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Who currently makes a nice Rickenbacker 4001 copy?
- Thread starter addylewis
- Start date
Here's a bit of crossposting on my behalf - does anyone have the soundclip for that Lemonbacker project (which, thankfully, ended with a well-built bass)? The OP's clip is no more, and I'd love to hear the sound of it.
Fender manage it, G&L do, Lakland, Gibson, and many more, the answer is to get Cort to make 'em!
Seriously though I do believe that they could do it if they wanted to, don't even have to make them that low cost, $1000 dollar Ricks would sell like hotcakes, cheaper pickups, bolt on neck, cheaper tuners, bridge.
Off topic: Sandberg Custom Shop Ricky!!!
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I agree with this, but in the pc world, there's no such thing as feeling or personal preferences: net performance can be mesured and compared and people knew that buying ibm priced higher while competitors produced the same thing for less wasn't smart.
Fender copies started appearing on the market a few years after the p-bass and Fender is still the biggest bass manufacturer, by a long shot, on the market today. It survived numerous financial debacles, fierce competition (remember Kramer, they were supposed to take over the world...), trends, modificatiosn to their design and manufacturing practices, etc. Why ? Because people still wanted the Fender "feel". If such a thing exist is left up for debate, but the same situation would apply to Rickenbacker if they were to make entry-level instruments (and they did in the past...) or outsource their design.
People would still want the "real" thing. The instrument that was heard on the immortal recordings. The fabled mystique. This is also why amp manufacturers come and go and some big names die or had/have to take drastic measures to stay alive (Ampeg anyone ?): people don't get connected to amps the way they do to instruments (escept for the SVT, but it's the p-bass/Goldtop of the amp world). And performance can be measured semi-accurately in the amplification world.
Where Jon Hall is wrong is when he thinks that copies of an instrument will "cheapen" the brand or hurt Rickenbacker. Right now they are an "IN" item, but Kramer and BC Rich used to be A LOT MORE hip than Rickenbacker is right now. And look where they are today... The same will happen eventually if they don't modernize their manufacturing methods: they don't offer the same options and choices than boutique builders do, yet I see them asking the same price for their gear 10 years from now if they don't catch up... And it'll be sad.
I have relatives in the UK and I wonder if they would pick one of those Rockinwhatevers up for me and ship it here to the US? Hmmmm.....
(knock on the door..."what? I didnt meant to...hey, those bass strings hurt!")
NINE! I will not infringe on the good name of Rickenbacker and its incredibly handsome owner and fuhrer über Deutschland !!!
-Signed, General Hall
(knock on the door..."what? I didnt meant to...hey, those bass strings hurt!")
NINE! I will not infringe on the good name of Rickenbacker and its incredibly handsome owner and fuhrer über Deutschland !!!
-Signed, General Hall
I have nice old copy Rickenbacker "Aztec", but I don´t know where is made. It is from ´80 years.
??? Apple Ripping off IBM *** are you talking about??? Apple invented the personal computer.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
first of all, i never said apple ripped off ibm, i don't know how you read that, i said that ibm did not enforce their patents for the pc, and apple did enforce their patents for their computers.
and apple most certainly did not invent the personal computer, they were just among the first that were reasonably priced. there were desktop computing machines from hp, xerox, dec and honeywell as early as the 60's, but they were not priced within the grasp of the average home user. there were also many kit computers stretching back to 1960, way predating the apple I, which could be said to be a kit computer, since it did not even include a keyboard.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
i don't agree with that at all. rickenbacker has -always- been hip, ever since paul mccartney, chris squire and john entwistle played em in the 60's. i started playing bass in the early 80's and even at their heyday neither kramer nor bc rich could hold a candle to the rick hip factor, at least as far as i remember. before boutique/custom builders became so prevalent, it was basically fender, rick and then "the other guys", when i was starting out.
the issue for Rickenbacker is quality vs. quantity.
they believe that they can't increase the quantity of basses produced without hurting the quality.
and with only two exceptions, they're pretty much right.
the exceptions are: Lakland, and Sadowsky.
sadly, Sadowsky still charges a good heap of cash for their budget line. Lakland, however... i believe they got it right.
Ric could keep the american line, and release a budget line made in Korea, have all the budget basses come back to the factory so-as to make sure they meet quality standards, then out to the stores!
Lakland is making a killing doing this! why can't another bass company follow suit?
they believe that they can't increase the quantity of basses produced without hurting the quality.
and with only two exceptions, they're pretty much right.
the exceptions are: Lakland, and Sadowsky.
sadly, Sadowsky still charges a good heap of cash for their budget line. Lakland, however... i believe they got it right.
Ric could keep the american line, and release a budget line made in Korea, have all the budget basses come back to the factory so-as to make sure they meet quality standards, then out to the stores!
Lakland is making a killing doing this! why can't another bass company follow suit?
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
yeah, me neither - all the ones i've seen that weren't custom, handmade creations, were not really in the same league as a real ric.
now the custom jobs that i've seen, like that one a few posts up, and some others, have all been pretty darn nice.
i don't think so, people will always buy a real rick over a fake, its just opening up the market and infact advertising them, if someone gets a cheap copy then sees a real one being played its nice for them. and it keeps rick on its game with manufacture and quality. you don't see fender complaining about encore Ps do you
WARNING:: EVERY ROCKINBETTER I HAVE EVER PICKED UP HAS BEEN CRAP COMPARED TO A RIC.
You could buy one of these...
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But a Ric would be far cheaper!!!
You could buy one of these...
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Invalid Link Removed
But a Ric would be far cheaper!!!
But a Ric would be far cheaper!!!
Where can you find a Ric "far cheaper" than £1500???????
Ernie Ball Music Man proved with their SUB line that an inexpensive line of basses could be made in the US that were up to the same standards as their marquee basses. Unfortunately it's gotten to expensive to do that in the US these days. But Ric could do something similar in Asia if they are willing to spend some money and police the quality control. I would bet that a Ric selling for $1,000 or less would be a big seller if it stayed true to the original.
wrong, that line of basses proved that a high quality instrument sold for cheap cannot be made profitably in the us.
