Just to counter the perception that Rics are "less popular" than Fender, Gibson et al... I'd like to point out that Fender and Gibson (and most other guitar manuf) are assembly line operations. They produce thousands of guitars a day. They also have budget lines with factories in Korea, Phillipines, China, Japan, Mexico and Indonesia.
Rickenbacker is a family owned (John Hall and his wife own the company) business which manufactures hand-made guitars at ONE location in California. There are no other factories, no budget lines, and no budget models. They pride themselves on making a top quality instrument and taking the TIME to make it properly. The finish on my 4003fg took three days for RIC to complete.
So the point is, RICs are not plentiful, therefore, you don't see as many of them around. The quality is very high and the price (unbelievably) is competitive with comparative models from other companies. They are top notch instruments. I own a 1981 Ric 320JG and a 2005 4003FG. I also own a 2004 Fender American Deluxe 50th Anniversary Strat and the quality of the RICs is every bit the quality of the top of the line Fender product and yet isn't as expensive. Just try to find one in stock somewhere... now there's the problem!