Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I know you were.

Here's a pretty nice bass .. except whay is that square thing on the back????

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=2501138345

Read the description.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2501104733&category=4713 This highly modified jetglow just went for $350!!

I just took a closer look at that rick...awful dark fretboard and certainly a replaced brass nut, with a space between the nut and the truss rod cover...could it be a faker?

Sure is a dark fretboard...

Say it ain't so! I have a jetglow 4001 that could be this one's less modified twin; same dark fretboard, same brass nut (I had assumed this was replaced during a refretting at some point), even the same case. If memory serves, the serial number identifies it as a '76 or '77.

The binding and parts are as well done as those on my new 4003; I hate to ask, but how does one identify a "faker"?

That one looks real (and fairly beat up) to me, but the truss rod plate looks touched up.

Lindsey...check out the previous threads "Is this the real deal" and "Is this a rickenfaker"...plenty of id info in those threads....from what I remember one sure way to tell a real rick is the routing between the controls and the neck pickup....it is a series of drill holes chained into a rout for the pup wires....no fakers used this system....as for the dark fretboard...some ricks suffered from amature truss rod adjustments where the rods were tightened wrong and they popped through the fretboard or cracked the fretboard making a new one necessary...and maybe rick did ship some darker boards, I don't know...but, check the above listed threads and you will find a wealth of rick id info.

Thanks, David, I'll check it out (if I can summon the nerve). Lindsay

Lindsay, wanna see a fake 4001 bridge, for instance? Here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=2501206799

Take a good look at it. Notice in particular the shape of the tailpiece string holes.
A good example of a fake. I hope nobody buys it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4713&item=2501138345

This thing has a battery compartment in it and is from the 70's. all of the pickups look standard and i cant spot anyting on this bass that screams fake. Did they every put out any active basses or is this a mod?

From the listing: "Also it was modded for active electronics, but the original pickups are back on the guitar."

Thanks, Sergio. Unfortunately mine has been Badassed, but I'll keep this in mind for my next 4001.

You're welcome, Lindsay. Here's another good example of a copy (however, this one seller did not attempt to pass it off as genuine Rick parts). Check it out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=25009399058&category=4713

You can easily tell those pickups are not the real thing.