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Rick, is it fake?

This is in "The Illustrated Directory of Guitars", just to muddy the waters a little.

Electro String was Rickenbacker's original manufacturer and the brand was kept for instruments sold directly to teaching studios as a beginners outfit with amp and case.

Quoting from J. C Hall himself:

"Electro guitars were made in the same factory as Rickenbackers, and a lot of the models are the same [as] Rickenbacker models - except that they were not buffed out and polished to the same degree, in order to keep cost down."

The article goes on to say that if they ran out of Electro's for a particular order, then they would take a Rickenbacker, replace the logo and send it out as an Electro. I've seen pics of Electro guitars, but never a 4001.

interesting.

I would probably check it out. Just for a point of reference, what does a genuine ric go for in your area?
 
Really don't know how much they go for around here, haven't seen any around for years. My guess is anywhere between $3000-$4000, depending on a lot of stuff (scratches, bla, bla).

Was searching for some Spectors some time ago, and the used ones I could find around here, were often twice as much as a brand new one from the US.


benne^
 
This is in "The Illustrated Directory of Guitars", just to muddy the waters a little.

Electro String was Rickenbacker's original manufacturer and the brand was kept for instruments sold directly to teaching studios as a beginners outfit with amp and case.

Quoting from J. C Hall himself:

"Electro guitars were made in the same factory as Rickenbackers, and a lot of the models are the same [as] Rickenbacker models - except that they were not buffed out and polished to the same degree, in order to keep cost down."

The article goes on to say that if they ran out of Electro's for a particular order, then they would take a Rickenbacker, replace the logo and send it out as an Electro. I've seen pics of Electro guitars, but never a 4001.

There is no such thing as an Electro branded Ric bass. There are Electro 6 string guitars, lap steels, and amps. Not to be confused with the Japanese brand "Electra" which did make Ric 4001 copies (pretty decent ones) and many other instruments.
 
This is in "The Illustrated Directory of Guitars", just to muddy the waters a little.

Electro String was Rickenbacker's original manufacturer and the brand was kept for instruments sold directly to teaching studios as a beginners outfit with amp and case.

Quoting from J. C Hall himself:

"Electro guitars were made in the same factory as Rickenbackers, and a lot of the models are the same [as] Rickenbacker models - except that they were not buffed out and polished to the same degree, in order to keep cost down."

The article goes on to say that if they ran out of Electro's for a particular order, then they would take a Rickenbacker, replace the logo and send it out as an Electro. I've seen pics of Electro guitars, but never a 4001.

Interesting!

I would still rather just get a real rick at grand. A fake or "student model" is worth nothing to me.
 
Check out this fake : Link Removed

Someone could get fooled pretty easily...

Hey, you're in Ottawa - Stittsville's right nearby, isn't it?

Anyway, this kijiji ad's claim to have "fooled all the so-called experts" is BS. I'll be the boring Ric pedant today. :D

Three giveaways:

1) Pickup placement : neck PU to close to the neck for a 4003. 1974 and earlier 4001s did this.

2) Tuners & headstock : too large tuners. Also placement of tuners on headstock is wrong.

3) Fretboard : Wood too dark (could be just the photo though) and inlays aren't correct size.

I give the guy credit for identifying it as a fake though. Good there's some honest folk out there. There's a shop here in Montreal passing off a fake as a real one. :scowl: Thieving jerks like that tick me off.

GT
 
Best one I've seen!

That's a pretty darn nice looking copy. But there are a couple of simple ways to differentiate the real from the fake. The differences are very subtle, and probably only us big time Ric-heads will spot them, but they're there.

The fretboard on the fake is much darker that of a Ric board, which are usually made from bubinga - an almost orange color. This one appears a very nice shade of rosewood, which is common on brazillions of other bass brands. Another way to differentiate this as a fake is that the nameplate is different. This one says "Rickenbocker". There is no little notch on the top of the "a" which makes it an "o". It also lacks the model number below the "Made in U.S.A."

Nonetheless, it's a nice looking copy, and if it sounds good, the seller is likely to get close to his ask...especially in Canader.

Here's the fake:
8530cdf_20.jpeg


Here's the real thing:
RicHeadstock.gif
 
I've also seen that ES-S on the website. The seller says, it's from the 70's and the exact same thing as a Ric 4003. The 4003 came in 1979, so I don't believe that, as it's very unlikely, but that might just be the seller, who doesn't know anyting about Rickenbacker.
Besides that I've never seen a Ric (not even a copy) with maple neck.
He linked to a place with a lot of the pictures (I got curious about this bass) and here is one without the trussrod-cover.
On some of the other pictures, it's shown that is only has one output, where the Rics has a stereo and a mono.
 

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I've also seen that ES-S on the website. The seller says, it's from the 70's and the exact same thing as a Ric 4003. The 4003 came in 1979, so I don't believe that, as it's very unlikely, but that might just be the seller, who doesn't know anyting about Rickenbacker.
Besides that I've never seen a Ric (not even a copy) with maple neck.
He linked to a place with a lot of the pictures (I got curious about this bass) and here is one without the trussrod-cover.
On some of the other pictures, it's shown that is only has one output, where the Rics has a stereo and a mono.

Not a Ric; not even close. The unfortunate thing is that some poor sucker is gonna be the bunny that gets reamed and ponies up the bux.
 
It's likely a copy of a 4001 (or if you want to believe the Electro story, the Electro version of the 4001).

What you want to do if you see it is look at the back of the neck. If it's a bolt on, it's not a Ric.

And there have been plenty of Rics that only have one output. Those are typically the 400x S series, such as the 4001S or 4003S. I have a 4003S/5 with only one output jack.

I'm betting that it's 100% fake.

As far as price, prices are dropping. I picked up my '86 4003S/5 in mint condition for $900 just about 3 months ago.

Yeah, I got a huge deal and that's definitely not the norm but the point is that $1000 is way too much, even where you're at, in my opinion.
 
This is in "The Illustrated Directory of Guitars", just to muddy the waters a little.

Electro String was Rickenbacker's original manufacturer and the brand was kept for instruments sold directly to teaching studios as a beginners outfit with amp and case.

Quoting from J. C Hall himself:

"Electro guitars were made in the same factory as Rickenbackers, and a lot of the models are the same [as] Rickenbacker models - except that they were not buffed out and polished to the same degree, in order to keep cost down."

The article goes on to say that if they ran out of Electro's for a particular order, then they would take a Rickenbacker, replace the logo and send it out as an Electro. I've seen pics of Electro guitars, but never a 4001.

Oh, Damn...
 
I've also seen that ES-S on the website. The seller says, it's from the 70's and the exact same thing as a Ric 4003. The 4003 came in 1979, so I don't believe that, as it's very unlikely, but that might just be the seller, who doesn't know anyting about Rickenbacker.
Besides that I've never seen a Ric (not even a copy) with maple neck.
He linked to a place with a lot of the pictures (I got curious about this bass) and here is one without the trussrod-cover.
On some of the other pictures, it's shown that is only has one output, where the Rics has a stereo and a mono.


Beating in the chest does not make Copy to became Real Thing.

Offer $300 and walk away.
 
By the way, if this copy is indeed a bolt-on, then it's only sharing looks with a real Rick - I never understood why you would try to copy a bass and change the most fundamental part of what makes it "it" :hmm:

I really love the checkerboard binding, though...
 
$300 won't even get you a used and beat up Squier VM Jazz in Denmark - I guess a bass like this, if in good condition with a nice feel and sound would go for $7-800 easily.

A used genuine Rick can be found -when they pop up - for $2,500 and up

That's the game I play with copy sellers. There is damaged ORIGINAL Ric in the store near me, who is asking $899 (really overpriced for damaged ric from 1974. I offered $300 and walk away. I will go there after 30 days and offer $299, if they still have it there.

I don't want to buy it. But, if they want to sell it for $300, I would pay.

I payed $420 for immaculate Tune TWB53. Why I need anything else? That Tune covers anything from J to P, to Ric and beyond in both directions...

I had a 4001 in 1979. It's just for memory thing for me....
 

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