Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey, it kinda looks cool...

http://www.gbase.com/Stores/Gear/GearDetails.aspx?Item=1608088

It "plays and sounds better than the real thing..." according to their listing.

Yeah, right. Why do I feel so skeptical about dealers?

Why do you feel so skeptical about the quality of Japanese Rick copy basses?

It's my duty, Wouter.

Seriously, I feel strongly about any illegal knockoffs.

I've only played three of these, to be honest...hard to talk about brands, as the factories there were building OEM for any number of labels. The three I have played were not bad, but I look for the Rick "sparkle" that first impressed me in 1965 and continues to knock me dead.

The "feel" is not there. And none of the three could come close in tone to the Rickenbacker that they purported to offer an alternative to.

I've played a few and they sounded like butt and the tone wood was *****. But hey, this one could be different, but I wouldn't be the least interested in shelling out 9 Benjamins to find out.

It does look quite nice, but I must agree that the one (yes, only one) copy I played was totally ****.
Absolutely the worst bass I've ever played & not because it was a copy of anything, it was just really poorly made.

However, it does have wavy Grovers so is actually worth at least $200 (or whatever a set of these usually go for).

As far as fakers go, I have liked the Univox and Ibanez neck thru copies...They don't sound like Rics...Good well made basses though, I wouldn't say they sound "better" than the real thing.

I posted this bass because it looked kinda nice in the pics, although obviously not a Ric.

The best copy I've played has been an Electra with the neck thru body construction. This Penco is obviously a bolt neck model. I've seen copy basses made by Aria, Electra, Ibanez, Maya, Penco, Hondo and Univox.

The one I played had "ElectricBass" on the TRC in RIC script.
The action was around 1/2" at the 12th fret & it had almost no sustain.

I love that finish though. That green fading into yellow is very striking indeed. A friend in a band had a faker for a number of years. It was an almost dead on copy, and whilst it didn't sound quite the same as the real thing, lacking the depth and sustain of the real thing, it had excellent action and playbility. I had the advantage of being able to play it, and then go straight to my '79 4001. It was night and day really.

I can't look at the picture again, or I'll be changing my mind yet again on the finish I want on my '75 4001 that Paul's doing for me.

Who is it here who has that old 1960s 4001 refinished in green . . . that is one of the most beautiful finishes I've ever seen on a bass ever . . . I would so buy something in Emeraldburst.

Be careful with green...it and blue are the two guitar burst finishes that must be just the right shade to be tolerable over time, but blue's a good deal more forgiving.

That depends on one's wardrobe.

We're not going to talk about David Lindley, are we?

I hate to go against the flow (not really), but I think that is a truly ugly color. And IMHO I would never buy a fake, copy, lawsuit, what ever you want to call it. It is just wrong IMO.