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Ric copies?

Relic

Relic

Cow are you?
Sep 12, 2006
6,198
85
Robbinsville, NJ
#1
I'm very curious about *gasp* Ric copies, anyone here have one? I had one years ago, don't remember the maker. Ibanez, or Greco maybe, it was a neck-thru I believe but the thing was amazing, not as trebly or growly as a true Ric but sweet-sounding in it's own right. I also owned 2 other real Rics that were amazing.
I know they (Rickenbacker) are very strict when it comes to copies sold on ebay and such, what's the deal with that? I've seen one or two ebay auctions closed down that never even mentioned anything remotely related to Ric, just very generic wording.. apparently even that's not allowed??
 
#2
It's probably an offence to sell one, so they shut down the auctions. They are indeed very protective of their trademarks. Mind you, Ebay answer to them because they're most likely coerced into compliance by the threat of legal action.

Of course, I say "coerced", but I'm sure Ebay wants to run a tight ship and so has no problem complying with Rickenbacker's demands.
 
#3
I saw one for sale the other day in the basses section. It was a Giannini, I think. Chap was from the UK.

On another note, those that have them for sale sometimes take them to guitar shows, especially smaller ones. Usually keep them in the back of the booth, with a card that says "For display only, not for sale". Best one I saw was at a guitar show in California, some 20+ years ago. It was an Electra, IIRC...it was identical to a 4001 in Fireburst. Swap out the truss rod cover with a real Ric, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a difference! I think the jack plate said something like "Stereo-Mono" instead of "Ric-O-Sound" or whatever they called it. Other than that, I didn't notice any difference!
 
#4
Bassic83 said:
I saw one for sale the other day in the basses section. It was a Giannini, I think. Chap was from the UK.

On another note, those that have them for sale sometimes take them to guitar shows, especially smaller ones. Usually keep them in the back of the booth, with a card that says "For display only, not for sale". Best one I saw was at a guitar show in California, some 20+ years ago. It was an Electra, IIRC...it was identical to a 4001 in Fireburst. Swap out the truss rod cover with a real Ric, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a difference! I think the jack plate said something like "Stereo-Mono" instead of "Ric-O-Sound" or whatever they called it. Other than that, I didn't notice any difference!
Click to expand...

Yeah I saw the Giannini too, sweet sweet bass. I was hard-pressed to talk myself out of that one. Actually I had landed a Greco recently but it needs a bit of TLC before it's gig-worthy otherwise, that Giannini would be globetrotting as we speak :).
You're right about the neck face plate - that's probably a part of it. With some real minor difference in detail here and there, some of those copies are too close. That's gotta be making them a bit unhappy.
 
#5
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#9
Relic said:
Are those yours??
If they are, would you be offended if I told you that I hate you?? :p :D
SWEET basses my friend. Thanks for the pix. The Greco on the top, that's pretty much the same one I have. I cant wait to get it fixed up.
Click to expand...
Not mine.
Never got a Ric or Ric Ho yet due to being afflicted with T-Bird preference.
The Line 6 Variax comes fairly close on the KLANG setting.

After hearing and seeing Amy(Invalid Link Removed) live, the Ric has been mastered. I've NEVER heard anyone get so much sound and such beautiful sound out of a bass in my life....
 
#10
I've gassed for a Ric since I started playing, but I simply can't afford one. The copies are a little closer in price, so it's probably going to come to that. 1800$ for a new 4003 is just completely too much. I'd sell a kidney if I could get that much for it.

The Grecos captured the essence of the Rics pretty well by what I hear, and if I wanted I could get some real Ric pickups to replace the Greco stock ones to get as close as humany possible to a real one at several hundreds of dollars less.
 
#12
Earwigger said:
I've gassed for a Ric since I started playing, but I simply can't afford one. The copies are a little closer in price, so it's probably going to come to that. 1800$ for a new 4003 is just completely too much. I'd sell a kidney if I could get that much for it.

The Grecos captured the essence of the Rics pretty well by what I hear, and if I wanted I could get some real Ric pickups to replace the Greco stock ones to get as close as humany possible to a real one at several hundreds of dollars less.
Click to expand...


I don't know where you're looking but, that's about $500 more than what a new 4003 actually costs.
 
#14
I am no big fan of JH but, if you were him, wouldn't you sue someone who tries to sell a copy of your world famous bass design ? If they stop suing people who think it's o.k. to profit off someone else's trademarked design, they will lose their copyright. The world is full of affordable, used Rick basses, why would you ever settle for a copy ?
 
#16
I have never seen a price advertised for a Ric bass. I did call MF two weeks ago to check on wait times and was told the sale price is $1299, and you can go to pick of the ricks, ricpage or several other places or got to rickenbacker.com and find a dealer near you who will gladly sell you a 4003 (color choice may be limited) way cheaper than $1800.
 
#17
The copy that caused the largest comotion was the 4001 copy that Univox produced betwen 1975 and 1978. It even had dual truss rods.It was stereo wired with the word Roc-o-sound instead of Ric-o-sound on the jack plate. I don't know what bothered Ric more, was it the design copy or that the instrument actually played better. I wouldn't pay a lot of $ for a Univox, but if it were under $400, I'd buy it.

GM
 

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