• 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.

Is this Legit or a prank? (Fakenbacker question)

#21
Rush-2112 said:
I can see why you say that...but I just noticed that even on the original 4080, the bass is on top. I guess the person who ordered it wanted it to look just like the Ric

MPtourgeddy.jpg
Click to expand...

he creeps me out..for real...and im not easily creeped out as i myself am quite a creep.
 
#23
Tarrbot said:
This is one of those times where a customer certainly wouldn't be right if they "ordered" it this way.

Just like I can't go to a Ford dealer and ask them to custom make me a Corvette, you can't go to a custom shop and have them custom make you a Rickenbacker with another name on it.
Click to expand...

Get real! How many Fender clones are out there, and many of them would qualify as boutique status instruments. Also Gibsons and many other brands. Careful NOT to grab a "holier than thou" attitude - that dog don't hunt :p
 
#26
SlingBass4 said:
Get real! How many Fender clones are out there, and many of them would qualify as boutique status instruments. Also Gibsons and many other brands. Careful NOT to grab a "holier than thou" attitude - that dog don't hunt :p
Click to expand...

Fender's a bit different, having lost their exclusive rights to everything but the headstock shape. But yeah, RIC can keep production copies from being sold in the US (and eBay all over the world, though that's a bit shady), but that's pretty much it.
 
#27
First Act is doing random customs all the time these days.

The first time I heard of them was when they were doing guitars that came with cars. I pretty much ignored them, but then they made Matt Pike's Les Paul with SG horns, which is also a 9 string(the highest strings are doubled for a 12 string effect, but the low strings are kept normal... its my favorite non-bass guitar I've ever seen.

The guy from Mastodon had to have one made as well after seeing Pike's.
 
#28
I remember seeing a few of the high end First Act guitars and basses around (typically built and given to artists they're courting) and getting a little excited about them. Did some digging and didn't dig up much good. Seems the bulk of their business is the mostly-unplayable garbage they sell to Walmart, while most of the higher end stuff is priced far higher than comparably well built products by more reputable brands. Not saying their "nice" stuff isn't nice, but you'll pay out the nose for it. There are a number of threads on here where people knock their high end stuff as fine, but not even close to worth the price. I'd still like to try the Gibson RD shaped bass though. Maybe i'll wait til i'm successful enough where they build me a free one...?
 
#29
But why go to all that effort for what is a Gibson guitar attached to a Fender? A split-p on a Ric? Sacrilege
SlingBass4 said:
Get real! How many Fender clones are out there, and many of them would qualify as boutique status instruments. Also Gibsons and many other brands. Careful NOT to grab a "holier than thou" attitude - that dog don't hunt :p
Click to expand...
You'd do well in Asia. Fender and Gibson missed the boat on their proprietary designs. By the time they started sueing people the basic silhouettes had become generic standards for making guitars, and therefore not copywriteable. Rickenbacker sued the pants off every clone right away (I have a vintage Aspen myself) and retained their intellectual property. As Fangry mentioned, it only matters where anyone cares. Fernandes makes a Ric copy to this day under the Link Removed brand. Seeing as First Act is based in Boston, they either cleared this with Rickenbacker (unlikely) or have left themselves open to a big lawsuit. That dog may not hunt, but lawyers sure do.
 
#30
SlingBass4 said:
Get real! How many Fender clones are out there, and many of them would qualify as boutique status instruments. Also Gibsons and many other brands. Careful NOT to grab a "holier than thou" attitude - that dog don't hunt :p
Click to expand...
I assure you, there wasn't an intent of a "holier than thou" attitude here. I was just pointing out reality with lawyers.

Suggesting that there are a ton of Fender clones out there and that's the reason a Ric copy can exist is really the dog that doesn't hunt, not the other way around as you suggest.

Fender and the other makers didn't enforce their legal positions early on so they can't enforce them now. One copy left unchecked by a manufacturer is enough to let everyone make copies forever after.

This is why Rickenbacker is so forceful on their properties. And they have every legal right to be.
 
#33
weston417 said:
I emailed first act with pics and they confirmed it was one of theirs
Click to expand...

Well, it can be sourced from the same factory. That's the exact same model I've seen of many a Harmony, and I've seen some older Electras sourced from the same factory.

It's very well possible First Act owns the factory, and more likely sources from the factory under their own name.

Which is a good thing, these Hamrony Jazzes are pretty decent. Does it have the selector and 1 vol/1 tone knob, or is it a typical Jazz 3-knob?
 
#38
Electra Player said:
Well, it can be sourced from the same factory. That's the exact same model I've seen of many a Harmony, and I've seen some older Electras sourced from the same factory.

It's very well possible First Act owns the factory, and more likely sources from the factory under their own name.

Which is a good thing, these Hamrony Jazzes are pretty decent. Does it have the selector and 1 vol/1 tone knob, or is it a typical Jazz 3-knob?
Click to expand...

Wow mabey it is a Harmony! 3 way switch one volume one tone.im pretty sure its the plywood body but it really does sound good with the badass bridge. intonation is literally perfect sustain out the wazoo...i wouldnt trade it for a mim fender new in the box :bassist:
 
#40
ishouldbeking said:
I remember seeing a few of the high end First Act guitars and basses around (typically built and given to artists they're courting) and getting a little excited about them. Did some digging and didn't dig up much good. Seems the bulk of their business is the mostly-unplayable garbage they sell to Walmart, while most of the higher end stuff is priced far higher than comparably well built products by more reputable brands. Not saying their "nice" stuff isn't nice, but you'll pay out the nose for it. There are a number of threads on here where people knock their high end stuff as fine, but not even close to worth the price. I'd still like to try the Gibson RD shaped bass though. Maybe i'll wait til i'm successful enough where they build me a free one...?
Click to expand...

Their stuff runs the gamut from cheap walmart to expensive as all get out. They also have a line of stuff on par with the PRS-SE/Epiphone/Squier lines which sells for around $3-600 online and in some music stores. I have one which I got on clearance direct from first act for $100, and it's a pretty decent guitar. Really light poplar body, cheap electronics but a fairly good sounding humbucker. As far as their US made stuff, not all of it is super expensive. If you walk around their shop in boston, they have some fairly priced stuff as well. The basses are pretty lacking (at least they were last time I was there) but they have some pretty nice guitars that aren't all outrageously priced. The thing I like about them is that they will make you anything. It's not like other companies which will make you any one of their models however you want it, they will do anything (see the 4080 copy). Nate Patterson of the Dear Hunter and Tim Payne of thursday have some pretty cool looking basses, certainly not like any of their other models.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back