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Is this a Fake Ric TRC?
- Thread starter Quadzilla
- Start date
$130 (Cad) for a small piece of plastic..... you've got to be kidding. Even if I owned a Ric that needed a replacement TRC i'd just get a cheap aftermarket one... or make one myself for even less. You can nearly buy a second hand bass for that money.
The price for a fake is shocking.
My 4001 cover has the model number and Made In USA on the bottom
My 4001 cover has the model number and Made In USA on the bottom
Thats where the "victimless crime" theory of IP theft loses its lustre. If you are the sap who shells out $150 for a crappy piece of fake plastic, the victim is you, though id argue paying that much for a "genuine" piece of $2.00 plastic counts as at least criminal stupidity. A back painted one can be made with some laser printer decal sheet, clear acrylic, and rattle can paint for less than $20 and a couple hours work.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
with the original plastic now selling for hundreds of dollars and very hard to find there is now an abundance of fake trcs
are all those fakes ???!!!???
Dang! I didn't realize the Chinese had ripped the raised lettering too! Still, hard to get worked up about it now that Ric is just another IP thief too. I'm not crying for them on this one.
Other than the "Lawsuit" Ric clones made in Japan in the 70's, I have yet to see a Chinabacker that was even remotely convincing as a fake, gigantic "tells" all over place, which makes me wonder if they were intentional. The Chinese are clearly capable of a convincing faker, but choose not to when it comes to 4003 style basses. Slapping a fake TRC on a real Ric is zero concern to me.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Oh well, there goes that constant.
I looked into going through the official channels. Rickenbacker had a 'one in, one out' policy on swapping out broken TRCs if you shipped them the damaged unit plus money. The other option is paying £100 + for what is the least useful part of the instrument!
On AliExpress you can buy these things in packs of five. If you are enterprising you buy the one you need and sell the other four. Rickenbacker are pretty much sitting ducks in this regard.
To complicate things further, I needed to route out the back of the TRC as the trussrod nuts sit proud of the headstock face on my 4003. The previous owner cranked down the TRC on top, which only served to damage the TRC!
....Which is weird, because, based on some of the extremely convincing Gibson copies I've seen, the Chinese are fully capable of note for note counterfeits, seemingly just a little lazy on the details. There's been enough variation on Ric details that nailing down "correct" can be pretty shaky at best. Sometimes correct got changed every few years.
