Club RickenFaker / FakenBacker - Show Your Fake Rics!

Fender have done pretty well with just a waterslide decal. There are a million little things that help you spot a Fakenbacker. The TRC is almost immaterial.

EDIT TO ADD: Just about any High School student now with access to a 3D printer can rustle you up a RIC TRC inside of an hour, including the time spent to find the .DWG file online. The dual truss rods, care and attention to the wiring, the weird way the frets are laquered in and not properly crowned afterwards, the color of the fretboard, the jack plate, the rounded corners of the sharkfin inlays, they are not usually reproduced on fakes.

 

For sure those who know Rics can spot the copies.

Even a waterslide decal takes some effort to apply, especially if there is already a different waterslide under the headstock finish. A TRC is pretty simple for anybody to replace. I’m just saying there would be a lot less “counterfeits” out there if it wasn’t so easy.

 

For me, and I have a real one I have a love/hate/hate reltionship with, I'm not interested in counterfeiting a real RIC instrument. Honestly, the work it takes, I'd just buy another real one - it would be easier and cheaper.

The fun part for me is taking that iconic shape, and doing something with it that suits me, that reflects my personality.

The other thing is, some of those 1970s "copies" are worthy of respect in their own right. The Arias (especially the Arias), Grecos, thru neck Ibanez models, they were all superb instruments. I've even heard a Hondo II BO that had killer tone. I think we should be preserving and looking after those instruments with same degree of care and attention as the real thing. A lot of well known musicians used 400x copies early in their career. Bruce Foxton of The Jam was regularly pictured touting his Ibanez with a RIC TRC, for example, in early publicity pics. I don't even know if he ever owned or played a real one. I do know most of the tracks he recorded with the band were done with a P-Bass.

Ultimately, as long as you're not trying to pass something off as somethng it clearly is not, does it matter? I'd say no, but John Hall would disagree. I'm ok with that.

 

[RANT]For the price you have to pay for that piece of trash, I'd want it to be laser engraved on titanium material or carbon fiber at least. If I pay a truck load of money to get a McLaren supercar, at least I get logos that are worth what I pay for, not something that's worth $3...[/RANT]

 

Yes, just was researching buying 2 new saddles and Ric were selling for $5 each. I thought “done deal” and then went to check out and shipping was $30.....not such a deal. Purchased them elsewhere.

 

Actually,They had to. The ABM company, whose bridges they had used on all 4004 models before,
stopped making them.
It was a design similar to the Schaller, with rolling side to side adjustability on each saddle.
Here’s an abm bridge on my 98 Cheyenne.

 

Recently ran into same issue with ordering a replacement nut.

 

I see the allure in getting a fake.....which I’ve done in the past. $350 shipped is a good deal. I used DHgate. I changed the neck pickup for a real Ric pickup and purchased a Ric aftermarket wiring harness. The rest was stock. Tuners and bridge were fine. Sounded great.....but it was heavy and the neck was really thick, but still comfortable to play. All in, I was near $600 total for bass and upgrades. A pretty good deal.

I now have the real deal, but seriously thinking of selling it since I can get around $2000 for it in the Uk which is much more than I purchased it for here in the States. I can then get a Ric copy for our one Mod gig we do in Brighton where it’s almost the law to play a “Ric” bass, and just use my American Pro P bass for everything else.

 

Use mine, I dare you. It would be hilarious.

 

In a NY minute! I love that bass. Great job with it. The fakers are great platforms for doing your own thing with the finish. I’ll have to search back and look at the thread on how you finished that.

 

No magic formula, I just sat down and stickerbombed it with 100 random assorted stickers.

 

Try buying from Canada! I was looking at a 60’s style Tbird bridge on eBay from Philadelphia Luthier Supplies. It’s $135 USD and $10 shipping. For me that’s $170 CAN and the shipping is $50 and there are exchange fees.

 

Ohhhhh, if only Babicz would make a Ric replacement bridge...

 

I don’t have a Gibson TRC on my Epiphone Vintage Pro, I don’t have Fender water slides on my P and J shaped objects (except for the one that has a Fender neck) and I’m not going to put a Ric TRC on my Japanese 4003 copy. But even if I did, I don’t think it would matter, unless I sold it as a Ric to an unsuspecting buyer.

I found a video of Burning Spear in the early 80s where the bass player is playing a lefty Ric upside down. That got my wheels turning. I’d like to build one reversed like that, but use Thunderbird construction - with thinner “wings” that taper.

 

Why would you need somebody else's name on the TRC of something you put your own time, effort, and cash into?

 

So, all this talk of Fake Rics.....and wanting to mod one....while keeping my original as is....I ordered this for $285.00 shipped to UK from Aliexpress. Keep you all posted on how this goes.

 

What is that?

 

I was thinking about ordering an unfinished one, but then this Japanese copy came up within walking distance of my house.

 

I have a real Rickenbacker and a fake one. The reason I have the fake is because it looks kinda like a real 4005 and I'm too cheep to spend 9K to 16 K for a real one. Rickenbacker just came out with a new 30" scale hollow body bass but they want over 5K for it (I don't like short scale anyway).
What if the only Fender Precision you could buy was 5K?...wait, to make a fair comparison lets say Fender decided to never make the Precision bass again. Then they came out with a short scale Precision for 5K as the only option and the used P basses were going for 9K to 16 K.
I would gladly pay 2-3K for a new Rickenbacker 4005. Can't they hit that price point. Are 4005's made with diamonds in them?

 

I’d be happy to pay that for A semi acoustic 4005 styled Ric. I suspect the tooling costs are immense. Is Mr. Hall a member?