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Rickenbacker 'getting outed'

#161
While they do have a particular sound ........Rickenbacker customer service sucks , never bought another Rick after 1980 because they were such A--H----S to me , worthless truss rods , and its true Roto sounds did chew up 70's rick frets ,the wonderfully thin 70's necks were reshaped on later models because to many of them couldn't stand the tension from roto sounds , much better bangs for the buck out there unless if youre still trying to be Chris Squire or Geddy Lee then i guess its your thing ...........lousy people to deal with
 
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#162
While I've often admired the looks, and the tones some guys can get out of them, I could never do any good with a 4001 or 4003. I could never get that tone, so that was that.

Rickenbacker is hardly alone in still building guitars today that are essentially the same axe they built in the 50's, which is the charm for some, and the frustration for others (including me). I think of them the way I think of bumble bees: Any aerodynamicist will tell you it's flat out impossible for a bee to fly, yet . . . . they do. The pickups are wonderfully archaic, the bridge is frustrating, the necks with the double truss rods can be a handful, and yet . . . . . more than a few people make fabulous music with them. Rossmeisel's neck-thru design frees every fret clear of the body, and there's no balance issues. So like most things, there's pros and cons and which side you land on is down to personal taste.

And while Ric still builds most guitars and basses they've always built, I wonder why

a) At the trust-fund prices originals sell for, why not for heaven's sake reissue the hollow-body 4005's?

b) Their second pass at a five-string based off the 4003 with those triangular pickups I really feel is NOT what most of us had in mind. Who signed off on THAT train wreck?

I've watched a lot of Dave's videos, and that 'cranky curmudgeon' applies that attitude to MOST of his projects, but I laugh that I've found at least ONE Canadian with his ass on his shoulders !!
 
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#167
So what? Dave doesn't like Rickenbackers. That doesn't mean it has to ruin it for anyone. Everyone's allowed to their opinions. If you like them then play them. Who cares? Personally, I find his overly dramatic take on something as universally unimportant as a piece of wood with strings to be hilarious. (did I mention I love bass but c'mon..) I follow his channel and recently he helped raise money for a great charity which helps veterans and children who have lost limbs afford a prosthetic. If hating on a Rickenbacker bass helps him get views to do this sort of thing, I say bring the hate! Just my 2 cents.
 
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#168
Killed_by_Death said:
dangit, I can't stop looking, it's like passing a traffic accident



One of our local luthiers had to close up shop, thanks to his interpersonal skills.
I went over there with a MIM Strat that I wanted to have recess-routed for a Floyd Rose. The Floyd was already on it, but it wasn't recess-routed.
Anyway, he nearly chewed me out for buying an "import" & asking why I didn't just pony up & buy an American Standard.

That was the last time I went to his shop & about 6 weeks later he closed up permanently.
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Oh man I get you. I took my Marleaux to a guy I know for a general cleanup/setup/string change (I play on it a lot so it gets pretty dirty plus had a bunch of shows coming up) and he was like "Oh it's a 34" 6-string? You really should've gotten a 35" it's much better for the B-string and there's better tension" etc. etc. and proceeded to lecture me on it as if I was not aware of this - he knows I've been playing bass for about 20 years now. I'm like "Mate - this is a 34" bass. I prefer 34" scale instruments. This is my choice. It is what it is. I am not going to go out and buy another 35" bass just to make you happy. If you're not willing to do it or are going to criticize me, a potential paying customer over 1" scale length, I'll just go to the (far more experienced) Greek guy 1 mile away who will do it without judging my choices".

He gave me a discount and then was complimenting how awesome my bass was :D
 
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#169
kmd88 said:
So what? Dave doesn't like Rickenbackers. That doesn't mean it has to ruin it for anyone. Everyone's allowed to their opinions. If you like them then play them. Who cares? Personally, I find his overly dramatic take on something as universally unimportant as a piece of wood with strings to be hilarious. (did I mention I love bass but c'mon..) I follow his channel and recently he helped raise money for a great charity which helps veterans and children who have lost limbs afford a prosthetic. If hating on a Rickenbacker bass helps him get views to do this sort of thing, I say bring the hate! Just my 2 cents.
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Yeah I mean come on guys - not everyone is going to like the same things, that's why there are so many choices! His right to air his opinions, and your right not to agree with them! He's obviously overdoing it in order to provoke a reaction (and that's worked well enough for 10+ page threads on discussion boards) but his points aren't crazy or anything. The whole "grumpy old man" schtick is his thing, and even if you're a huge Ric fan, it's still pretty funny.

There are some odd design flaws in legendary instruments that remain there out of "traditionalism" and whatnot (dead spots on Fender necks, the Les Paul headstock layout causing string intonation issues, horrific neck dive on some T-Bird models etc. etc.) which I don't really understand myself, but if people are happy to put up with them for the sound/feel/look of a classic instrument, who am I or anyone else to judge?
 
#170
I've always had Rickenbackers among other basses. To me, they set up just like any other bass, early ones are a little different, but setting the relief on those is just stupid simple If you take the time to learn how.

If Dave is in the business to repair guitars, you'd think he would be glad that Rickenbacker basses have some quirks. Its just more money in his pocket.

After watching his video though, I would'nt let him mow my lawn.
 
#174
J-Bassomatic said:
Dave is sort of like the 'Don Rickles' of bass dudes. You just CANNOT take him serious. I am completely entertained by his shtick and it has no effect at all on how I view other products. I like him. "Yep, it's gooched"
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It's certainly your right to like him. I don't know him and frankly have no interest in what he has to say. The constant whining about Rickenbackers is just really tiresome. If someone doesn't like them, don't buy one; problem solved.
 
#175
jmlee said:
I'm with you on that. I've been subscribed to Dave's Fun World of Stuff for ages on YouTube. He's a bass player in real life and if he's a crusty old fart bass player, I'm right there with him and so are a lot of other TB members! Plus he's Canadian! I don't really learn much on his videos, I just find them entertaining. We've all had good and bad experiences with stuff and enjoy letting it all out after a couple of pops. I find Dave's patter amusing.
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I love that he's Canadian and hams up some of the Canadian stereotypes. He's a good repair guy with a lot of knowledge and he also works in the film industry. Yeah, I learned a lot from him.
 
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#180
JW56789 said:
Any aerodynamicist will tell you it's flat out impossible for a bee to fly, yet . . . . they do.
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The bumble bee analogy is very misunderstood and misused, and usually used to lampoon a perceived arrogance within the scientific community (deeply unfairly, in my opinion).

Rather than the claim coming from any aerodynamicist, it is actually usually attributed the French entomologist Antoine Magnan. The truer message is that bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly according to the aerodynamic models used at the time. This is due to limitations and assumptions within the model(s), rather than bumble bees somehow trumping the laws of gravity etc. If you feed observed data into your model and get poor results then it is time for a new model! There isn't a mystery to how bumble bees fly, it is simply that their ability to fly has been understood by degrees over time. Likewise the design of aircraft has been improved over time as well.

J-Bassomatic said:
Dave is sort of like the 'Don Rickles' of bass dudes.
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That is maybe taking it a bit far. Rickles is of another era, and I see him a bit as the "Fast Talking High Trousers" sketch from Family Guy. One of those entertainers that needed to be able to come up with quips very quickly, and always land on the mark. Britain had a bunch of comedians of that ilk in the '60s/'70s, and I always felt they had to learn their craft by punching their way out of trouble, verbally. These guys started in small, rough clubs trying to win over hostile audiences. My favourite Rickles clip is him on the Johnny Carson show making mafia jokes at the expense of Frank Sinatra, who is sitting there right next to him! Talk about balls of steel! He must have had to be in a fairly small group of people who could actually rip on Sinatra and get away with it. By contrast Dave just has to grumble away to a handicam for ten minutes at a time, with no hecklers etc.

Dave does the Cantankerous thing quite well, and I guess he has a good heart as he does work for free occasionally and I saw some charitable deeds mentioned in here as well. In general I don't like professional Youtubers, and I can see Dave falling into the trap of having to basically dial in this alter ego for every video to keep the view count high. I was a fan of 'Scott's Bass Lessons' for a while, until he fell for the trap of click generation by coming up with attention-seeking video titles and things. Why dilute the core value of your channel with banal "The Ten Things Wrong With 6-string Basses" or "The Top Five Licks Every Bassist Plays Wrong" or whatever? Likewise how much gas can Dave honestly have in the tank, before he becomes too smitten with advert revenue and decides he must fire out two videos a week, each of which just creeps past that magical ten minute mark, simply because his loyal fanbase enjoy watching him criticise guitars?

Rickenbacker fans are a bit like vegans; I hear more people complaining about them than I ever hear them complain themselves. There is a fringe nutter element to each group for sure, but Rickenbacker seem to be fairly unique in that it always seems to be open season for them on here, and the exact same criticisms get repeated as though they are new revelations. In general it seems to be that if you don't get on with Fender basses then the problem is you, and if you don't get on with Rickenbacker basses then the problem is the bass.
 
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