Chinese Rickenfaker

[Fergie Fulton]

The Retrovibes are cool, don't sound like a Ric, but a new interpretation on that iconic body style, and no copyright issues. They are hard to come by, unfortunately, as the builder makes them up in small lots, and import /export duties can make them expensive. They have no US distributor AFAIK. The Ibanez and Greco "lawsuit" era Ric copies are very good by most accounts, some identical in neck through construction, but you won't find them on Ebay, Ric has them pulled whenever they come up. They do occasionally come up on Craigslist, which Ric doesn't seem to mess with. Club Rickenfaker on TB has some good images and reviews of the Lawsuit clones. These days they aren't much cheaper than a used 4003.
Club RickenFaker / FakenBacker - Show Your Fake Rics!

The RV4 is a super cool bass, as with many basses that Dave Designs they are hybrid in some way, they take the best of existing styles and give us something new.
The RV4 is a Rick style body, but with Music Man hardware, so a blend of the two.
Where as the Vantage is Rick featured in a jazz body shape, with Music Man hardware.
They are a cool bass in their own right, i use RV4 and a Vantage 5, (i am also on the artist rota) and they always draw conversation for their looks and sound (i am always amazed at how many players say they love the sound of my Rick, when it is the RV4 i used....sometimes the shape is just iconic enough to fool.

 

[Snowglo]

Sorry to hijack, and a tad off subject, but has anyone heard of anyone taking a solid maple P body and slapping 4001/4003 electronics in it? Just wonder if the tone is close to an actual Rick?

No I'm not going to attempt it. Just curious.

 

[TheCrimsonKing]

Sorry to hijack, and a tad off subject, but has anyone heard of anyone taking a solid maple P body and slapping 4001/4003 electronics in it? Just wonder if the tone is close to an actual Rick?

No I'm not going to attempt it. Just curious.

I'd say the tone would be very similar, Ric pickups are what make up most of the character of their sound, you'd probably end up with a deeper, bassier sound than a rick on it's own.

Chinese Ricks sound like something that would be good for a modding project.

 

[kodiakblair]

@Fergie Fulton

Have an RV4 as well,never mentioned it with them being discontinued. I mind your YT video of it though,grand stuff.
Did you get a chance to play the Super-P yet ? Dave stuck the coil tap in mine's, turned a good bass into an outstanding one.

Sorry for another OT folks.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

Sorry to hijack, and a tad off subject, but has anyone heard of anyone taking a solid maple P body and slapping 4001/4003 electronics in it? Just wonder if the tone is close to an actual Rick?

No I'm not going to attempt it. Just curious.

I'm going to say No, part of the Ricks sound is the thin body and through neck.
The inlays are large so the string is pushed to the inlay and this is part of the sound, as it is with Block inlay basses.
Just have the EQ suite alone is not going to replicate a true Rick tone.
My RV4 has Music Man pickups, but not Music Man EQ Suite, so it will never truly sound like a Music Man.
But what it does have is those big humbuckers are coil tapped with six way switching, so it can be single coil if need be. This makes it a very versatile bass as it can create a number of tones associated with other basses, but not feel like them......because the body is so thin...sound is not everything when replicating other basses.
But i must admit you have my curiosity on the idea.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

@Fergie Fulton

Have an RV4 as well,never mentioned it with them being discontinued. I mind your YT video of it though,grand stuff.
Did you get a chance to play the Super-P yet ? Dave stuck the coil tap in mine's, turned a good bass into an outstanding one.

Sorry for another OT folks.

Quick Answer...No, but most of Dave's Humbuckers take a coil tap, and to be honest my tech put the 6 way in because the pups are powerful, they have a big output and the tap just gives you more options on controling them.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Oddly enough, the best emulation I've ever gotten of a Ric tone was through my G&L L2000 in coil tap mode with treble boost. As others have said, if you really want a Ric tone, get a Ric. They are cantankerous and overpriced, but that tone is worth it! If its just cosmetics, lots of options out there.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Retrovibe Vantage


The RV4 was more of a direct Ric copy, quashed via lawsuit, rare enough that I've never seen one. Sounds pretty similar to the Vantage, not particularly Ric-ish.

 

[kodiakblair]

the pups are powerful, they have a big output.

Ain't that the truth. Got the fright of my life 1st time I played the Evo.

 

[MojoPenguin]

Get one used from the US or Canada on eBay. Less than 2000 euros and a Real One

 

[Ric5]

This is the only thing I have seen from the Far East that vaguely makes any sense. It's neck through which seems rare, and a kit - but has no finish on it and does not include any routing, pickups or hardware. Most of the complaints I hear seem to be about hardware and electronics so there you go.

View attachment 797202 View attachment 797203

I should buy a few of those and build 5 string basses ...

 

[Gilmourisgod]

What are they getting for the neck-through husks? That might actually be worth a spin on the roulette Wheel of Aliexpress. Anybody got a link to that? Ric 5 does really nice five string conversions, BTW.

 

[BassHappy]

What are they getting for the neck-through husks? That might actually be worth a spin on the roulette Wheel of Aliexpress. Anybody got a link to that? Ric 5 does really nice five string conversions, BTW.

$309 Delivered

It's here:

Newest 2015 new unfinished 4 String 4003 Electric Bass Kit Guitar through body in wooden no paint top quality 151012-in Guitar from Sports & Entertainment on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

 

[Gilmourisgod]

What do you suppose the body wood is , ash.?, Alder?

 

[BassHappy]

What do you suppose the body wood is , ash.?, Alder?

Not sure I believe it, but the ad says "mahogany"

 

[Gilmourisgod]

That does not look like mahogany. A lot of the ads say "brazil wood" , maybe that's the chinese translation for mahogany?

 

[tearalong]

I've got a lefty Lemmy on order. It's taking ages because it's a lefty and they haven't made one before and they shutdown for a week for Chinese new year. The sound is going to be pretty distorted so the un-effected tone isn't really relevant to me. It's all about the look.

 

[mellowinman]

DO NOT get one of these crappy basses. I was considering, and instead held out, and once I could afford it, got the real deal. I will never regret it. Nothing plays, looks or sounds like the real thing.

 

[moonshinegtrs]

I purchased a Chinese Rickenfaker last December. I bought it specifically to mod. I spent a couple of months going through the aliexpress site; you have to pay attention to feedback and the number of transactions among several other things. Also, I asked a lot of questions. I ended up with a well made neck through bass that was built surprisingly well. The hardware, pickups and electronics were cheaply made, though (again, surprisingly) the pickups nailed the Rickenbacker tone.

So far I've installed Hipshot tuners, a Omega (BAII style) bridge, a Bartolini humbucker in the bridge, a Gibson Firebird pickup in the neck position and completely rewired the bass with quality passive electronics (all parts that I had laying around). Last, I removed the Rickenbacker logo with steel wool and replaced it with "XXX". It attracts attention with it's looks but more importantly the damn thing sounds like a bulldozer (and not in the least like a Rickenbacker)! I need to do some fretwork on it next.

I purchased it by credit card; i felt it was the safest way. I will be upfront by saying I went into this with really low expectations, but in the end I am more than happy with this bass.





Moonshine

 

[christopantz]

its like getting fake yeezys except not as good a deal