Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

At my local luthier's I saw today two fakers. One of them was the first faker I see with dual truss rods.

It was just the body (neck thru construction), and the owner brought a bag of parts, I saw there a real Ric TRC (I asked the luthier to tell him it was illegal to attach the TRC to that bass), a new bridge pickup assembly, and what looked like an Allparts Ric-style bridge/tailpiece.

So I took these pics with my cell phone: First the headstock - you can see the dual truss rods -



Here's the body end of the truss rod channels -



The whole body -



No mute route -



And an unusual dots-and-binding fretboard:



The second faker he had there for repair was an Italian Gherson brand, in Autumnglo matte finish. I didn't take pics of that bass.

Well spotted Ilan, that one would have got past me.

I will paypal you $100.00 to go back, grab the bass by the neck and swing it forcefully into the floor until it is reduced to splinters while shouting: "Long live Rickenbacker!"

Anybody else wanna pledge to this cause?

I'm in! Video, please!

Reminds me of Jeff Thomas playing Howard Beale in the 1976 movie "Network"

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechnetwork2.html

We should do the same, except that we should go to the window and shout "We're Mad As H3!! and we are not going to take Rick Fakers anymore."

I'm feeling more angry. I'm mad as H4.5.

Yup, there are indeed dual truss fakers. The ones I have seen even have the folded (old style) rods. There are subtle things that give them away but most people - probably even most vintage guitar dealers - would not be able to tell the difference. Notice the flush mount tail piece on Ilan's find?

Yea, Brother Paul! Can I get an Ahem from the congregation? Go to that window now and start shouting......

Who knows, maybe cigarette lady will close her windows and spare you some fumar for awhile

"I will paypal you $100.00 to go back, grab the bass by the neck and swing it forcefully into the floor until it is reduced to splinters while shouting: "Long live Rickenbacker!"

And what would you tell the guy who owns that bass when he comes by to collect it? Would you give him the cash to buy a 4003 and say, "Here you go, get the real deal."

His most likely reply would be "No I want MY bass, I played it for so long that I've grown emotionally attached to it. A new bass WON'T do!" and then he'd sue you for breaking private property

You're an idiot, isn't there a saying that goes "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"?

If a guy in a bar playing a Rickenfaker bass inspires people to play bass and they then buy the real deal then it's a win-win situation for Rickenbacker, CERTAINLY since there aren't many rickenfaker basses around.

Me? I'm an idiot? Well that's not a very nice thing to say!

The sad part is the owner is sure it's a Rickenbacker. The luthier has tried to explain to him that it isn't, but he will not listen. That's why he asked for my help, so that he would be able to show the owner all the signs of it not being a Ric. And that isn't even a remotely accurate copy - the dot neck, the binding that goes behind the tailpiece, two dead giveaways that you can spot from 50 feet even before you bother to look under the hood.

Usually I don't have the urge to smash every faker I see, but this one pisses me off. I think it's the Ric nameplate and the fact that the owner is sure it's the real deal.

I would, however, be interested in playing it a bit after it's put together again. It has a maple body, neck-thru construction, Ric pickups, Fake-O-Sound, and soon it will have a Ric-style bridge/tailpiece. I want to find out if it sounds like a Ric.

"Me? I'm an idiot? Well that's not a very nice thing to say!"

Well, tell me, how would you explain the owner why you smashed his bass? Tell me, how would you explain that.

He would use far worse words to sling at you than just "Idiot"

I wouldn't smash it but I admit to having the urge to do so when I looked at it. When I held the TRC in my hand I wanted to "by accident" break it, so that the owner won't be able to pass it as a Rickenbacker, but then I thought, here's a faker and you want to damage the only genuine Ric part?

Did I really think that Ilan would return to the shop and smash the bass, Wouter? No. It was a joke, presented for the amusement of my friends here at the forum.

I don't think it was appropriate to attack my character over it. Its okay. I'm a big boy. I can take it. I just think you might have gone a little overboard.

Wouter, you are taking what Jeff T said, way too seriously.