Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Here's a puzzle - Can someone explain to me how these guys manage get away with this sort of thing under copyright law - in North America, no less? They're clearly imitations - and not cheap ones.

http://www.jsdguitarshack.com/dillion_g ... ng_fg.html

http://www.jsdguitarshack.com/dillion_g ... etter.html

$645 usd for a new 4003-type bass,is in fact quite cheap. it is interesting from the point of view of the differences (simpler bridge and pickup assembly,mahoganey body,set-neck),but yeah i don't see these being sold in the u.s. without a fight from the company,they clearly are a ripoff of rick designs .

Oh come on, those aren't Rick copies at at all. They call 'em Rockinbetters so those are copies of the Tokai Rockinbetter Rick copies...

...and they even got the string pairing correct on the twelve string model. Yeah, I think they got some 'splainin' to do.
JimK

woodyng wrote:$645 usd for a new 4003-type bass,is in fact quite cheap. it is interesting from the point of view of the differences (simpler bridge and pickup assembly,mahoganey body,set-neck),but yeah i don't see these being sold in the u.s. without a fight from the company,they clearly are a ripoff of rick designs .

I guess I'm defining cheap by the fact that you can pick up a 1/2 way reasonably finished and sounding Chinese Strat copy these days new for $100 and the quite nice Chinese Squier Classic Vibe for @350$USD. These Dillion things are being flogged for nearly twice the Squier price - but maybe that's because they don't have Squier scale economies. Still, in terms of an original, yeah, you're right they're cheap.

It may be just me, but they don't quite look "right" in some indefinable way (apart from, obviously, being a copy), in a way that the Squier CV's do make the right nods.

the fact that these are made in korean guitar factorys instead of chinese ones is a small positive,(in a sea of big negatives).....

No positives here. It's counterfeiting, plain and simple.

This joker (Just Some Dude's Guitar Shack--classy name... ) also carries the Indy counterfeits:

http://www.jsdguitarshack.com/indie_gui ... _irk5.html

Part of the problem is that he's in Canada.

It looks like the RIC knockoffs have been removed from the Indie web site, (and are hopefully no longer for sale), so RIC legal has probably had a chat with them.

There was one dealer in the USA who featured the Indie stuff, and he doesn't carry 'em either. But this guy (Dudu, erm, Dude is Canadian...

One would think that RIC legal would be able to address Canadian companies that create, distribute or sell fakers, given the economic integration of our two countries. Anyone know What RIC's legal rights are in the Canadian market?

Our two countries have still not sorted out the softwood lumber issue between us, so I would bet this issue is waaay down the list of priorites. I am hopeful that they will get to it though.

As long as you feel happy depleting your PayPal account with the possibility/probability that your merchandise will be seized at the US border or by RCMP/Postal inspectors, just go ahead and order away without ever having seen or heard one in the flesh...

Doesn't look like much of a bargain to me, considering that you can buy the genuine article used for only a few hundred $ more in the current market.

Once Ric contacts the Canadian RCMP with a copyright complaint, I suspect the site will be tracked/shut down very fast.

Good luck getting your money back.

Rockinbetter. That's good.

One pawnshop I go to sometimes had the dillion 6 string 330 copy and I tried it out. This was about a year ago.

It seemed to be a maple body, 2 piece... but not matched in the center, one half was 2/3 of the width. Plywood back, probably, inside of the soundhole was painted black. The shape is 330 roughly but seems slightly smaller, and there is binding on the back and a contoured top edge like on a 360, which is weird. Soundhole is also bound. It had a black plastic nut, laquered rosewood board, but not very many coats. The headstock had a slight slant to it. Fret markers were too small. The finish was clownglo.

I assume you decided to leavitt there?

Could not resist