LOVE the Shaftesbury on the left. I don’t know if I’d actually love playing it,but it looks fab.
Rather like the latest RIC iteration of the 4005.
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aria pro II rickenbacker
- Thread starter denis dum
- Start date
Rather like the latest RIC iteration of the 4005.
That's a Shaftesbury 3263, made by Eko in Italy.
There's a picture of Bill Wyman with one which appears from time to time.
My one was damaged, so I bought it as a project, but someone took it off my hands and then did a rather good job of restoring it.
Just stumbled on this demo of an Aria Pro II on YT. This one is set neck neck, so one step "down" in grade from the one the OP posted. I'd have preferred an entirely clean direct comparison without any dirt or effects, but take a listen and draw your own conclusions as to how much it sounds like a 4001 of the same era. It's about how I remember it. It was never clear to me exactly who was building these, I've seen Lawsuit Ric clones that were badged as Aria, Fernandes, Greco, and even Univox with bolt-on, set, or through neck construction, different pickup types, levels of finish, etc.
Here's another Aria, this one a neck-through on Dave's World of Fun Stuff, gives you a pretty good look at the fit and finish, though somebody has swapped out the bridge for a Hipshot.
Here's another Aria, this one a neck-through on Dave's World of Fun Stuff, gives you a pretty good look at the fit and finish, though somebody has swapped out the bridge for a Hipshot.
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Really? If my personal experiences with instruments is being disregard by you as 'hearsay', then you have just categorised everyone else's input of experience on every Talkbass thread as 'hearsay'! Well done.
I really don't care what you think of my experiences with Rickenbackers but your quibbling over them is not a good optic. Indeed, it makes you come across as a Rickenwaffen fanboi.
Furthermore, I've now rediscovered why I have your posts ignored on Basschat. It's now time to do the same here.
Ciao!
Whilst it is an fact that you have an opinion, it does not make your opinion a fact.
I am always prepared to note that my opinions are indeed just opinions based on my personal experience, as are most people's posts; stating an opinion as "fact" or "proven" doesn't actually make it so.
For example, it is a fact that I own/owned 9 real Rics and a similar number of fakers, but it is my opinion that I've never played a faker which is better than a real Ric and I can't agree with the assertion that "Most of them are better than the real McCoy".
As for fanbois and whatever, use what words you like; if you don't like someone else's opinion then it is best to press that ignore button rather than get yourself wound up.
The only contentious things I recall on BC were:
- when asked why the headstock was covered up on a bass with a Fender logo on it for sale I said because it was a counterfeit, which prompted the owners club to get their pitchforks out, and
- in discussions about the Babicz bridge I said I didn't understand why they'd only released half of the product and I didn't get the point, to which there were howls of dismay and I was deemed not worthy.
But I'm still waiting for that faker which is as good as (let along better than) a real Ric 4001/4003.
Though there were some set neck ones, that's a bolt-on one.
It was made at the Matsumoku factory, where many of the other brands were too (my fakers picture a few posts back shows a green Vorg branded one from that stable).
The key features of those bolt-on Mats are: dot position markers on the controls, the "Steel adjustable neck" neckplate, the "Stereo-Sound" label on the stereo output jack (though others had those too), the fake wavy Grover machines, a 34" scale.
1. Amen-I never say “best” anymore, just “my favorite “. Subjectivity.
2. presuming you’re referring to the Babicz Rickenbacker insert, to which I totally agree with your assertion!
(Plus it takes a bulbous monstrosity and makes it even more so….I shudder when i see them!)
3.about 20 or so years ago, i was all set to buy a ‘70s jetglo Rick 4001 that was at my bandmate/luthier/guitar tech/friend’s shop for a wiring problem. I was all set to pay the princely Rickenbacker sum of $600 for it. (It belonged to a client of my friend). I had already played many Rick basses for years, so I was fairly familiar with them.
I kept thinking that something was “off”, (the bridge pickup wasn’t like any I’d seen before), but with used items, you don’t always know the history. Anyways, we removed the Rickenbacker branded trc to expose a single trussrod.
When we looked in the control cavity, it was Asian components. I offered $350,but the owner stubbornly continued to claim this was a real Rick, and wouldn’t budge, so i passed. It was quite a nice bass,neckthrough, great quality and great sound. (It may have had a Rick toaster, not sure.)
So, I passed on the bass, not because it wasn’t high quality, but because I felt it was overpriced for the market. Of course, nowadays that would be a steal, even for a lawsuit faker.
Edit:so I wouldn’t say it was”better than”, but it was definitely good enough to fool most folks.
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Yeah. I regret letting go of my Univox. Seemed like a good idea at the time.Just because you have real Rics doesn't mean you're not allowed fakers too!
