Playing a Rickenbacker made me hate Rickenbacker

[P. Aaron]

Thanks for the cool pics in this otherwise, rag on Ric's thread. I too always run the racks at music stores and there are dozens of basses that didn't do it.

I don't think I've ever played a Rickenbacker, even for the heck of it. They are cool lookin' though.

 

[JMacBass65]

Thanks for the cool pics in this otherwise, rag on Ric's thread. I too always run the racks at music stores and there are dozens of basses that didn't do it.

I don't think I've ever played a Rickenbacker, even for the heck of it. They are cool lookin' though.

You got us to ten pages of this insanity. Who's in for 15?

 

[Antisyzygy]

First of all, the statement that Squier (NOT SQUIRE) makes a flawless guitar for under $200 is so ridiculous, I'm not even going to address it. Second, it's always a good idea to do your homework before you buy a bass. Rickenbacker QC issues are well documented. People whine about them almost every day.

I don't think it's that ridiculous. Plenty of Squier models around the 200 mark have decent QC. One that comes to mind is the Bronco. I've tried a few and didn't see anything wrong with them other than the crappy pickguard and pickup, but that's not part of QC.

Squiers are just made of cheap stuff and tend to be poorly set up when you try them off the wall. If I ran a guitar shop I'd probably spend more time on the setup for the models that make me more money.

 

[Spectrum]

 

[Gizmot]

All Rics are not flawed. The vast majority of them are excellent to perfect.

As I've stated before in these threads, I've been pkays Rics for a long time - over 40 years. I've got two right now and their sound , playability and workmanship are incredible.

 

[JMacBass65]

All Rics are not flawed. The vast majority of them are excellent to perfect.

As I've stated before in these threads, I've been pkays Rics for a long time - over 40 years. I've got two right now and their sound , playability and workmanship are incredible.

 

[Doublesixes]

Your reading comprehension is lacking

A common trait around here.

 

[BAG]

Hardly amatuerish. Ever price a Forstner bit?

Just because they use an expensive tool doesn't make their work professional, as the route showed proves. They obviously thought that because it was hidden under a pick guard then it didn't matter. It shows a lack of care for details and would make me wonder in what other ways they might have been bodgy.... like the truss rod assembly for one.

Your argument is like saying that just because someone is playing a $10,000 bass then they aren't amateurish. There's a hell of a lot of amateurish (and worse) bass players playing excellent and expensive instruments out there.

 

[StephnG]

Well....RIC hasn't made pickup routes on 4003's like that in 30 years. You beat a rep up about THAT? The wires coming off the P-pickups are much smaller than the grey shielded lead on RIC pickups too.

In my defense I bought the bass in 81' and modified it shortly after, the NAMM show I was referring to was also in the same time period hence the rep didn't try to defend my distaste for their manufacturing practices of the time, again I love my Ric and I refer to her as "The Wife" shoot we just celebrated our 25th anniversary!

 

[StephnG]

Hardly amatuerish. Ever price a Forstner bit?

In all due respect, one cannot justify the incorrect application of a given tool soley for its worth, I mean even though back in the day they didn't Use CNC's to mill out nice clean 1/8 wiring channels, any machinist worth his salt could have accomplished the same thing using a standard Bridgeport mill without hacking away at it ya know?

 

[Planespotter]

This thread just galvanized my resolve to someday own a Ric!

 

[StephnG]

This thread just galvanized my resolve to someday own a Ric!

I tell ya, nothing else plays like em, the one I have is basically a linear neck thru with little to no noticeable taper, all the frets are equally/easily accessible along with a 33" scale & lightning fast neck puts the Ric in a class by itself hence the fierce loyalty most appropriately displayed on this fine forum!!

 

[vin*tone]

Am I late to the party? Did I miss anything good?

No.

 

[Loren Herrington]

Playing a Ric didn't make you hate Rickenbacker, you said it sounded and felt great, a finish issue made you hate rickenbacker apparently, let's be clear, because that's really what's got your goat, also, I have been hard pressed to see a "flawless" Squier like previously mentioned.

 

[Max Blasto]

Boring.......

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

True story: In 1987, I was looking to buy a new car. I had a few bucks, I wanted something sporty and I really wanted to buy American, but my buddy had a new RX7 that I really dug. Determined to at least give the US makers a fair try, I went to a Chevy dealer in El Cajon and checked out a new IROC Z-28. (Yeah, I was 26 years old!). I walked around the car, noticed all the body panels not quite fitting together, the doors that didn't quite close perfectly, the long trail of *glue* on the door frame from the door-seal foam... and a salesman approached. I asked him to explain all these obvious defects and he said "Look, the Japanese have us on fit and finish - but that's all they have. This car has more horsepower!".

I bought the RX7 and have not test driven a Chevy since.

Sometimes, fit and finish *matters*. The good folks at Ric might want to consider this when they let a bass ship out - that one bass could turn a guy away from them *forever* if it isn't *right*.

 

[StephnG]

Making me work eh? See for yourself in this pic, perhaps 1" is exaggerated BUT you can clearly see the size of the plunges vs the size of the wire.

Also look at the size of the PU cavity vs the size of the OEM PU!! Good grief you could put an EBO PU in there lol that's why I opted for a P bass PU since it would at least occupy most of that "chasm" if you will SO that was part of my beef too, WHY would you hog out some much tone wood in a critical area like that so needlessly? It seemed the PG was only a cover up for some rather barbaric machining practices lol I believe I had a legitimate beef but as I said, still love her!!!

 

[French22]

Making me work eh? See for yourself in this pic, perhaps 1" is exaggerated BUT you can clearly see the size of the plunges vs the size of the wire.

When I first removed the PG on my 4001, I saw the same,thing and though that one of the preceding owners did that crappy job. I was wrong.

It's quite a good illustration of instrument building in 70's or 80's: nice sound, poor craftsmanship. Looks like good engineers were working in the automotive industry and the ones in the musical industry were the last of their class.

I worked quite a good number of drum kits from that era and we use to say that building quality at Gretsch or Ludwig was "Friday afternoon is everyday of the week". They were really, really poorly made. The same with a lot of CBS Fender.

That's why Japanese almost killed western musical industry: they took care of the details.

But, ***, most of those kits sound great and my crappy 4001 is gorgeous.

 

[DiMarco]

You know, with the power of the internet, you would think we would achieve world peace, end hunger and disease........you know, important stuff.

Instead, we do this.

And look at porn.

Trying to think of a single activity that would do all these things at once... Jerking off to an online hamburger commercial while playing "give peace a chance" on a Ric comes close but not close enough.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

t's quite a good illustration of instrument building in 70's or 80's: nice sound, poor craftsmanship. Looks like good engineers were working in the automotive industry and the ones in the musical industry were the last of their class....

LOL

I guess you never owned a '70s US car!

I continue to contend that just about EVERYTHING is built better *today* than ever. Cars, amps, basses. Modern production / engineering and new tech = better.