Is my new Rickenbacker fake? *pics*

[GerManson]

maybe i am wrong but this is how i undestand how it works..

its not a "stereo" thing.. there are two outputs, one for each pickup.
so you can send your bridge pickup to one amp and the neck pickup to another..

but when you are using just one amp you should be using upper hole.

if theres nothing connected on the other hole, the upper one sends out signal for both pickups.

 

[albi4001]

Yes, your Rickenbacker bass is an original. Congrats!

 

[RobJ]

As Phalex responded the Standard (mono) jack is the rear one. The pots on my '72 still work fine and have never been replaced, so I'd say it's probably not a common problem. So what problem are you experiencing?

 

[Shav]

As Phalex responded the Standard (mono) jack is the rear one. The pots on my '72 still work fine and have never been replaced, so I'd say it's probably not a common problem. So what problem are you experiencing?

Problem is that turning the pots doesn't have any effect at all. No volume increase/decrease, no nothing..

 

[RobJ]

maybe i am wrong but this is how i undestand how it works..

its not a "stereo" thing.. there are two outputs, one for each pickup.
so you can send your bridge pickup to one amp and the neck pickup to another..

but when you are using just one amp you should be using upper hole.

if theres nothing connected on the other hole, the upper one sends out signal for both pickups.

I guess it depends on how you define "stereo". Two discreet transducers providing discreet outputs which can be individually routed to distinct amplifier inputs sounds like a basic implementation of a stereo output to me.

 

[RobJ]

Problem is that turning the pots doesn't have any effect at all. No volume increase/decrease, no nothing..

I suppose it's possible the previous owner was having problems and bypassed the pots? I don't know, normally I think when pots go bad they usually get noisy and eventually disrupt the signal and don't just have no affect on the sound all together. So you may want to check the wiring beneath the controls or take it to someone who can.

 

[CRONOS]

looks real.

 

[Shav]

I suppose it's possible the previous owner was having problems and bypassed the pots? I don't know, normally I think when pots go bad they usually get noisy and eventually disrupt the signal and don't just have no affect on the sound all together. So you may want to check the wiring beneath the controls or take it to someone who can.

I'm not a wiring expert, but i'll just spend some more time with it, and see what i can figure out. There's no noise or anything in the output.

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

+ whatever to everyone who has ssaid it is legit.

It doesn't look like anyone mentioned this but you can go plug the letters and numbers from the jack plate into Rickenbacker's company website and you will get information on your bass. Another way to confirm that it is legit.

 

[payneintheass]

my friend has a new one and it just looks like a fake the way yours looks and is built i say totally real

 

[L.C.Squally]

This appears to be one of the better threads on some of the details needed to spot a fake. That detail about Rosa's name in grease pencil is gold.
I have a white 4001 from 1978. I only just popped it open after having it for a while. I didn't have any concerns about it's authenticity, it has two truss rods, the thru neck, the binding doesn't continue under the bridge, the frets are sort of worn and crappy (haha) AND... it has Rosa's name in grease pencil - as well as Maria's on a piece of masking tape and what appears to be Marti there too. HOWEVER, my wiring channel is nicely machine routered - not drilled like all the others I've seen. Is this cause for concern? ...I mean no, not really. I'm certain it's authentic, but how is this routered? Did Ric change their methods around 1978? What the heck is going on? (I'll attach a pic)

Thanks all.

 

[the harp unstrung]

I think 73 or 74 was the last year for checkered binding. I might be wrong.

Mike

I wandered through the world for better than 40 years believing that my Ric...which I bought new, off the wall...was a '72. I stood corrected a few months ago when a TBer reported to me that Rickenbacker ended the 'checkered binding' era in 1972...and that mine had to be a '73. HMMMM, all those years believing what the nice young man at the music store told me.

 

[Paul Boyer]

Rickenbacker stopped installing the checker binding (as a standard trim item) in the summer of 1973. They stopped the sparkly inlays in spring of '73. Of course, the best way to determine the official date of manufacture is to decode the date stamp on the jackplate.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Of course, the best way to determine the official date of manufacture is to decode the date stamp on the jackplate.

Which Paul...the guy who literally 'wrote the book'... so generously did for me...and it turns out my Ric was created in October of 1973! Gawd, I hope that's the worst thing that happens today! Thanks again, Paul!