• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

eBay and the rickenfaker witch hunt...

#102
There is a special room in hell for the copycat, and with any luck that room is filled with razor blades and lemon juice. Whether you copy a Rick or a Ritter, you are a lazy prick who has stolen the effort and design of someone who has worked very hard at what they do. The copycat is nothing more than a parasite on the ass of capitalism who dilutes the creative process, leeches off the advertising and industry of inventors and cheapens everything they come in contact with. If you want to make an inexpensive bass for deserving bassists who can't afford, or don't want to drop the coin for an original...by all means, do so. Make a great quality product that sounds fantastic, looks cool, is made by cheap offshore laborers with reasonable raw materials, and is not thousands of dollars....just don't leech off the creativity of others.

Would rather see us all save a while, buy American and save the job of a neighbor....but that's an individual decision.
 
#103
LunaticAviation said:
There is a special room in hell for the copycat, and with any luck that room is filled with razor blades and lemon juice. Whether you copy a Rick or a Ritter, you are a lazy prick who has stolen the effort and design of someone who has worked very hard at what they do. The copycat is nothing more than a parasite on the ass of capitalism who dilutes the creative process, leeches off the advertising and industry of inventors and cheapens everything they come in contact with. If you want to make an inexpensive bass for deserving bassists who can't afford, or don't want to drop the coin for an original...by all means, do so. Make a great quality product that sounds fantastic, looks cool, is made by cheap offshore laborers with reasonable raw materials, and is not thousands of dollars....just don't leech off the creativity of others.

Would rather see us all save a while, buy American and save the job of a neighbor....but that's an individual decision.
Click to expand...

your last line is your saviour, because from the rest of your paragraph, every stinken Fender P-Bass copy should be banned?
 
#104
Oh my God!!!! This thread is back?? I thought it died and was given a proper burial. Unfortunately, someone dug it up. Thanks for that!

OK, RIC owns several trademark traits that are found on their instruments and they enforce their legal rights against all who infringe upon them. This is what they must do in order to keep these rights protected. Are we clear on this?? Please, it's not that complicated to grasp. Like it or not, and why would you not be in favor of protecting your hard earned product?? Just because Fender and Gibson did not do it is their loss. I bet they wish they had been vigilant in the early days. Everyone and their brother is making Les Paul, SG, Flying V, P-basses, J-Basses, and Strats.

OK here is ebays policy:

"Listings may be removed if they offer an item or contain material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others.

Examples include:

Items that bear the rights owner's trademark (such as a logo on a designer purse), but may not be authentic products, or a section of it."

RIC owns the rights to the body shape of their instruments their pickguard shape as well as other things that make their product different from other manufacturers.

So because RIC owns the rights to these features, ebay will not allow "knock offs" to be sold on their site. Pretty simple concept but it seems a lot of people don't like it. Too bad, build a bridge and get over it and sell it somewhere else that does not have a policy on selling protected items. That's pretty simple too!

Who blew the whistle on this item? Who the h*ll knows and who the h*ll cares?!?!?!? Was it RIC? Was it an RIC fan boy? Was it ebay police? We'll never know, nor does it matter. It's ebays policy, plain and simple and a lot of eBays policies suck so if you don't like it, sell your item someplace else.

I'm done!

Sepp
 
#107
You know, there probably wouldn't be as many issues with Rickenbacker if they sold a quality, modestly-priced (that they actually POST the price for) bass that still had the Ric vibe and tone in tact. I know this topic has been beat like a dead horse, but if Fender can make those VM and CV Squiers as well as they do, Warwick can pump out a legit set of Rockbass instruments, and Musicman can do so well with the SBMM and SUB basses...Ric could put out an affordable Ric bass without the fluff.

Is it going to be an exact and total replica of it for half the cost? Probably not, but some people might not want that. They can keep the stereo output, treble boost, and exotic tonewood. Give me a decently set up bass with Ric pickups and a solid neck, I'll be happy with that up to $800. Problem is, I've never seen any inclination by them to do such a thing in my lifetime. They are far from perfect, but you have to hand it to Fender on this...they make a P-bass or J-bass affordable to darn near anybody's budget. They aren't all created equal, but they all have the vibe and tone IME.
 
#108
LunaticAviation said:
There is a special room in hell for the copycat, and with any luck that room is filled with razor blades and lemon juice. Whether you copy a Rick or a Ritter, you are a lazy prick who has stolen the effort and design of someone who has worked very hard at what they do. The copycat is nothing more than a parasite on the ass of capitalism who dilutes the creative process, leeches off the advertising and industry of inventors and cheapens everything they come in contact with. If you want to make an inexpensive bass for deserving bassists who can't afford, or don't want to drop the coin for an original...by all means, do so. Make a great quality product that sounds fantastic, looks cool, is made by cheap offshore laborers with reasonable raw materials, and is not thousands of dollars....just don't leech off the creativity of others.

Would rather see us all save a while, buy American and save the job of a neighbor....but that's an individual decision.
Click to expand...

Spoken like a true capitalist. Now, start buying american-produced coffee. Eat only locally produced foods, and say goodbye to your cellphone & 3/4 of electronic devices you own. Your clothes? The price is about to go up 10-fold. Cars? Have fun with your 'Murican products that hold no value. ;)
 
#109
amimbari said:
I guess the Ric freaks missed this copy....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NICE-NO-RES...FbDuRv3YJEDkE6ah2JTug%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
Click to expand...

So that's where my old H2 went. :)

Ayce said:
URL]


First band. Note the Hondo II Rick copy, *snip*
Click to expand...
 
As an eBay Associate, TalkBass may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
#114
awilkie84 said:
Spoken like a true capitalist. Now, start buying american-produced coffee. Eat only locally produced foods, and say goodbye to your cellphone & 3/4 of electronic devices you own. Your clothes? The price is about to go up 10-fold. Cars? Have fun with your 'Murican products that hold no value. ;)
Click to expand...

Well, American coffee would be hard to find here in Switzerland where I live, even if it did grow in commercial quantities in North America. But when the green beans are imported into the US and roasted in American facilities (hell roast them up by you in Canada for all I care) I see no fundamental issue with that. As for the clothes, would happily look for the "union label" and pay more to keep US citizens employed, and gladly watch a 48" flat screen assembled locally rather than a 60" flat screen assembled in China....but that's just me.... Some "Murican" stuff seems to hold value if you hang on to it long enough.
 
#116
Time to fan some more flames.

I don't have a problem with RIC protecting its copyrights but there areas where they are not recognised, no?

The problem most people have is the bullying, the personal attacks on sellers of rickenfakers; the pulling of sales of such, even if the sale does not mention the 'R' word. Why can't the man just let these sellers be? They are only trying to shift 40-year-old copies, not trying to sell brand new copies. My question to JH is why don't you grow a pair and go after just ONE of those firms in the far east that's doing a pretty authentic replica of your 4000 series bass! Or even the European distributors?

A lot of guys are now switched on to this scouring of the net by RIC and the 'waffen for fakes and are just taking pix of certain parts of the faker and not mentioning the name at all. A John Birch faker sold on ebay recently using that same process.

At one point I had ten Ricks; now, I wouldn't have one over the threshold of this house. Not when there's a little bully at the helm of RIC.

And as for these cocks over at Waffen HQ, don't get me started!
 
#117
For everyone saying they need to stop any violations in order to protect their legal rights...that is true BUT that does not apply to old instruments in which production has already ceased. Fender owns a copyright (or trademark I forget) on their headstocks and they have to police that to keep their legal rights as well. You will see them stop the SX companies and such regularly. You will see them stop the clone makers regularly. What you won't see is them stopping the sales of old Grecos and similar because they do not need to. So stop peddling the BS that they need to stop ebay sales of old time Kay basses like this in order to protect their legal rights. That is false.
 
#118
Oh boy, once again. Ebay pulled the ad, not RIC. It is against ebay policy to sell copyright & trademark infringed items. Sell it on Craig's list since they have no such rules preventing them from selling this sort of stuff.

Did someone "narc out" the seller?? Maybe but once again, ebay has their own policing section and they constantly pull items that slip in and can't be sold, like KKK stuff, human body parts, firearms parts, and Nazi crap.

So say RIC or JH was directly responsible for getting the ad pulled is ludicrous.

Sepp
 
#119
Fresh Eddie said:
Ironically, the bass player for Joy Division played a Hondo Ric copy, and hundreds of genuine Fireglo 4001/4003 Rickenbackers were sold as a result.
Click to expand...

exactly - gosh we ought to penalize RIC for this blatant reverse capitalization that they profited from... or something
 
#120
Kopfjaeger said:
Oh boy, once again. Ebay pulled the ad, not RIC. It is against ebay policy to sell copyright & trademark infringed items. Sell it on Craig's list since they have no such rules preventing them from selling this sort of stuff.

Did someone "narc out" the seller?? Maybe but once again, ebay has their own policing section and they constantly pull items that slip in and can't be sold, like KKK stuff, human body parts, firearms parts, and Nazi crap.

So say RIC or JH was directly responsible for getting the ad pulled is ludicrous.

Sepp
Click to expand...

No need for the Oh Boy, I was just commenting back to something you said over and over which was false. Rickenbacker does not need to go after old basses sold on the used market in order to maintain their legal ownership. That is what this thread was about...an old Kay bass. You said repeatedly that they need to go after everyone implying that this was the case for the old Kay bass as well. As far as ebay pulling it...absolutely, they will do that for any flagged sale. The question is who would have flagged it for ebay and the answer is most likely a Ric fan or someone from the company itself. They want the old basses removed not because they NEED to do it legally but because any fake Ric being sold they view as a potential lost sale.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back