It's a Ric. It's SUPPOSED TO have finish flaws.
The secret is to be persistent when complaining to Rickenbacker. Hopefully, if you're lucky, John Hall, himself will tell you to go to hell. This is all part of the RIC experience.
Kidding aside, it is so common, and so well documented, anyone buying a Ric would almost have to understand and anticipate this up front if they did even a little research.
If buying in person, inspect it up close for a good long time. If buying long distance, with any luck you've got a staff member who can do it for you. Otherwise, you are rolling the dice with finish issues when you buy a Ric.
That's not to excuse Ric; they chose this ultra-thin finish process and then don't see it through properly before sending them out, so it's squarely on them. I think a lot of these flaws develop after the bass is boxed up and leaves the factory; the thin finish continues to settle and alter, which makes it virtually impossible for them to catch it during the QC stage. They'd have to let basses sit in the factory for a year to catch all the finish flaws that eventually develop, which would put an interesting spin on their supply/demand structure.
Anyway, I wish OP luck, if he wants a flawless finish on his Ric, he certainly deserves one. All my Rics, even the perfect ones, ended up chipped anyway. If you take them out on the town enough, or even look at them cross-eyed a few times, your Ric will end up with finish issues. Extremely fragile, and I baby my gear.
Short of a successful warranty claim, as someone mentioned, if it's a bubble, there's really nothing you can do other than a re-finish of at least that area, and hope for a good blend. Re-finishing the whole bass is the preferred method, and I think Ric does this with successful claims. I apologize, I studied the pics and can't really see the flaw, but if it's just a small glob of solid lacquer, I've encountered that on a lot of guitars and basses and Meguire's #7 show car polish can smooth some of those anomalies out nice and shiny if they're not too big.
Yep! I had to fill the warranty card out for an issue with the neck they had to fix before. It was actually filled and sent months past when they said it was supposed to be, and they still helped me out. I'm really hoping they will do right by me again.
Wha...? John Hall didn't tell you to go to hell?
Here's hoping you can get a satisfactory resolution with the finish flaw.
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