Fake TRC?

[r-gordon-7]

12 string nameplates are always scooped like that so that they clear the slots in the peghead. This example is typical, although I can't swear to its authenticity. It could be OK but it's hard for me to judge by pics alone. That's why I'd always buy from a trusted source.

Interesting - for whatever resason, I never really noticed that before - but now that I'm looking, on my four Rick 12-strings only one of the TRCs has any materially noticable "scooping" to the curve on the top curve - and none have any "scooping" on the bottom, so that none of mine have any real "hourglass waistline" with "scooping on both sides...

[k43rover]

12 string nameplates are always scooped like that so that they clear the slots in the peghead. This example is typical, although I can't swear to its authenticity. It could be OK but it's hard for me to judge by pics alone. That's why I'd always buy from a trusted source.

Interesting - for whatever resason, I never really noticed that before - but now that I'm looking, on my four Rick 12-strings only one of the TRCs has any materially noticable "scooping" to the curve on the top curve - and none have any "scooping" on the bottom, so that none of mine have any real "hourglass waistline" with "scooping on both sides...

The shapes on the 12 string trc's changed over the years. In the very early days they were not standardised and cut in various different ways - so there were some strange looking examples of very truncated trc's (like on some early Rose Morris 1993's and also Lennon's 325/12 as pictured). Harrisons OS 360 12 had a noticable scoop on the top and this has been approximately reproduced by the factory on the C63 reissues which were aimed to replicate the Harrison guitar. Seems to me that as the factory got into into the swing of large scale 12 string production by the mid/late '60's the shape seemed to become more elegant and standardised e.g. '67 OS 370 12 as pictured. Since then into the modern era most of the 12 string trcs have been cut in a pretty smooth shape without radical scooping.

The gold trc being discussed here, whether fake or not, seems to be cut in quite a strange way....based on the earlier discussion about markings on the gold tcs I am leaning towards this being a fake...Collin?

[electrofaro]

The gold trc being discussed here, whether fake or not, seems to be cut in quite a strange way....based on the earlier discussion about markings on the gold tcs I am leaning towards this being a fake...Collin?

On one of the previous pages Collin wrote it came with a batch of original parts, although it might not have passed QC. Which is why it was just a spare one, not from a guitar. As Collin is the seller and a reputable source, I doubt it's a fake. It's a C58, that's why it's so long.

[k43rover]

The gold trc being discussed here, whether fake or not, seems to be cut in quite a strange way....based on the earlier discussion about markings on the gold tcs I am leaning towards this being a fake...Collin?

On one of the previous pages Collin wrote it came with a batch of original parts, although it might not have passed QC. Which is why it was just a spare one, not from a guitar. As Collin is the seller and a reputable source, I doubt it's a fake. It's a C58, that's why it's so long.

Hi Werner, I think we are all agreed that the 325C58 trc that started this thread is original I'm referring to a completely different 12 string trc that was posted by Richard later on in this thread (see copy of his comment at end of this post)...this is why I posted several pics of 12 string trcs. We are now experiencing confusion caused by a bad dose of thread drift! :


by Richard Gordon (r-gordon-7) » Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:57 pm

What about this one, which has what appears to be a bit of an "hourglass waist"..."

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-style-p ... .m185&_trk

[electrofaro]

...this is why I posted several pics of 12 string trcs. We are now experiencing confusion caused by a bad dose of thread drift! :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/vintage-style-p ... .m185&_trk

Woops

Not sure about the shape, it doesn't look too weird to me. Somewhat unrelated: On a real 12-string gold TRC, is the name also raised on the back in the same way as is shown on the 2nd picture of the auction?

[collin]

Somewhat unrelated: On a real 12-string gold TRC, is the name also raised on the back in the same way as is shown on the 2nd picture of the auction?

Not on any I've seen, and that (without much larger, clearer photos to prove otherwise) would be the first obvious red flag to me that it is fake.

This is likely raised because they used a transparent decal on Plexi that is painted over, leaving an edge rather than flat like a screenprinted original. I've seen a few gamers like that and they're easy to spot.

[electrofaro]

This is likely raised because they used a transparent decal on Plexi that is painted over, leaving an edge rather than flat like a screenprinted original. I've seen a few gamers like that and they're easy to spot.

That was my guess, but only knew my 480's white plexi to be flat on the back, but was unsure if they were supposed to be or not.

It's a fairly thick decal then - I remember my model building decals to be ultra thin.

[collin]

I use the term decal loosely, I should say vinyl sticker (front adhesive).

I remember finding a link to a place in the UK that sold them once, total rubbish...

[electrofaro]

Oh, I know the site you mean as I stumbled upon them looking for a good trc picture to put on my iPhone case.

A vinyl would most definitely be thick enough to cause this, I agree completely, Collin.
The verdict then is it's a faker - the 12er gold TRC, that is, in case people get confused

[Casiraghi22]

Gold TRC??? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-Go ... 2ebc7833f6

[LenMinNJ]

Gold TRC??? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-Go ... 2ebc7833f6

I wrote to the poster of this auction:

Dear gibsondependable,

What's the origin of this nice gold Rickenbacker TRC? How old is it, and what model did it come from?

I received a response:

Hi, sorry, everything we have listed is all we know about it

- gibsondependable

Would you trust this TRC to be a real one from Rickenbacker?

[collin]

Would you trust this TRC to be a real one from Rickenbacker?

It's a 660/6 TRC. He has other parts of the guitar listed for sale.

Yeah, some members here have issues with that seller, but his parts are always real Rickenbacker parts.


Yikes, paranoid crowd here.......

[LenMinNJ]

Note that the other gold pickguard parts that he's listing are not made by Rickenbacker, but rather by Pickguardian. That means that the guitar it came from was modified to gold plastic, and would make me doubly curious about the provenance of the TRC.

All of the TRCs that I have, from 1968 through 1992, and all of the ones I can find in the register, have a curved line under the Rickenbacker logo.

Can you find one that you're certain came from Rickenbacker that has a straight line under the Rickenbacker logo?

Look at the width of the letters' lines. Are there any TRCs that you are sure that Rickenbacker made that have both very thin lines and very fat lines, or are they consistent?

For TRCs that are supposed to be from 660's look at the "k"'s dropped line off the upper diagonal. Look at the loop in the "b". Look at the dropped part of the "r" - is the transition to the short vertical line with a sharp angle or a round one? Compare them to ones of the same year that you are certain were made by Rickenbacker.

[electrofaro]

I'm with Len - the lettering just does not look right at all!

[collin]

Note that the other gold pickguard parts that he's listing are not made by Rickenbacker, but rather by Pickguardian. That means that the guitar it came from was modified to gold plastic, and would make me doubly curious about the provenance of the TRC.

Interesting, I hadn't seen that part of the listing.

Regardless, I'm not going to make a judgement call on this one until they start providing some detailed photos of the entire thing, including the backside.

After blowing the photo up on my monitor the font does indeed look strange (thinner text)....but if this thread has proved anything it's that these aren't cranked out of a huge, robotic machine, and the only consistency is inconsistency.