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[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1373829056' post='2142045'] Are you in politics? I am talking about a hypothetical situation. Forget improperly protected, the bass has been lost and for whatever reason, insurance wont pay. Would you refund the buyer?? Yes or no would be fine! I don't agree with your shipping abroad thing but i respect it just fine, providing you take responsibility if it goes wrong. [/quote] Politics? The realm of the damned; not for me! If I was shipping in UK, if the buyer paid what I had requested with regard to insurance and the item went missing or was irreparably damaged, then I would refund him first then deal with the insurance claim myself, unlike the Italian luthier who expected me to wait weeks/months for [i]his[/i] insurance to pay out after a purchase of one of his basses disappeared in Milan. Your 'hypothetical situation' of insurance not paying out sounds like a nightmare and I would never want to put myself - as a buyer or a seller - in that position. Let me run this one past you: several years ago I bought a Warwick Dolphin from the US, via ebay. The bass disappeared off the tracking radar and so did the seller after the time-limit expired for me to make a claim. Ebay would not assist due to that expiry and the bass was paid for by bank tx. Where does that leave the insurance issue, now? The bass, oddly enough, turned up a couple of months later, undamaged. The seller had kept the extra money I had paid him for expedited freight/ ins and shipped it USPS standard. That's just another reason I prefer to arrange my own freight/ins on international purchases and expect a international buyer to do same. If that request scares prospective buyers off, fine; I just have to accept it.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1373809761' post='2141813'] This didn't really answer my question; if the bass was, say, just packed in a cardboard box and the insurers don't pay out as it wasn't in a rigid hardcase, who do you feel should pay for repairs, buyer or seller? [/quote] Why would you not ship something as securely as you could? You seem to be focussing on improperly packaged items. Why? As far as I am concerned, I would always ship an item as securely as I could. I always have done. I also get the impression that you may not agree with my maxim of not shipping abroad unless a buyer/interested party sorts his/her own freight/ins out; fair enough, that's your right. But now you seem to be taking me to task on improperly protected items. Again, why?

Bollox. I hate to use the word 'peak' but if I did it would be 'Low'. Journalists exist to be controversial. Otherwise, they would find no employ!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1373810555' post='2141821'] He'll take notice if you guys stop buying his basses. [/quote] Some of us have. But he knows that CONUS - as the Yanks are fond of calling it - will keep RIC afloat. He doesn't need to worry about the rest of the world!! And the way things are going the rest of the world probably won't worry about him and his 'product' for much longer.

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1373791581' post='2141540'] But, after the buyer arranges the courier and something goes wrong; bass gets damaged and Insurance refuses to pay out as it wasn't shipped in a suitable hardcase, who pays for the repairs, you or your buyer? [/quote] You have a point but what is deemed a suitable case or suitable protection? I've always been conscientous about packing and protection, given the vagaries within the courier industry. Let's be clear, here: we'd all (?) take the best care possible in packing and protecting an instrument someone we may not even know has bought from us. However, after it leaves my hands someone else is responsible for its handling and protection and if anything untoward happens to it then the courier firm has to pay out, shouldn't it? It's really irrelevant who takes out the insurance - the buyer or the seller - as long as it's in place. Incidentally, I have been more than happy to arrange couriers/ins to pick up gear that a seller has refused to ship. It's a personal choice and should be respected whether one agrees with it or not.

No, it was the fretless [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hummingbird-Resonant-Fretless-6-String-Bass-by-Mark-Ramsay-Design-/141009867981?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20d4d7d4cd"]Hummingbird.[/url]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1373794346' post='2141575'] Thanks but I am aware that RR isn't an official manufaturers site, just it seems on of the quickest way to bring something to J Hall's attention is that site. [/quote] Funny, that, isn't it? He and Ben appeared, in the past to me, to be more active on RRF than the official RIC site! Maybe it's because they can rest assured that the Rickenwaffen are doing all thier groundwork for them by seeking out 'fakers and and people who have issues with RIC QC, etc.

Don't play anywhere near as much guitar or bass in the flat these days as I did, say, five, years back. I had a habit of really letting rip with the guitar and often just played through the 'bang-bang-bang' on the front door. Once, a neighbour came to the door, complaining that he couldn't hear his telly (!!) cos of the volume. I just swicthed off the amp but, f*** it, I thought, here is a neighbour who never takes his share of cleaning the stair or front steps yet here he is at my door! Went down to his and told him of his shortcomings and to never darken my door again over my playing! Another one came to my door a few months ago during the day when I was (again) on guitar. He said his boss - on the other end of the phone - couldn't hold a discussion cos of the noise. Bascially, I flipped. Can't win with these folk (most of the time they are ok) so I gave up using the guitar amp and just play bass now and again. Sure it'll all kick off again one day.

I'm happy to ship within mainland UK as long as buyer is prepared to pay full insurance or pick the item up in person. However, I will not ship abroad unless the buyer arranges his/her own courier. Reason? I once sold a vintage 335 to a guy in Spain who then, after the sale, got shirty about paying full insurance/shipping so I stupidly agreed to ship without insurance. Guitar securely boxed and shipped......and promptly disappeared off the tracking system! After a couple of weeks the buyer began asking for his money back and I was faced with no guitar and having to refund the seller. Then, in the third week, the guitar was found in the corner of a warehouse down south. It eventually did reach Spain (and a happy buyer) but the whole epsiode made me decide not to ship abroad again unless the buyer sorted out freight/ins. Since making that decision, I have happily sold abroad and sellers have been fine with organising the own freight/insurance. Sure, I will undoubtedly scare off buyers who are not prepared to accept my conditions but that's something I have learned to accept. I always pack instruments as securely as possible, with plenty of bubble-wrap/poly wotsits and after that it's in the hands of the courier company. I might add that a lot of overseas buyers have, in the past, questioned my overseas freight/ins quotes and that is another reason why I removed myself from that obligation.

I guess every manufacturer has QC problems from time to time but with the way JH bangs on about being a small, family-owned business one would think that the manufacturing processes and QC would be given not a little more detail than, say, Fender, who bang 'em out at a rate of knots! One of the many things that annoy me about John Hall is his unflinching inability to apologise for manufacturing issues or production delays. A bit of humility now and again wouldn't go amiss.

It's ok. I guess I'm just miffed about losing out on it. Sour grapes and all that. Over it. Nice bass, though.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1373662008' post='2140436'] Just use the old Muso trick of gettting a bottle of sparkling mineral water and filling it up with Gin and Tonic! [/quote] Surely you mean 'Local Crew'??

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1373625480' post='2139758'] If this is the same bass mentioned in the Talkbass thread, this and presumably others from the same batch, were sold at a reduced price with no guarantee, because of this defect. So, no story here, this time. [/quote] There is a story: shonky RIC finishing, before we even [i]get[/i] to RIC QC! However, if it's been done to death on TB, no point in resurrecting it here. I'm away to stick a few more needles in my Jawn Hawll voodoo doll..........

Naah... there's something not right about all this. The auction for that bass had two offers - they were obviously unbeknownst to me - but in a matter of hours the seller accepted an offer not that much higher than mine, yet well below his asking price and MEGA well below the expected retail price quoted on the site. Anyone on Basschat win this?

I got pipped on that 6-string fretless last night!!

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1373572261' post='2139246'] If I'd bought it I'd be posting the pics to the Ric Resources site straight off asking how that sort of deterioration in a couple of years could happen and what Ric were going to do about it. Didn't realise the wood was that dark underneath, I thought they'd all look 'mapleglo' without the top coat. [/quote] There is an idea that the bass was on it's way to being Fireglo.

Just been surfing Ozbass when I came across [url="http://ozbassforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12905"]this thread[/url]. Words fail me.

Oasis tribute band back in the late '90s called 'No Way Sis' !!

FWIW, I just flew back from Dublin with a 'zouk I bought. Wrapped the case in loads of bubble-wrap and rocked up late at the gate where I managed to get them to put it on by hand. Plus, Aer Lingus forgot to charge me the extra £30 they usually charge for musical instruments. On the other hand, have a look at this. Red Hot Chilli Pipers' guitarist found the attached when the band landed at Milan. Turned out it had been run over by the baggage tractor at Edinburgh and the handlers sh*t it and just threw it into the hold!

Whilst the hardware looks original from your pix, the body is a respray and the back of the neck has been painted black, neither of which were correct colours for that year. The body colour would most likley have been a Fiesta Red-type colour and the neck would have had a clear finish. The fingerboard looks original but the scale length is your clue to what decade it's from; the new ones are long scale as opposed to (I think) medium scale on the '60s models. The red flag for me is why is the rear.of the neck painted black? What is that colour hiding. There could be a bad crack under all that that has been filled/expoxied and painted over to heavily mask it. MAke sure and also look along the neck for any up-bow/back-bow. Anyway if it's being offered against a BMX bike, I'd bite his hand off! Also, drop a line to Stever Russell here for further info: [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/"]http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/[/url]

Number 14 - Nickelback