Here is a message Mike sent me about hIs bass:
Michael Rich 8:20pm Sep 9
you asked me about my bass so let me tell you my story. Vaccaro took over kramer and designed a new neck. I was on disablilty (due to a broken arm) at the time and I found out they had open shop in NJ. I called them and asked if I could get a tour and if i could buy a finished neck. years before i designed and copywrote the body design and i decided to marry the two. we had an awsome day and he told me all od the storys including the michael jackson drama way before it happened. well before i could finish the company closed shop. I at the the time was an electronic techinican so i knew guitar electronics. I studied with anderson howard who was a student of lamont johnson so I understood bass construction. the body is my answer to fender's model. everything about it is based on a jazz / musicman... but with a twist. It has G&L passive pickups to give it the musicman kick but it has an active 3 band parametric eq preamp that I found in germany. the bridge used ibanez monorail detuner on each string but i found out you can't do that because the calibration was too sensitive. i installed a badass to compenstate. the next model will have a warwick bridge. just for show there is a programable led readout that will scroll a message while i am playing. i thought it would give the viewer a spaceage experiance. this model is made of basswood but i am using swamp ash for the next model. the paint job is a custom car paint with sparkles but the next model will be chrome to match the head stock.