getting lucky at Guitar Center

[Blackbird]

You sure that 4003 was new? Rickenbacker pulled out of GC again  2 or 3 years ago and AFAIK nothing has changed. The only Ricks on their website are used/vinatge.

When I was in Reston VA in March, there were two 4003's there brand new up on the wall - with the new style sticker on the front.

[copacetic]

Saw 2 brand new ones in GC San Francisco several months ago. Was down in LA in early march and they had a Jetglo and Maple Glo brand new as well.

[Dave W]

The main problem was GC's return policy. Apparently they were selling returned items as new, which RIC doesn't allow under their warranty policy. Maybe they worked it out.

[hieronymous]

Thought I would add to the adventures! 

On Friday I went to one of the more interesting - and independent - retailers local to me (Bananas at Large in San Rafael, north of San Francisco). Memorial Weekend sale and all of that, the only thing that caught my eye caught it pretty good - 5-string Yamaha BB425X. I was never a big Yamaha fan, even though one of my favorite players when I was playing a lot used to play one early on (Oteil Burbridge in the Aquarium Rescue Unit, before he switched to a 6-string Modulus). Something caught my attention, though I neglected to grab a photo so I didn't know any details (model #, active/passive, etc.). So I went back today and checked it out:



It was hard to nail down info on it - Yamaha apparently likes to revamp their line every few years so I was pulling up older threads on TB, etc. Finally figured out the "X" is very helpful to find info on it.

Sounded good through one of the new Fender Rumble amps (the 500). This one is passive, vol/tone/selector switch, so not a lot of tonal options but fitting for me - I never mess with blending pickups beyond both full-on if I can help it. I'm not really a low-B player so I'm not sure what constitutes a "good" one - this wasn't bad but the low B was a little buzzy - setup looks pretty easy with the functional bridge & easy truss rod accessibility at the heel.

I played it a while, walked around the store a while, finally couldn't justify it, even though it was a really good deal (online they are selling for $600, this was $400).

I got home and played what I have (focusing on the Duck Dunn P for the time being) and enjoyed it - felt a bit of remorse for not buying it - would have liked to support the store, maybe I could flip it without losing too much, but in the end I think I made the right choice.