normal.
Most of the problems people have had in this thread are PURELY due to these things being stashed away in a hot warehouse for a year. Most likely, they were stored somewhere with no temperature controls, so going from extreme hot to extreme cold as the seasons changed. MF manned up to their mistake, and cut the price by a TON to compensate, and are happily replacing those who's buyers were at all disappointed. I really have no complaints with MF or Ric at this point... as long as they have them in stock and willing to replace FOR FREE, no one has any real complaint. Now if I my replacement ends up worse than my current one, and at that point they refuse to settle the issue, then I'll have a complaint. But as for right now, I don't want to give a conclusive thumbs up or thumbs down until all is said and done.
I'm just keeping everyone in the thread notified as to my adventure, since I figured others would be curious to know. MF has been super helpful, so I'm happy to praise them here and give them some props to fellow musicians.
edit: Coyote, just saw you sneak in a post before me.... yeah I get what you're sayin, and I'll admit that I may be missing something. If I have the exact same problem with the replacement (and its subsequently easily fixed by a real tech) then I'll have a "d'oh" moment and admit my ignorance on here happily... as at that point I'll have a perfect Ric, and nothing will get me down
I got spooked by the guy who repeated his convo with MF customer service that there were only 12 or so left, so I jumped at the return... I'd be more concerned that they ran out, and offered me my money back in store credit. I doubt they'd swap a MID one on clearance for another color at $2k...
I'm just keeping everyone in the thread notified as to my adventure, since I figured others would be curious to know. MF has been super helpful, so I'm happy to praise them here and give them some props to fellow musicians.
edit: Coyote, just saw you sneak in a post before me.... yeah I get what you're sayin, and I'll admit that I may be missing something. If I have the exact same problem with the replacement (and its subsequently easily fixed by a real tech) then I'll have a "d'oh" moment and admit my ignorance on here happily... as at that point I'll have a perfect Ric, and nothing will get me down
I got spooked by the guy who repeated his convo with MF customer service that there were only 12 or so left, so I jumped at the return... I'd be more concerned that they ran out, and offered me my money back in store credit. I doubt they'd swap a MID one on clearance for another color at $2k...electracoyote said:
I bought 3 new Squier Jags totaling $670 LIST (but $533 total ON SALE) and the only flaw was a bit of pitting on chrome control plate on one. I returned my new Mid Ric back because I liked the necks much better on the Jags AND my Fender P & J Bass.
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