Well I guess some may be happy but I am not. It seems Rickenbacker have raised their prices by 40%. Now that is good for the 350V63 that I own but will make adding any more less likely. Too sad buy them cheap while you can. rob
They should have done it a long time ago, and/or progressively - that way it wouldn't have come as such a shock. Ricks are (or were) ridiculously cheap compared to other equivalent quality guitars, and have been for a long time. It may go some way to countering the order backlog and give them more resources to improve the model range instead of concentrating on just filling existing orders. I'm not overjoyed that my next Rick will likely cost more either, but I'd rather see them take the necessary measures to sort out the (slightly) awkward situation they've got into. Underpricing a product can be just as dangerous for a business in the long term as overpricing it. I'd maybe considering getting into vintage Ricks as well, before the world wakes up to the fact that they are priced way lower than comparable Fenders and Gibsons.
So now their prices are closer to the level of quality they offer. The price increase will only affect instruments coming out of the factory in about 18-24 monthes. If you find a dealer who has a Rick on order since before the price increase, they are obligated by Rick to sell it at the price before increase.
seconded. when a beautiful american-made piece is back-ordered for 6 months, is pre-sold before it ever hits the wall, and is only like $1300, rickenbacker ends up with lots of stores with no rics in stock, not good for visibility or business. hell, for a while there we couldn't keep a used ric in the store for more than a day!
holy cow! rock bottom street price on a 660/12 is more than $500 more than I paid for mine a while back.... too bad it won't be for sale for a long time.
