Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Yesterday I was at Feedback music in Eindhoven the Netherlands and I found a brand new Rickenfaker bass made by Indie.

It was in fire-glo sunburst with a bound body and neck with shark fin inlay. When I saw it I thought it was a seventies copy but it wasn't.

It differed from a real 4001 by having a Fender like bridge, the headstock had a different shape and a much smaller trussrod cover. The headtsock also was tilted backwards. The pickups were two mini humbuckers similar to those found on Gibson Firebird guitars. It had an all maple body with a set in neck (similar in the way the necks from 4000 series basses are glued in) It didn't have the two outputs.

Intrigued by this bass I plugged it in and gave it a go. The mini humbuckers, being Humbuckers were much quieter than the High Gain single coils of a real rick. But they did nail the "clank" Ricks are known for.

I had a lot of fun playing this bass, it has a really nice feel and it offered a very convincing vibe for far less money than the real thing and that's where the trouble starts...

As I put it back I felt a little bad that such a nice bass probably wouldn't be around for too long because Mr. Hall and his team are probably sending out their lawyers out as we speak...

Can you blame them?

"As I put it back I felt a little bad that such a nice bass probably wouldn't be around for too long because Mr. Hall and his team are probably sending out their lawyers out as we speak..."

Let's hope so.

Wow, this frosts my a**.

Wouter, can you see that RIC owns every bit of their bass design and engineering, because they paid to develop and nurture it and the tooling to build it, and have so for all these years, and that anyone else using the same design or any of its features, is a

THIEF?????

Cool! I'll have to buy one of them while I still can. Thanks for the tip!

Har. John, you are such a humorist!!!

You can't see it over the internet, but I actually sent my tongue straight through my cheek. Better get this stiched up. The scar will make a great story for the next confluence, anyway.

Mr. Hall and his team are probably sending out their lawyers out as we speak...

Good! If they didn't know about it, they know now. Indie is not the only company that is still trying to get away with reproducing the 4001 / 4003 design. I hope they all get caught.

Ayfrigginmen, Joey.

This kind of stuff is just unethical, mercenary exploitation of the worst kind. Their website shows Chinese copies of Gretsches, PRSs, Fenders, but no Rick bass. Do you suppose they're playing a bit quieter on this one to slow down the law?

A quote from their website:

"The Indie Guitar Company is a worldwide collaboration of Musicians, Superior Guitar Luthier’s & Music Loving Business people with a real Independent Attitude.

Indies’ concept is very simple – We produce high quality instruments at affordable prices.

We believe that your Guitar should, not only, sound great, feel good and look cool – but have that little extra quality that cannot be defined, a quality that begs to be named."

Don't have to beg me; I've got a name for it: THEFT.

They could use a copy editor, too LOL--they seem to have decided their punctualization and capitalization with a Dartford dartboard. I count eighteen mistakes in sixty-eight words. Now, that's Independent Attitude, Folks!

BUT there's no denying that there is a market for Rickenbacker basses for those with a smaller budget and it would be foolish for Mr. Hall not to exploit that market.

So why they don't issue a 4003SBO with an unbound body and a bolt on neck or other cost saving factors is anybody's guess.

Mr. Hall is far from foolish, Wouter.

Assuming that your seat of the pants marketing analysis is spot-on, RIC is backordered over a year with their existing product line, and were they to add another line with higher production volume but less net profit, they'd be shooting themselves in the tailpiece...

...so to speak.

Let the other bass manufacturers fill that gap. Rick basses are already bargain-priced for handmade-in-America, low-volume, unique basses.

+1 Paul, I agree totally.

+2 Paul, I'm in total agreement too.

Of course Paul is correct.

If you want to buy a copy, then fine. Buy it. But then I think you should keep it to yourself because you won't get any sympathy from these Rickenbaker scruffs, nor should you. That's just my opinion and I'm not judging you.

Order log aside, didn't Rickenbacker used to have an "inexpensive" line of guitars in the 200 series? Was that series discontinued due to poor sales or more pressing production needs? I'm not certain there really is much of a "cheap" Rickenbacker market with all the relatively inexpensive Fenders, Ibanezes, etc. readily available. Most people who want Ricks, at least I guess this is true, want the 4000, 300 or 600 series instruments and don't want lower grade stuff.

Let these manufacturers make their own mark by designing their own instruments. If they can copy a great manufacturer, they should be able to brainstorm a bit and come up with their own designs and build to a similar quality they're tyring to copy. That's my opinion, anyway.