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Blem Ric 4001C64S at MF


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There are plenty of companies exactly like them..they mmake a number of products, but they don't keep their customers waiting. They don't have to become "the man", but they can grow to meet their business needs a bit better. I don't doubt Rics are excellent instruments and unique at that.

And I know Socal is a tough place to own and run a business and that good workers are hard to come by. I'm also not saying he could do anything to immediately fix the problem. But he could spend some cash, get a bit larger production line, maybe another CNC machine, and train some people to do immaculate work. Let's remember, these are CNC'd, not hand built "boutique" instruments. They
can
put them out relatively fast. What's left? Electronics, finish, setup? And that takes a year?

And yes, they have been around for 40 years..good for them, I'm happy, but that doesn't mean they don't run their business badly. There are plenty of businesses out there that have found a niche, such as Ric, and have been around for a long long time. No one offers what they do, and those who have tried have faced legal action..this is the only reason they are still around.

Dan

 

 

You haven't explained what Ric does that makes them "horribly run". They make products that are popular and they sell everything they make. They honor their warranty (I know, I used it), and they price their product more than competitivily. Because they haven't increased their production to the point where you can walk into Sam Ash and find 5 Rics on the wall ready for you to walk out with one, that's "horribly run" business?

 

I think you fail to consider that the investment in manpower (it's still made primarily by hand, especially the 12+ coat finish process) and infrastructure would cost a LOT of money. The CNC's you mention run in the millions. They would need to borrow that money, and cost of that money would increase the price of their instruments substantially. To the point of decreasing the very demand that you claim their failure to address makes them "horribly run". So now they have more capacity to produce more expensive instruments to a now smaller market.

 

Let's keep in mind that they don't have a Board of Directors to keep happy, or need to increase shareholder value. They need to pay themselves and their employees. That's it. As long as they can keep making a desirable product and make money doing it, I'd say they're a wonderfully run company. Expanding to the point where you have to keep demand unreasonably high or else you implode...that's horribly run business.

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Don't forget you can actually find EBMM basses in stores on a regular basis. Good luck finding a Rick anywhere. I've yet to hold one in my hands in 5 years of playing. Just never saw them at any shop either new or used.

 

 

I've seen about as many MM's (the USA ones, not the OLP's) as Ric's, in stores from the Philly area to NYC. If you want to hold a Ric, take a ride to Rudy's on 48th in NYC. There have been 4003's there every time I visit, and Sam Ash next door has them most of the time, if not always.

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I also do not understand how anyone can claim that a business that consciously decides to stay relatively small while retaining very high quality and decent profitability is "poorly run". That's the same "bigger is always better" and "greed is good" kind of attitude that is ruining the country, if you ask me.

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Don't forget you can actually find EBMM basses in stores on a regular basis. Good luck finding a Rick anywhere. I've yet to hold one in my hands in 5 years of playing. Just never saw them at any shop either new or used.

 

 

 

there is a store here that usually has several of them in stock on the wall

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I've seen about as many MM's (the USA ones, not the OLP's) as Ric's, in stores from the Philly area to NYC. If you want to hold a Ric, take a ride to Rudy's on 48th in NYC. There have been 4003's there every time I visit, and Sam Ash next door has them most of the time, if not always.

 

 

Rudy's is the only place I've seen 'em regularly. Sam Ash usually has a guitar or two, but I don't see any 4003s there very often. There's a couple stores in Brooklyn that have some used 4001s, but they're still relatively sparse. I could walk into most any store here and buy a Musicman. Rics, not so much.

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I also do not understand how anyone can claim that a business that consciously decides to stay relatively small while retaining very high quality and decent profitability is "poorly run". That's the same "bigger is always better" and "greed is good" kind of attitude that is ruining the country, if you ask me.

 

 

It's the business equivalent of the "Peter Principle" that states employees are usually promoted to the point where they are completely incompetent. So too are businesses, mostly publicly traded corps', expanded to the point where they can neither grow further, nor support their own weight when business slows.

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Again is anyone wants to try a Ric out I know someone who is selling one
:)

 

Even though I don't need it, and even though it's highly unlikely that I will be able to scrape up the funds to make the question worth asking, I'm still gonna ask...what are you looking to get for it? (PM if you don't wanna publish.)

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At my Guitar Center on Long Island... the Carle Place one, theres a whole row of RIC guitars, no basses. But they had at least 6 last time i went there.

Guess they were trying to get rid of the ones they had in stock now that they cant sell Ricks no more

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Yeah, let me know how that turns out for you.
:rolleyes:

Dan

 

'70s 4001 FL Mapleglo

'70s 4001 Burgundyglo

'90s 4003S/8 red (bought new after 6 month wait)

'74 4001 Mapleglo (still own it)

 

It's worked out just fine so far. :D

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Even though I don't need it, and even though it's highly unlikely that I will be able to scrape up the funds to make the question worth asking, I'm still gonna ask...what are you looking to get for it? (PM if you don't wanna publish.)

 

 

Same here. Model, color, condition, price, etc.

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Ernie Ball have designed new basses since the 1980s.

 

 

Rickenbacker has has well, albeit highly derivative models. Why would they want to mess with a classic that has worked so well for so many for so long?

 

Change just for the sake of change is pretty useless, in my opinion.

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Why would they want to mess with a classic that has worked so well for so many for so long?

 

 

 

They don't need to mess with it. The Stingray has been the same bass since it was released, so has the SR5, so has the Sterling, so has the Bongo, Bongo 5, the soon-to-be Bongo 6, Sterling 5. Cutlass, anyone? Sabre....

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They don't need to mess with it. The Stingray has been the same bass since it was released, so has the SR5, so has the Sterling, so has the Bongo, Bongo 5, the soon-to-be Bongo 6, Sterling 5. Cutlass, anyone? Sabre....

 

 

I still don't see your point. Rickenbacker chooses not to expand their product line at the same rate as Musicman. They remain profitable and their production capacity is fully utilized. They don't need new models to keep their business healthy. I do not know whether or not Musicman does need the new models to keep their business healthy, but that's utterly irrelevant to Rickenbacker either way.

 

Why do folks think it's some sort of sin or bad business management for a company to be content with what they have rather than trying to force never-ending exponential growth? I think that attitude is one of the main things wrong about business in this country.

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I think the "if it ain't broke, don't {censored} with it" attitude is one of the main things wrong with the electric bass today. It's not 1951, so why is it assumed that we're going to play a bass that was designed then?

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Gee, I dunno, brake. How many new notes have they invented since then? I mean, we'd need new instruments to play new notes, probably...

 

 

 

 

 

If you're not going to contribute to the discussion, then, don't.

 

 

I've got no problem at all with a Rickenbacker bass. I like playing them a whole lot - They're different from anything I've ever played, and in a good way. They're anything but modern in terms of....well, anything.

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It's not 1951, so why is it assumed that we're going to play a bass that was designed then?

For one, it's the only bass that'll give you the Ric tone. If you {censored} with it, you change the tone. People dig that specific tone, they make more basses to fit that.

 

Sounds simple to me. :)

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If you're not going to contribute to the discussion, then, don't.



I've got no problem at all with a Rickenbacker bass. I like playing them a whole lot - They're different from anything I've ever played, and in a good way. They're anything but modern in terms of....well, anything.

 

 

And here I thought I was contributing.

 

Perhaps if I rephrase it.

 

The art of playing bass really hasn't changed much since the invention of the electric bass guitar. Oh, sure, there are people such as Michael Manring and Vic Wooten out there, and others who do things the early pioneers of the instrument never imagined (and might not approve of!), but most of us lay down the bottom in ways that are much the same as what went on in tghe Fifties and Sixties. That's what I was alluding to in my 'no new notes' comment. In fact, many of those who play in the newer styles still use the most basic bass of all, the Fender Precision and it's direct descendants.

 

Given that the oldest of tools still does the job, there is no inherent need for a newer tool with which to do it. Sure, a gold plated hammer might be nice, but is it necessary to drive a nail? Newer is not necessarily better, and the persistence of the Precision, Jazz and Rickenbacker designs in the market prove that newer isn't necessary, either. If you feel you need something those designs deliver, fine. That's why there are so many other designs out there, though they differ only slightly from the originals. That's because they are ultimately designed to do pretty much the same thing, that is, play bass.

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I had no Idea that Rickenbackers were such a Niche market when I ordered mine 7 years ago.

 

in 1979 a friend of my Brothers had this white(yellowed) 77 Ric. it was the coolest bass I had heard or seen. I had only been playing a few months and had a EB-0 and then a 68P. I always thought of having a Ric for the next 20 years but just never pursued it.

 

I ayed off and on for the next 0 someodd years and 1 day I was in a store and saw a Ric on the wall, played it and 5 minutes later walked up to the counter and said order me one of those in black. I didnt even know it was called Jet glo. they told me it would be 6 months till I got it. I was like well I have waited 20 years whats a few more months.

 

I got it 3 months later, a 2001 4003 for my very own. I could still smell the fresh paint on it when I opened the shipping carton and case.

it is everything I always thought it would be and more. It was not till I joined these forums that I found out about its mystique.

when Itook it out to play I couldnt believe the reactions" WOW a Ric!. can I touch it" lol

 

I think I sucks that it takes so long to get them, but I got mine and thats all I need.

 

if you ask me, they do just fine as a business. besides most of you always say they are ugly and a 1 trick pony so I dont know what all the hoo ha is anyway

about not being able to get one....

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