Ya' know, I've been saying the same thing about Ferrari for decades, first to Enzo, then to Montezemolo, then Marchionne, now, even Elkin has no interest in doing so. I can't understand why that is.
Come on, say it - AMPEG
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Last time I checked the class A Mercedes (US market) was made in Mexico, while the Mercedes vehicles sold in Mexico were manufactured outside of Mexico. Go figure!
Anyway , back on the ric topic. Ric counterfeits are being produced every day / are readily available worldwide. Ric could be making money by licensing them , instead , they just try to keep them away from the us market.
To be fair, today's Chinese Ampegs went back to real plywood cabinets and, according to JimmyM I think, have better speakers.
...my first "good" guitar was a Rickenbacker... it was a POS... Joe Walsh agrees with me...
The A Class has never been made in Mexico., sold there yes, made there, no.
Since it's introduction in 1997, the A Class sold here in the United States has only been made in one plant, Rastatt, Germany, until May of last year when they rolled off the line at the Kecskemét plant in Hungary.
Mercedes did make the A class in Brazil from 1999 until 2005 for the South and Central American Markets including those sold in Mexico. But none of those made in Brazil were ever destined for the U.S. market.
Guess you missed my post about where and who I work for.
Back to Ric. They don't want to license anything to anyone and I doubt they will any time soon.
That's great.
Is there a roll-out date for when this great quality is set to commence?
Teijo K.
Commercial User
I think more companies should do what Ric does. Instead of leaning towards endless growth, they choose to stay comfortable sized. It still brings enough wealth for the owners and food on the table for the workers.
And you American folks should be happy about any company that does actually keep any production in U.S.
And you American folks should be happy about any company that does actually keep any production in U.S.
To be fair, today's Chinese Ampegs went back to real plywood cabinets and, according to JimmyM I think, have better speakers.
I gotta agree there. The last of the St. Louis USA made Ampegs were complete pieces of moose $h*t. Endorsers were jumping ship long before the move to Vietnam and China and whatever other 4th world countries now make their stuff. I tried one of those MDF cabs once...a USA made 810...one of the wooliest drabbest cabs I've ever heard. Sounded like you were playing into a wet pillow filled with dead corpse farts and dried pi$$.
And don't get me started on those silly huge and heavy cabs Ampeg made around that time that looked like the fake wood was 4" thick and coated with some ugly smooth crap coating. Just awful. All that weight, no output, ugly as sin. There is a stack of 2 410s at the local GC they can't give away. Big giant stupid looking chrome "a" on the front should stand for "ass"...those cabs look and sound it.
I own 2 SVT-II Pro heads from around 1998 that are superb. But, it wasn't long after they took a fast track Concorde flight down the poopchute to $h*tville. And, I say this as an owner of 2 Vietnampeg SVT VR heads. Those are KNOWN to be bad...but they are the bee's balls compared to the USA made crap that came just before them. With Yamaha controlling them now, however, no matter where they are made, the modern stuff HAS GOT to be better. Yamaha doesn't really F around.
This is, of course, one of the more controversial and discussed bass topics in the bass community. I'm a luthier and repairman, for a very long time now. I've worked on everything you can think of. There are typical issues with new instruments, and with incredibly expensive, rare vintage instruments. I have seen plenty of 20k Fenders with 'S' curves in the necks, that people love, and are happy to own and play, even with medium high action. I've seen some awful stuff from Fender, Gibson, Hofner, and the basses we love to either covet or slam, Rickenbackers.
In my time doing repair work, I've replaced truss rod assemblies, and think back, that I probably should have replaced a lot more of them. I've always had my issues with the concept of two rods, and to this day, see Ricks with really bad 'truss rod nose dive' as I call it, where the threaded ends warp so much, they dig into the rod cavity wood, and you need a specially machined 1/4" open end wrench to adjust them at all. I have rarely seen this on any other instrument, but have seen it many times on Rickenbackers. ONE GOOD, double acting rod, inside a STRONG, nice piece of maple, or other suitable luthier grade billet of wood, would be far better. In my opinion, too much wood is removed from the neck to facilitate the installation of the two rods and the aluminum blocks. The bridge design on the 4000-4001-4003 series, is just wrong. No individual height adjustment, soft bridge material, and the intonation adjustment screw access is terrible. They'll lift over time, as well.
I disagree about the finish comments- I think Rickenbacker does some nice woodworking, and the instruments they build are generally fit and finished well. Rickenbackers have a distinct, well known sound that no other basses have. My experience is, some 4000 series basses are duds- that sound like you're hitting a heavy rug on an outdoor clothesline with a shovel..and others ring and have killer tone.
I have always wanted a lefty 4005 Rickenbacker. I think John Hall has said they'll never make another 4005. There were some lefty ones built, but the last one I saw was a six, at $16,000.00! They're very rare. I've seen some luthier built ones, but still not feasable for me to suspend all my repair work to build one. So, YEAH, I ordered and modded a lefty 4005 from China. It was 400 bucks. And NO, I do not recommend the average player buy these basses from China. I expected problems, and I got 'em. And, I've taken care of most of them, and gigged it Saturday night, and had a blast playing it! I upgraded the tuners, and pickups. It has some issues, for sure.
A real Rickenbacker would probably be $5k, if they ever decide to make one. Would I take a rare new 5k- or vintage 25k bass to a gig? No. I swear, it sounds a lot like a genuine 4005. The issue here, is that Rickenbacker does as it sees fit to do, which as an American business, they have every right to. Would I buy an Indonesian, or better- a Japanese custom shop built 4005, for say- $1,000- 2000.00? YES.
In my time doing repair work, I've replaced truss rod assemblies, and think back, that I probably should have replaced a lot more of them. I've always had my issues with the concept of two rods, and to this day, see Ricks with really bad 'truss rod nose dive' as I call it, where the threaded ends warp so much, they dig into the rod cavity wood, and you need a specially machined 1/4" open end wrench to adjust them at all. I have rarely seen this on any other instrument, but have seen it many times on Rickenbackers. ONE GOOD, double acting rod, inside a STRONG, nice piece of maple, or other suitable luthier grade billet of wood, would be far better. In my opinion, too much wood is removed from the neck to facilitate the installation of the two rods and the aluminum blocks. The bridge design on the 4000-4001-4003 series, is just wrong. No individual height adjustment, soft bridge material, and the intonation adjustment screw access is terrible. They'll lift over time, as well.
I disagree about the finish comments- I think Rickenbacker does some nice woodworking, and the instruments they build are generally fit and finished well. Rickenbackers have a distinct, well known sound that no other basses have. My experience is, some 4000 series basses are duds- that sound like you're hitting a heavy rug on an outdoor clothesline with a shovel..and others ring and have killer tone.
I have always wanted a lefty 4005 Rickenbacker. I think John Hall has said they'll never make another 4005. There were some lefty ones built, but the last one I saw was a six, at $16,000.00! They're very rare. I've seen some luthier built ones, but still not feasable for me to suspend all my repair work to build one. So, YEAH, I ordered and modded a lefty 4005 from China. It was 400 bucks. And NO, I do not recommend the average player buy these basses from China. I expected problems, and I got 'em. And, I've taken care of most of them, and gigged it Saturday night, and had a blast playing it! I upgraded the tuners, and pickups. It has some issues, for sure.
A real Rickenbacker would probably be $5k, if they ever decide to make one. Would I take a rare new 5k- or vintage 25k bass to a gig? No. I swear, it sounds a lot like a genuine 4005. The issue here, is that Rickenbacker does as it sees fit to do, which as an American business, they have every right to. Would I buy an Indonesian, or better- a Japanese custom shop built 4005, for say- $1,000- 2000.00? YES.
Because their import line basses would be of better quality than the current ones
I think there used to be MIC Foderas and MIJ Alembics (Disclaimer: I've seen these claims on Talkbass and eBay respectively, either is unlikely counterfeit, but maybe there are confusions, e.g. an Alembic sold in Japan, or a Japanese bass that looks and sounds comparable to an Alembic so the seller called it so). And there's still MIC Dingwalls FTM (this is 100% accurate from Dingwall's website). 
Required taste.
I'm seriously lusting for a Thunderbird (Gibson, or Epiphone Vintage Pro) because of the same reason. Plus it fits like a glove in my hands and to my ear.
Plus, I think it's a shame for Fodera, Alembic and Ritter to be mentioned in one thread woth and be compared against Rickenbacker. 
Seems like only yesterday all Fenders were made in the USA.
They already have what amounts to a custom shop that produces special limited runs of unusually colors, checker binding, etc. A lot of them end up in collectors hands to become case queens, but they have done a few on direct order from sellers who can move a lot of basses quick. I know of literally (1) guitar store within 100 miles of me that actually has 1 or 2 Rics in stock on average. Ric can afford to be extremely selective in who they use as dealers. I can't fault Hall for his business model, it clearly works.
Most of the whiners are only parroting what they read on the internet, most of the never even played a Ric.
