How Do You Feel About This Ric Copy? MIJ Content...

This looks like am Ibanez copy I had back on the 70s. It sounded more like my '76 P-bass. When I got my first real 4001, I had both in hand to compare. To be honest, it felt like junk. I wished I'd just saved the $300 it cost me towards my 78 4001, which cost me $650.

 

There's another Ibanez clone thread runnung now if you want to check the comments there

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/ibanez-ric-clone-worth-997458/

 

"Steel Adjustable Neck" plates points to Matsumoku, not Ibanez. Could have been any of a dozen names, inluding (but not limited to) Univox and Greco.

 

Definitely Matsumoku factory. I have owned many basses from them and have been Very happy with the sound and quality.

 

there was a very similar looking one on my local craigslist recently for $400. it had a logo but i dont recall the name. i saw the listing the day it was posted (bc i check craigslist a bit too often) and by the time i emailed him it was gone.

considering this has no logo, that can bring down the price. IF it plays and sounds good (i would expect it to) $300 ish i think is fair. maybe offer him $250.

but it may play and feel like junk, too.

 

If it plays good I would think you can't lose paying $300 or $400

 

I had a univox stereo bass which was pretty good. After having bought a 4003, I can tell you the real thing is superlative.

 

I would play the everloving funk out of that. I love Japanese lawsuit-type copies.

 

I have an old MIJ jaco copy with the same neck plate. The headstock says "Pan".

 

Univox- maybe. Have fun with it.

 

If it's Matsumoku, it's probably built better and much easier to work with than a real Ric.
I owned one real Ric in the mid '90s, and I would gladly pay $400 for a MIJ copy versus the current prices. I never got the hallowed tone out of mine either. If you want a Ric's looks, then get it. You could always get a real Ric pickup if you are after the 'sound'. I am convinced that the "sound" (Geddy/Squire) isn't easy to just obtain, and it is going to cost quite a bit and take some patience. This sunburst copy looks waaaaay cooler than the Mapleglo 4001 I had. Hated that thing, but still love to hear the vintage tones and they look cool as hell.

 

Squire and Geddy's tones are completely different. Their basses were made ten years apart with completely different pickups, and they each use way different amp setups with completely different playing techniques. How can the Uncle Mat copy be easier to work on than a real Rick? The most problematic part, the bridge, is essentially the same. Adding Rick pickups isn't gonna get the sound either, since Ricks are all maple neck thru's and the copy is a bolt on neck to a body that's usually some kind of laminate top over who-knows-what wood. There have been some really good double truss rod, neck thru Rick copies, but this isn't one of them.

 

Wow, I just checked an inflation calculator and the current buying power of $650 in 1978 is $2,429.49 today... So Ric has stayed pretty up to speed with all that, or done better, since some are going for $1,700ish on eBay.

 

I have a Univox that's extremely well-made, with perhaps better playability (for my hands) than my Ric. Sounds different, but mine has Bartolini replacement pickups.

 

more than likely this is a Penco Ric Copy

Penco was a brand of guitars manufactured circa 1974 to 1978 in the same factory (Hoshino Gakki) in Japan as Ibanez and Greco guitars and was distributed by the Philadelphia Music Company on the East coast..

they were sisters to the Greco line...

i have one just like it that is sitting here waiting to go out to a fellow TB'er

however it appears that the Bridge pickup is not original to the bass

 

The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan Ric replacement. I have one.