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John Hall?


Ricky 4000

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2 hours ago, Jack said:

They're only £7.50, should we all buy a couple and then none of us show up?

We should all buy a ticket, show up and ask him why he doesn't launch a range of Chinese Rics seeing as they'd be cheaper and better made. Then ask him to sign the Rickenfakers we've brought along.

Just saying.

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Prices of these have always gone up and down. I remember a whole back selling a couple of 4003 basses for a fair bit more than I paid. 

Couple of years later I missed out on a lovely 4001 at £800!

Maybe we're going for a little bit of a downturn at the mo. I bought my current 4003S after Christmas at a good price, although they've risen again somewhat since then. 

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It's good to see Ric on a bit of a high the last few years. New models, colours....and I personally think the QC has improved. 

I've owned a good few from various years and styles, but my 4003S is faultless, and really light. 

Personally, I've always found the lighter the bass, the more 'Ricky' it sounds. Probably a totally abstract notion, but the heavier basses never sounded quite as good. Likewise, my best 2 have both been blue as well! Weird! 

 

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3 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I'm going! And I'll be wearing my Rickenbacker tee-shirt. 😃

Where the heck is Ormskirk? Sounds like it's in Norway or something. 😬

Due North from you to the top end of Wales and then up a bit more.

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6 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m not sure why anyone would want to pay money to see this guy. 

It’s not like he’s going to provide any meaningful insight into the running of an incredibly successful instrument manufacturer or how their ‘in house’ bass bridges are the best on the market 😂

If the £7.50 came with a free box of rotten tomatoes to chuck at him, it might be half way good value.

I'm sensing negativity...

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Presumably he isn’t going to pay for the return airfare from the US out of his own pocket, so even if he commands no appearance fee, and given that he’s unlikely to attract a crowd of thousands, it’s not unreasonable to charge a smallish fee to meet the man at the top of one of the most well-known and iconic bass manufacturers?

... and for the record I’ve never owned a Ric and haven’t like them when I have tried one, so not a fanboi :)

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3 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Well, I’m assuming he’s coming over here to promote the ‘new look’ Ric’s? I don’t see why people should have to pay for the privilege of allowing him to do that. I would think it likely he would get a larger audience if he did it for free. I can’t imagine Rob Green flying over to the USA and charging people to promote his brand. 

I'd be interested in seeing what he has to say; I'm sure it's more than just promoting new models.

(But I'm not interested enough to travel 4 hours each way, which would cost a heck of a lot more than £7.50!)

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Well it's great to hear he can be asked to come over and talk directly to people. I can only presume the location is dictated by a demographic of their instruments selling better in the north of the country - in fact their most famous musician users were from that very area IIRC (thus blowing a hole in the ludicrous Fender marketing blurb that their basses are the sound of pop music - yes if you presume US manufactured pop of the 60s and early 70s constitutes pop music - which of course ignores most of the output of the U.K. - arguably far more the 'sound of pop music' 😂😂 - accents are scouse not Seattle... ).

The other possibility is the history of London shops offering truck loads of Rickenfakers in the early 2000s - I was in the market for a 5 (Musicman of course) and couldn't believe the number of basses with Reckinfarter and all other possible misspellings of Rickenbacker on their headstocks in the Denmark St shops. 

I think the question of why they don't offer cheapo Chinese imports is pretty straightforward. Just because that famous organisation beginning with the letter F chooses to offer basically the same instrument  ranging in price from bargain basement to bespoke custom shop - and made all over the world - doesn't mean everyone should follow such a model - given the financial performance of that company you could argue such an approach would be plain stupid. The US is currently at a hiatus between cheap foreign imports and home made - more expensive goods. I'm sure Rickenbacker is unlikely to produce cheap foreign made versions of its instruments as it has a certain business model which doesn't fit this idea.

Does Ferrari make cheapo versions of its cars - if you want one you have to save up for it - no different for Rickenbacker really (or any other goods which are positioned in the market in a certain way). I suspect anyone wishing for a change in this could be pi**ing in the wind.

 

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18 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I can only presume the location is dictated by a demographic of their instruments selling better in the north of the country

Or because the UK retailers drew straws for who would host the event and Sound Affects of Ormskirk lost?

Or because the venue is Hurlston Hall Golf Club and includes the word 'Hall' in its name?

Or because it's easier to put a security perimeter round the club house for when the BassChat Massive turn up, swearing vengeance?

The possibilities are literally endless :)

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I'm sure all that is possible. Sounds a bit like the World Darts Championships. Perhaps the BC massive can be provided with sponge pointy hands to hold aloft and the like 😁👍😀

Seriously though - this is surely for Rickenbacker fans rather than the 'oh shock horror the bridge screws are 0.003" too short' types, or my Rockinfaker illegal copy has been rendered unsalable on bass forums single-handedly by this CEO - people? Ultimately it's probably their lawyers who are responsible anyway!! 

Do you not think the retailer was chosen by Rickenbacker to work with - the only big shop on that area I can think of is Promenade Music but I may have it completely wrong!! 

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3 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I'm sure all that is possible. Sounds a bit like the World Darts Championships. Perhaps the BC massive can be provided with sponge pointy hands to hold aloft and the like 😁👍😀

 

Sounds like a plan :)
 

4 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

Seriously though - this is surely for Rickenbacker fans rather than the 'oh shock horror the bridge screws are 0.003" too short' types, 

I would imagine so, yes. 

 

4 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

Do you not think the retailer was chosen by Rickenbacker to work with

The question of who made the first approach is an interesting one. I suppose it might also depend on whether Mr Hall was already coming over here on other business or whether this is a trip designed especially to promote those new Rics with the Toblerone-shaped pickups to the bass-playing population of West Lancashire.

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