Richards Guitars

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1449440085' post='2923620'] The truss rod cover on that bass looks identical to the ones on 70s Alvarez acoustics, but the styling would place the bass some time in the 80s or 90s. That makes it hard to tell whether the bass has anything to do with Alvarez or if someone has just put on a spare truss rod cover that happened to come from an Alvarez acoustic guitar. Given the different branding on the body and pickups, I'd be hesitant to link it to Alvarez unless it's marked anywhere else. This is a bit of a guess though. [/quote] To be honest it was a part x and I priced it really on the basis of the overall quality. I rarely ever get a chance to list anything on my site at that price so not sure why I did focus on this - probably because its a bass and I knew it was unlikely to sell in store as I have so few other bass guitars. I will take it off the site and sell it for £100 to the next young lad that needs to get started. In fact a chap came in yesterday who runs a charity for solvent abuse victims and I was suggesting I find a couple of guitars for their band. I reckon that would be a perfect instrument as it does seem there is confusion over its history! Thanks for your input.

[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1449436427' post='2923560'] My tuppence worth..... I think you will find that Richard is passionate about doing the right thing by the customer - even where the customer may not appreciate it at the time! (and I speak from experience here!) He is a man of his word and he has integrity. If I were buying a bass from a shop as opposed to a private sale, I would certainly give his website a visit. [/quote] Thanks for the vote of confidence and yes, it seems every comment I can relate to a story. The story of THIS week is my decision to take back Vintage guitars after many years of giving them a wide birth. The back story is on my site but the bottom line is because its a cheaper brand I have tried to be as open minded as possible about the quality expect. I am also giving people an option to buy it "factory direct" to compete with box shifters - the first time I have offered such a thing and frankly I would rather not have the sale but it works nicely as a way of demonstrating what they will lose if the opt for it. Anyway - a couple of weeks ago a guy orders a V6 GO its called. This wonderful looking SG copy with a dodgy vintage trem system - looks cool though. A few days ago the customer begins to throw his dummy out the pram complaining about the delay to receiving his order and he could have bought it on Amazon and had it delivered a week ago. I called him and politely asked him if Amazon were offering 18 months interest free credit? Was amazon offering a £55 set up? Was Amazon going to play test the guitar for him and offer him 6 and 12 month check and reset - and finally, if he no longer wished to wait for the guitar I will cancel his finance and his order. (OK - yes, that can be considered confrontational? I would call it honest and straight). So.... he waits... Was hoping to get the guitar to him for Friday gone but guess what.... Action is high and the trem system is too high relative to the bridge which means the already non existent break angle will be even worse if we reduce the action of the guitar. Not something we want to play with in house. I sent some photos to the supplier (JHS) and they have been pro-active and have accepted there is a definite issue. They are now collecting the guitar and will go through the stock to find one suitable for my customer. I have informed the customer and..... on this occasion he has been very grateful. Some in the past have cancelled orders because its too "inconvenient" - If you look at pissed consumer I had one guy say I PRETENDED there was a problem LOL.. I set up a section on my site called "Customer Saves" which relates to saving a customer from receiving crap - guitars that either are rejected or sorted to ensure they play as they should. I can totally understand that if someone waits 10 days for a guitar to go through our system - and then has it fail in QC - why they could be really peeved but by the same token it depends on how you look at life. As a society we are getting so used to "fast food" retail that it comes as a bit of shock to wait for anything. My mantra is if a shop promises you a guitar delivered for tomorrow - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise it wont have seen the light of day since it was delivered from thousands of miles away, probably at a different humidity level by a factory that will monitor each job done on a guitar by seconds/ minutes per job. Week before last I ordered a guitar from an online store on behalf of a customer who wanted us to set it up and check it - to protect him. Guitar arrived "next day" - truss rod completely inoperable. That guitar is fire wood and is waiting collection. Selling guitars the way I do is definitely "hard work" from a point of resources required per sale but I wouldnt change a thing - its highly rewarding and I think anyone who spent just one week shadowing me would be shocked at just how much is done both to improve guitars and to protect the end user.

[quote name='cytania' timestamp='1449408998' post='2923237'] Some nice basses on the website and the man himself pops up in a chat sidebar. Just watch out for the 'Used Alvarez World Bass' which is a very strange marriage of parts. [/quote] Thats me yes! Although I have been out with the family today but I have just got a pretty cool samsung phone to help me chat better on the move so will be testing that this evening in fact! If I am "in" I am generally "on" chat and available. RE the bass - Do I wiff a sense of concern?! Now then ..... here lies why I don't sell bass guitars in store. You will be pleased to hear that I will regularly tell bass players that in my 20 years in the trade I dont sell bass guitars in store because of bass players themselves! I see the average bass player at the top of the evolutionary spectrum. At the bottom you have the electric guitar player. The electric guitar buying stereotype will "want one" because "its popular". Or his mates got one...... It kills me to witness some electric guitars that are sold at ludicrously inflated price purely on the branding and imagery - quality rarely seems to play a part in the "stereotype" electric guitar sale. Sad but incredibly true. Way up from there you have your acoustic player - still very drawn by marketing and you can't blame them because we are all brain washed every day by what looks like very credible sources of information like guitar magazine reviews and the myriad of guitar stores all selling the same "quality" guitars. However, the wonderful aspect of an acoustic guitar is you can actually "hear" a good one - feel a good one. This is a lot harder to do with an electric guitar. When you get the opportunity to experience real quality it jumps out at you - IF you get given that opportunity - and that is the difficulty for most acoustic guitar players - finding a brand that is actually going to make them question the "main stream". However at the top of the evolutionary scale are bass players! Time and time again I have witnessed bass players over the years come into my store (particularly in the old days when we sold a lot more bass guitars and I had a bass specialist - Woz from Birmingham if anyone knows him - works at Fair Deal now). I would watch the conversations unfold where each and every bass player had very specific - very personal needs. It may be a certain "acoustic" quality unplugged, balance of the neck, thumb rest, one may want a warm soft tone, the next wants it to punch through, the next wants versatility and so on..... Now I love all this when talking about electric and acoustic guitars.... To say I feel out of my depth talking to a bass player is an under statement!!! That is WHY I don't sell them in store. I always say in life that I DONT want to be the young lad who works in Dixons where you ask him a question about a hi fi and then rapidly realize you know more about the subject than he does!!! Its awkward.! OK I am going off here...... so bringing it back to the bass you just mentioned.... ha ha.... 1. This bass I have listed for £199 2. It is branded Alvarez and to my personal knowledge Alvarez haven't produced bass guitars for the 20 years I have been in business so I have a feeling its got to be quite a special little thing of interest if nothing else. 3. World is printed on the face - I am wondering if this is a reference to the World factory that also make Ibanez guitars - I have a strong feeling it may be. They produce nice guitars. 4. The parts look very substantial and high quality 5. We would set this bass up to perfection For £199 - I would suggest this is a bargain of a bass - something interesting and different? BUT ..... dont ask me to sell it you on my own personal knowledge and experience of playing bass - because I am not a bass player. Let me know if you know anything different - would love to know more about it and would be interested to know why you felt concerned about it.

Hi everyone I just found this topic and just felt I should give you my reply. It is such a can of worms to try and explain how or why I behave the way I do but ultimately everything I say or do is driven by "doing the right thing". In life you will never be able to do the right thing by every person and so the best way I can explain this is with way of examples of 2 comments about my business. This will be a brilliant way to demonstrate the frustration of "trying" to do the right thing by everyone... Milky Bar Kid said "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The only negative to visiting the shop is that he can't bear to leave a phone ringing even when dealing with a customer, which can be a bit irritating."[/font][/color] [font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828]I was aware of this myself so I put in a system where by the phone would ring 4 times and would go to voice mail so I could call the customer back.[/color][/font] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]As a result of this change I then got the following review on Google...[/font][/color] [url="https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/112953112319486779561/reviews/@37.0625,-95.677068,4z"]https://www.google.c...5,-95.677068,4z[/url] Sounds damning - until I did some digging and found this guy runs a business that is literally trashed online for customer service with a 2 star average on Facebook! The Pissed Consumer site charges $1500 PER overview process of false reviews. You will see its been visiting tens of thousands of times and the handful of "complaints" are only there because their website is ranked #2 on Google below mine when you search for my domain name. I think ANY business would be proud of such a tiny ratio of complaints especially as they are completely unsolicited. I sell 2-3 guitars a day, every day, 7 days a week. Every guitar is set up to the customers personal requirement pre sale, I personally play test the guitar and pack it to ensure it arrives how it should. As stated I am immensely passionate about my work. Its my life - why wouldn't I be? Its how I remain so busy! The World of retail works against all my life principals and ethos in life but I have managed to channel a unique way to balance the 2 together in harmony. My business is all about honesty. If that makes me look unprofessional in someones eyes I would be very happy to discuss it on here. The Gordon-Smith scenario is one of many examples I could chat about. There is always a lot more going on behind the scenes that I DONT post in order to protect my working relationship - which in turn makes me feel dishonest to my customers! Hence the balancing act. If I stop selling a product on the grounds of quality it would be ludicrous for me not to demonstrate exactly why I made the decision. Taking Gordon Smith as an example however, 2 years after ceasing the sale of these guitars I have now been invited to be one of just 6 stores in the UK to represent the brand under the new ownership. They came to me BECAUSE of what they read. They realised I was the one and ONLY shop who stuck to my principles and would not sell a product that became more home made than hand made in its latter years. For this reason they knew I was the right person to work with. Life always has balance and for the few I upset there will be many many more who benefit I promise. Regrettably bass is not my main focus in store so I tend to recommend people to alternative sources for bass guitars but thanks for listening and IF you do want to order a bass online from me from the few that I do focus on (G&L, Godin, Cort) you would be in very safe hands. Happy to answer any questions about my business practice if anyone wants to know and happy to chat about any review you have seen on Pissed Consumer - especially the one I wrote about myself locking customers in the basement - I couldn't resist!!! http://www.rguitars.co.uk