Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ths topic was covered in the company Forum overf a year ago, but never here on the RRF, and a recent foray into the wilds of mercadolivre.com (Brasilian Ebay) uncovered these gems for sale.

First we have the Gianninis, who hit it big in the late '60s with the odd-shaped but nice-sounding "Craviola" acoustic guitar. They grew quickly, and due to a 100% tariff on imported manufactured goods, low Brasilian labor costs and a plentiful supply of local woods, both hard and soft (many exotic), branched out into making knockoffs of popular brands of electric guitars and basses. First, of course, were the Fender Strats and Jazz basses, and it didn't take long (early-to-mid 1970s) before they were copying 4000s and 4001s. These are currently listed on mercadolivre, and are apparently quite sought-after for "high quality". They are mostly in the US$1000-1500 range, which of course would get you the real item here:

Sorry for the double post computer problems and phone interruptions in a busy day here...









Then there are the Giannini six string 330 knockoffs...these were bolt-neck and very nasty. Look at the color on this one!









All past history, fortunately. BUT, there's a guy named Romeu Begher who makes set-neck 330 knock-offs. The pictures speak for themselves. EVERY detail is wrong to my eye:











The TRC appears to be injection-molded, and is like a Rick acoustic TRC, being radiused and polished along the top edge, but back-painted in white with his logo silkscreened in black first.

Athough Brasil is a signatory to international copyright conventions, there is zero enforcement, and when I lived, worked, designed, and invented there, I found out that there is no local protection for intellectual property. It's similar to the Chinese--this concept of owning intangibles through the fruits of one's enterprise seems to be antithetical to their sense of business.

Mercadolivre is a bit strange to an American Ebayer--the auctions are all 30 dayers, it's all set up with BIN prices (you write in and "offer" your best price). So there is a lot of chatter and haggling--typical for the Latin American marketplace.

I like the colour on the green one... the rest looks odd.

They'd be great if you were in one of those Who tribute bands

Oy vey!! Nasty. And what kind of pickups are those on the 330? Assuming they even act as pickups, in the traditional sense.

the pickups look like they have been taken from a control panel from Space 1999.

They make good cachaça though.

You just can't have a good caipirinha without it, and after you've had a few of those, who cares about steel and wood!

Reductio ad absurdum, Manuel?

Not necessarily.

Most everything looks good when you've had a few of those mixed in with the heat and humidity.


p.s. When I wrote "they", I meant the brasileiros ... , they do make good cachaça, best in the world.

They would make good firewood!

I like the body of the green one, kind of a hybrid 360/330 look.

Sorry to go off topic, but nice avatar Matt!

"We ran out of soup two hours ago, Marty!"

Band meeting!

This thread reminds me of a joke.

What did Pres.Bush say when he was told 2 Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq?

"Dang! How many's a brazillion?"