facebook and the Ric Police

[weekend warrior]

Again Ilan i ment no offense to you as i know you are hip deep in the RRF.I will also add that there are alot of good people on the RRF!Im not targeting people persay.merely,Policys and politics.There are even more cool people that WERE on the forum that said policys and politics have alienated as well.Ive seen JH's idea of help and advice many times.Its mostly Vague,colorless,and facetious.I will openly disagree with the statement that they are making the best product they ever made!They are mostly machine made now.They cant decide how they want the neck profile anymore,They are also have twisting problems with necks on a regular basis.They have the right idea for the truss rod design.however it is incomplete and not correctly anchored at the heal.Over tightening causes the rod ends to sink into the wood thus making any kind of twist difficult to get out!In MHO(lol)removing the human element or hand built aspects, and leaving most of the work to machines have ruined the mojo,Crapped in the chile,thrown a wrench in the gears.They are cookie cutter now.all 6 of my old ricks where hand made!Quality is second to non!All are tonefull,beautifully built and finished.And have full appointments :mrgreen:I love ricks!I always have!Thats why this crap bothers me so!If only JH really listened to his consumers,really considered helpfull ideas to make a better product. This conversation would not be happening.He's more concerned with his Legacy,and ego..

[ilan]

None taken, Jaymi. We're good.

[gearHed289]

I think the fact that if you post on a forum regarding RIC, you may get a response from John, THAT!!, whatever the reply is worth a great deal indeed.

Gotta agree with you there. I even exchanged a couple of e-mails with JH way back when they were first designing the 4004Cii/5 concerning string spacing.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but there is a NEW facebook group that's kind of a riot here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/315108415191351/

[Dave W]

There's also this one.

[warriorbass05]

None taken, Jaymi. We're good.

What did I say? I am warriorbass05, Jeff is weekend warrior...

[ilan]

Had a senior moment... happens a lot lately. I meant Jeff of course. 

[mc2NY]

That sucks big time.  How can you infringe a trademark by discussing the good and bad things about a product?  It's done all the time with car and motorcycle brands for 2 examples.

Wouldn't a simple disclaimer at the bottom of each webpage by that Ric Facebook site, stating "Rickenbacker and all its related brand/model names are property of Ric" blah, blah...be sufficient? There are lots of sites like that...Hamer Fan Club, etc., that are run by fans and users but not actually part of the manufacturers.

[Dave W]

Wouldn't a simple disclaimer at the bottom of each webpage by that Ric Facebook site, stating "Rickenbacker and all its related brand/model names are property of Ric" blah, blah...be sufficient? There are lots of sites like that...Hamer Fan Club, etc., that are run by fans and users but not actually part of the manufacturers.

It wouldn't hurt to put a disclaimer to make it clear that the page is not an official site. It's not necessary to say that their brand names belong to them, since nothing is being sold.

In any case, having a trademark means that you get to prevent false use of you mark. It doesn't allow you to prevent critical discussion of your product.

Keep in mind that we don't know the full story here. We don't know if the people who started deleting posts were acting as company representatives or as overzealous fanboys.

[uwe]

Yep, what the RRF does is Peter's business. Why he has banned people and whether or not John had anything directly to do with it is none of our concern. We don't need to bring that here.

Uwe had a similar experience to Ilan, John helped him with his 8-string neck and truss rod problems when he didn't have to. Unfortunately the neck still has issues.

True he did. And it is blatantly untrue that he doesn't listen to customers. In my case he took the only sensible step:

He deleted the model.  
As Ric tend to when they run into issues, be it with 5- or 8-stringers. The tried and trusted 4-string is always their safe haven. And the fact that that works is probably a lucky accident.  

Uwe (proud owner of a Ric 4003/8 with now its third set of stronger truss rods - thank you Ibanez -, a new, thicker fretboard to enhance stability and a recessed bridge as well as 4 other Rics and, no, I don't think that the older models are automatically better, my year 2000 4003 is probably the best one of them all)

[gearHed289]

Ha ha! Yeah, too bad about the 5 string. Was a cool bass. Why they didn't design a pickup specifically for that beast is beyond me. But, truth is, I get it. 4 strings WAY outsell 5 strings, and 8 strings are definitely a niche market.

[uwe]

True, the long scale 8 string concept is inherently flawed, way too much pull. A short scale 8 string might actually work though.

[dadagoboi]

True, the long scale 8 string concept is inherently flawed, way too much pull...

Maybe for Rickenbacker, not so much for other manufacturers.  I own 3 Korean long scale 8 strings, all with slim 24 fret maple/rosewood necks.  The Dean has 2 truss rods and is 5 piece (2 mahogany stringers), the Robelli and Rogue are one piece with single TR.  No neck problems with any of them.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

True, the long scale 8 string concept is inherently flawed, way too much pull.

I guess my 34" Waterstone is OK because it has 12. 

[uwe]

I complained about the pull not because of the neck stability - obviously many necks can take them, my Gibson CS LP 8-string has no issues and it is a regular LP neck -, but because the extremely taut octave strings feel expressionless to my fingers as they react neither to bending nor vibrato. Unmusical. A 12 string is even worse in that respect and approaches sounding like a synth to me. As if you're a machine playing a machine. If Paul McCartney, Geezer Butler, Jack Bruce and Pino Palladino played 8-strings they would all sound less individual than with 4-string basses. And for the life of it, I cannot here anything individual in the playing of the Cheap Trick guy except that he plays multi-strings a lot and is basically a rhythm guitar chugger with a very unfocused sound live. Even D(o)ug Pinnick loses individuality when playing his multistrings. Rhythmic nuances, bending, vibrato, attack all get lost, the (long scale) eight string is the great equalizer.

There is no musical need for octave strings to be as taut as they are on a long scale (and a Ric isn't even a real long scale, more of an oversize meduim scale), even octave strings on a short scale would be far from floppy. And I believe their brightness would blend well with the mushier regular strings.

I've said this before, my dream bass would have E and A long scale and D and G short scale doubled with an octave.

No offense meant to committed multi stringers, I'm sure you play your beasts well, but I'm equally sure that I would hear "more of you" on a regular 4 string.

Uwe

[Dave W]

^^^ What a reactionary!