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*Official* MF MID Rickenbacker Sale thread
- Thread starter tk4207
- Start date
- Status
Got mine today. Factory sealed in the box. Made in August 2010 with yellowish binding.
The case is badly cracked around one foot and has rub marks on the top and bottom from being shipped in the box with no padding.
One truss rod cover mounting hole is misaliged/drilled 1/2 inside the cavity.
I think the glue for the nut came out of one side in a glob and some is on the neck with a possible paint touch up by a total hack job.
There are 4 dark spots on the first position fretboard inlay.
MF confirmed still in stock and offered to ship me out a replacement bass packed in a larger box with packing and rush shipping for no charge. They sent a return label by email and will ship the new bass to me before they get the damaged one.
Shame on RIC!
Good for MF!
The case is badly cracked around one foot and has rub marks on the top and bottom from being shipped in the box with no padding.
One truss rod cover mounting hole is misaliged/drilled 1/2 inside the cavity.
I think the glue for the nut came out of one side in a glob and some is on the neck with a possible paint touch up by a total hack job.
There are 4 dark spots on the first position fretboard inlay.
MF confirmed still in stock and offered to ship me out a replacement bass packed in a larger box with packing and rush shipping for no charge. They sent a return label by email and will ship the new bass to me before they get the damaged one.
Shame on RIC!
Good for MF!
Premierbass
Commercial User
- May 26, 2011
- 132
- 8
- Disclosures
- Owner, Premier Bass Guitars
OK, some of these basses seem to have some damage, whether in shipping from Ric to MF to consumer is unknown.
Some other issues seem to be non issues - like polishing compound in a few spots, when lo and behold, a polishing cloth makes it look great,
Some with a tad high action, with great complaints.
Well, mine arrive today, and got some pictures tonight. Mine is a 2011.
The bass is great although with a few MINOR imperfections I will live with and/or fix.
Here's the details:
Overall photo:
Link Removed
Serial Number:
Link Removed
Neck end finish issues:
Link Removed
Slightly yellowed binding. To me this is a common variation on Rics - it depends who's using the paint gun on a particular day. If they're a heavy shooter, it will get too thick, expecially in the horns and other areas where the paint can collect. Not a deal breaker to me:
Link Removed
Similar neck end finish issues on my Ric 660/12:
Link Removed
Here's my bottom line:
1. The bass is near perfect, I'm keeping it.
2. There is a SLIGHT forward bow, causing the action to be a tad high. Adjustment to MY PERSONAL PREFERENCES will fix this.
3. The nut is cut a tad high for MY TASTES. I'll lower it to suit me and my playing style.
4. The finish on the end of the neck near the body is less than stellar. Poor masking and poor cleanup. I feel (IMHO) that this is typical of Ric construction. I've seen two other 4003 basses with this issue (2006 Blueburst, and a more recent 4003/FL in Amber Fireglow had the exact same issue). My personal Ric 660/12 has a similar issue, though not as severe (see photo above). The end of the fingerboad is rough sawn, not clear coated, and the paint finish line is not as clean as it could be).
I'm keeping mine. Killer bass for the price, that had some very MINOR issues previously known to me to be common on some Rics.
Oh yeah...it sounds fantastic!
YMMV!
Some other issues seem to be non issues - like polishing compound in a few spots, when lo and behold, a polishing cloth makes it look great,
Some with a tad high action, with great complaints.
Well, mine arrive today, and got some pictures tonight. Mine is a 2011.
The bass is great although with a few MINOR imperfections I will live with and/or fix.
Here's the details:
Overall photo:
Link Removed
Serial Number:
Link Removed
Neck end finish issues:
Link Removed
Slightly yellowed binding. To me this is a common variation on Rics - it depends who's using the paint gun on a particular day. If they're a heavy shooter, it will get too thick, expecially in the horns and other areas where the paint can collect. Not a deal breaker to me:
Link Removed
Similar neck end finish issues on my Ric 660/12:
Link Removed
Here's my bottom line:
1. The bass is near perfect, I'm keeping it.
2. There is a SLIGHT forward bow, causing the action to be a tad high. Adjustment to MY PERSONAL PREFERENCES will fix this.
3. The nut is cut a tad high for MY TASTES. I'll lower it to suit me and my playing style.
4. The finish on the end of the neck near the body is less than stellar. Poor masking and poor cleanup. I feel (IMHO) that this is typical of Ric construction. I've seen two other 4003 basses with this issue (2006 Blueburst, and a more recent 4003/FL in Amber Fireglow had the exact same issue). My personal Ric 660/12 has a similar issue, though not as severe (see photo above). The end of the fingerboad is rough sawn, not clear coated, and the paint finish line is not as clean as it could be).
I'm keeping mine. Killer bass for the price, that had some very MINOR issues previously known to me to be common on some Rics.
Oh yeah...it sounds fantastic!
YMMV!
Got mine today. Factory sealed in the box. Made in August 2010 with yellowish binding.
The case is badly cracked around one foot and has rub marks on the top and bottom from being shipped in the box with no padding.
One truss rod cover mounting hole is misaliged/drilled 1/2 inside the cavity.
I think the glue for the nut came out of one side in a glob and some is on the neck with a possible paint touch up by a total hack job.
There are 4 dark spots on the first position fretboard inlay.
MF confirmed still in stock and offered to ship me out a replacement bass packed in a larger box with packing and rush shipping for no charge. They sent a return label by email and will ship the new bass to me before they get the damaged one.
Shame on RIC!
Good for MF!
Cripes.
Don't misunderstand my "cripes". No, I don't think the nut should be acceptable like that. I've owned basses made in Korea and Indonesia that have significantly better nuts than that. I'm just shocked that a bass in that condition was ever allowed to leave the factory.
I'm sure that electric coyote will tell us that this is simply user error or inexperience.
My nut looked like that but worse as there was no paint touch up , the chip in the neck was left visible.\
Weird thing is me and him are both in oregon.
I hope my new one thats coming will be a 2011 , from what I have seen the 2011 ones look way better , the end of my fretboard had a ton of crap on it
i took a photo of my nut before I sent it back but its a bad photo so its hard to see how messed up it is.
i took a photo of my nut before I sent it back but its a bad photo so its hard to see how messed up it is.
Shame on RIC!
Good for MF!
From the sound of how they're shipping these basses, I'd say shame on MF too.
A-Step-Towards said:
Heh A STEP. You see anywhere near this amount of problems in the SS Jag thread? It think the poll needs a new question. Who's so dissatisfied they' re returning it for a full refund?
I am starting to think thats possible as I was one of the first to order and mine was early 2010.
My new one wont be shipping tell next week probably, so we will see.
Premierbass
Commercial User
- May 26, 2011
- 132
- 8
- Disclosures
- Owner, Premier Bass Guitars
While most of the time a bass in a case with no extra padding will survive, it most certainly won't if it is dropped from a distance (and this can mean falling from height off a conveyor belt). Double boxing and extra padding can help a lot, but I'm sure some shy way from this due to the extra cost of the outside box and additional padding. Not to mention that the package gains size as well as weight.
North Coast Music double boxes all guitars, and claims no shipping problems since they started doing it. Will all consumers/retailers be willing to absorb the extra cost? Who knows, but it seems to work for North Coast.
Nope but then again those are alot less $ , the ss jag is such a great bass tho , i packed the rick and went back to playing the ss jag, its been my main bass 2 months now.
I am still taking another shot at a rick , I dig the sound and personally I perfer big necks.
I am still taking another shot at a rick , I dig the sound and personally I perfer big necks.
MF is just a huge non-specialized, non-artist, non-luthier business out to make money in every music field. You can expect them to cut some corners as long as they make it right with the customer when crap hits the fan.
RIC preaches that they have a very high standard of excellence in their specialized field of instrument building. I see these multiple problem basses as a failure in their management and quality control.
I'll wait to see how my replacement bass is built and plays before I give my vote, but it's not looking good.
I'm still getting used to the fact that I have a Ric, finally, after all these years. It still has that "new car" smell on it, too.
For the last few hours I've been playing mine and I'm very impressed with the design of it. I can see why it's so popular, it's very 1960s-space-agey with a high-tech feel and look, and with the controls it has a great range of sound. Can't wait to try the Ric-o-sound.
From reading this I'm pretty glad I got one I'm happy with. Seems that Rickenbacker needs to step up their game on QC a little bit. At least they seem to get it right when it comes to distributors and MF is doing the right thing on customer sevice. I don't understand why such a nice instrument gets shipped in such a flimsy container, either by Ric or by MF.
For the last few hours I've been playing mine and I'm very impressed with the design of it. I can see why it's so popular, it's very 1960s-space-agey with a high-tech feel and look, and with the controls it has a great range of sound. Can't wait to try the Ric-o-sound.
From reading this I'm pretty glad I got one I'm happy with. Seems that Rickenbacker needs to step up their game on QC a little bit. At least they seem to get it right when it comes to distributors and MF is doing the right thing on customer sevice. I don't understand why such a nice instrument gets shipped in such a flimsy container, either by Ric or by MF.
I wasn't trying to take anything away from MF's willingness to make things right.
But the number of cracked cases and mangled boxes reported on this thread points to MF not taking the initiative to ensure your first order arrives safely. And with a relatively-high dollar item, that's negligence, regardless of their return policy.
Of course, since this is the EXACT same packaging that RIC uses to ship the basses to MF, I'm guessing you levy the same charge of negligence against them as well, right?
I believe my shipping box had a FedEx label on it for original shipping direct from RIC to MF. If the "well managed" RIC ships their valuable gear that way then why woudn't MF follow suite?
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