Yeah, I'd be shocked if the pickups worked - but if they do, they might have a unique sound.
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Advice please
- Thread starter Harmonicadan
- Start date
If you don't want to restore it, please consider selling to someone on here (nudge nudge, wink wink).
If it is a real Rickenbacker, then yes, the instrument will be worth more than the cost of the parts to restore it. If not, then the cost of parts will be more than the end value of the bass. To me, since I do own a Rickenbacker, it looks like a copy for these reasons:
1) the body does appears to be of another wood besides maple, which is what Rickenbackers are made of;
2) the pickup surround of the neck pickup has a wider overlap onto the bobbins than a real one;
3) the pickup bobbin of the bridge pickup has square corners rather than rounded corners, as does a real one;
4) look at the truss rod - it should have two truss rods adjusted by 1/4 inch nuts, not a single truss rod - I can't tell which it has from the picture.
There are also some ways to tell under the pickguard if you take it off and post a picture of the body.
1. I am not so sure that is not maple, the water damage could well leave the grain stained this way
4. There are definitely dual trussrods, hard to tell if they are authentic or not, but my understanding is that fakes with duals are pretty rare.
There are definitely a couple of other pictures which would really help, the pickguard off, a shot of the output jack(s), a shot of the back of the headstock. Even with the water damage though, cleaned up, it would look pretty cool.
A look at the jackplate may prove helpful at determining whether it's authentic or not if there is anything legible left on it.
A stamped serial number can be entered here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Actually, now that I look a little more closely at the bridge pup, it looks like a copy, and the knobs are def not from a Rick.
Genuine or not (and some copies did have two rods) I'd spend the minimum to make it a reliable player and leave it at that.
Real Ricks and likely the copies as well are pretty rare in the UK, and the prices reflect that.
It won't be worth much for resale, but it may be well worth a little fixing if you want to keep it.
A stamped serial number can be entered here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Actually, now that I look a little more closely at the bridge pup, it looks like a copy, and the knobs are def not from a Rick.
Genuine or not (and some copies did have two rods) I'd spend the minimum to make it a reliable player and leave it at that.
Real Ricks and likely the copies as well are pretty rare in the UK, and the prices reflect that.
It won't be worth much for resale, but it may be well worth a little fixing if you want to keep it.
The fact that this is or is not a genuine Ric has no bearing on its utility as a player, or the worthiness of restoring it for personal use. Many of the Japanese era lawsuit clones were built as good or better than Rics, which is why they were seen as such a threat to the Ric trademark. You can get an Allparts Ric bridge for $50.00, or a Hipshot for $150. An Allparts pickguard for $25.00, high-gain neck pickup for $75.00, bridge pickup and surround for another $150-175. A nice set of Schaller tuners would be $75-90.00, but you can get decent Wilkinsons for considerably less. You obviously have the restoration skills, but if you can't be bothered, you might have trouble selling. Rickenbacker is extremely vigilant about policing Ebay and Craiglist to prevent sales of Ric clones, so be prepared to be hassled if you go that route. In your shoes, Id restore this and never look back.
