Bassassin Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 JBs aren't straight copies, more "inspired by". They're high-end, hand-made basses and if you can find one, will cost around you'd pay for the real thing. A few random examples: These were made from the 70s onwards in a variety of different configurations, They were still being sold as recently as the early 00s, although AFAIK John Hall has made them go away now. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 There's a travesty on ebay just now. The Harley Benton butcher has took a jigsaw to a HB RB414 headstock and added a couple of £100. Even has the fake TR cover with R**k****r made in USA. How the hell it's not been tugged yet is beyond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I gotta check out this John Birch stuff.... I'm sure my local music shop had a couple when I was a kid, but they looked more like baldwins.... could that be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Forum rules mean I can't link to it, but there's a John Birch on Ebay now, looks similar to the green one above. Bids starting at £1495. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 So you buy a bass guitar on ebay... and wait for it to arrive.... and wait for it to arrive... and you check your purchse history...and your payment has been refunded? So you check your messages and it says that the item has been withdrawn from sale as it was "not as described" ?? What? Is that the Rickenbacker police, or maybe did the seller get the higher price he was asking on another site. Can you pull something once it is sold?.... I know I have my money back, but this just seems odd. It looked like the description and by the picks that it was what it said it was... on the other site it says SOLD, but I thought that was to me?... and with all the other Rick copies going full term on ebay... are there more people finding this happening. I bought one on ebay and it arived, like the pics and description... and I am happy with it... next one this weirdness happens...... I' be keeping a sharp eye out for this one turning up again...and messaging the seller if it does. In the mean time I have one quite messed up but restorable Rickenbacker copy, but I am not quite sure what it is. It is an accurate replica in terms of size and shape, but it has a bolt on neck with twin truss rods. Cutouts for pickup clearly show that it originally had Pbass pickups at the neck and something very similar to the standard Rick pickup at the bridge and was originally Stereo and mono outs. The bridge is a good copy of the rick original but the machines were obviously enclosed Grover?schaller type as the holes arn't large enough to take the open type that rickenbacker use and the holes for the screws confirm this. The neck is laquered on the front and is three piece maple/mahog/maple sandwich and the screw holes where the scratchplate used to be line up perfectly with a genuine rick plate. The body is solid block contrction, not a laminate, haven't been able to identify the wood as yet but it is really heavy and hard. I wll post photos when I get the chance. If any one has any thoughts what this might be? Then fire away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Twin truss rods & bolt-neck means it's almost certainly a 70s Matsumoku build, meaning Aria, Arbiter, CMI etc. If the neckplate is stamped "Steel Adjustable Neck", that confirms it as Matsumoku. If not, then I don't know & would like to see some pics. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Hey... thanks Mr Bassassin.... the neck plate is indeed stamped "Steel Adjustable Neck", with a seriel number under that. I don't suppose there is any way to find out which brand it was sold as. It came without a TRC, so when I have a replacement made it would be nice to get the correct "logo2 on there.... Cheers for now. Will post picks of how it is before I start the rebuild... when I get my camera back. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Thanks Mr B... with the info you gave me and a little search round the web, I can now say that it is almost ceratainly a mid 1970s Aria RE 550. Next job is to find out what colour it used to be, under a rather thick layer(s) of waht looks like black car aersol spray and I guess in homage to Blue Peter's aproach to DIY, a lovely front covering of reflective yellow sticky back plastic (looks like something you would find on a road sign....Diverted traffic?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 The Aria & the rebrands (Arbiter & CMI were brands owned by UK importers) will have been exactly the same bass. Unfortunately once the original TRC's gone, there's no way of telling which was which. So you might as well go with Aria! If you don't mind a bit of boring & time-consuming work, you might be able to remove the spray paint with T-Cut. I've done this on a bass before, took off a matt black topcoat & grey primer to find the original transparent tobbacco burst intact underneath. It took ages, though. J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I have tried using BRASSO to cut through the paint.... but it look s like it was sanded down to bare wood before being sparyed with sh*t. I will try again on the neck, but as you ca see sanding scratches under the paint... I have little hope.... So here are some photos to so what I have got as my starting point. NB mixmatch neckplate screws, two of which turn with no grip. Pic upload troubles..... trying one pic per post.... even that don't work.... keep getting error message " post to short" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I have tried using BRASSO to cut through the paint.... but it look s like it was sanded down to bare wood before being sparyed with sh*t. I will try again on the neck, but as you ca see sanding scratches under the paint... I have little hope.... So here are some photos to so what I have got as my starting point. NB mixmatch neckplate screws, two of which turn with no grip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Ha... succeedingsnessess.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 A tutorial for how to work this posting pictures thing would be nice for us old geezers who still like phones wth buttons and have never touch or been touched by a touch screen interfacebucket thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 [quote name='MutatisMutandis' timestamp='1433637898' post='2792745'] A tutorial for how to work this posting pictures thing would be nice for us old geezers who still like phones wth buttons and have never touch or been touched by a touch screen interfacebucket thing [/quote] I find that, by far the best way of posting pics is to firstly upload them to a photo-hosting site such as Imgur, Photobucket or similar (they are mostly free...). I use Imgur. Once uploaded (no more than a 'copy/paste' with Imgur...), the host provides a whole series of potential codes for linking from various web thingies. For a forum such as here, it's the 'BBCode' that fits the bill; I copy this code and paste it directly into my post and ... This ^ took this old fogey a whole few seconds, including searching for the pic. Try it..? Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I like bass guitars.....everthing else seems so complicated.. next time I'll ask my kids to help... and leave them to it while I make a cup of tea.... Thanks for the advice.... I am sure my youngest will understand it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chriswareham Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 That poor old Aria is going to take some serious work to bring back into shape. If you want a cheap option for the tuners, there is a Chinese brand call "Ping" that make a set of two-a-side closed machine heads that look very close to the ones found on lots of Japanese fakers. If you search on eBay, they're normally available. For a truss rod cover I'd recommend joining the Rickenfakers Facebook group (link available on my website here http://www.rickenfaker.info/). There is a member of that group who makes truss rod covers, and a bunch of people who can help out with good advice (including Mr Bassassin from this neck of the woods). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I am amazed by the depth of knowledge pople have on this site and the generosity of spirit. I have already ordered some of the ping machines that you mention and they are coming on a "slow boat from China" at the moment. I will probably use a local firm to laser cut and etch me a TRC, I just need to find an acurate image of the correct logo for the design work. I was thinking more of a rebuild than a restoration, echoing the look of a bass I owned many years ago.....I am open to ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 The ultimate restoration challenge perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I was just reading posts on this thread between "noirpunk" and "Beerdragon" posted on 29th of june 2008, regarding a man who make custom guitars out off metal being described as "Metalbackers" is this perhaps one of those. Any more info from that thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Would this be a 1980s Rickenbacker or is it a fake.....see pic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Is it that 4003s on eBay? As seen on the Facebook Rickenfakers group page? Apparently, the "S" has a set neck, not a through neck lik the standard 4003. I've only ever seen that kind of neck joint on a Faker, not on a Ric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 My S has a through neck, but I don't know about older versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 I always thought they all had through necks... apparently not, or so I am reliably informed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MutatisMutandis Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Possibly it's a 4001s... not many about.... also not many fakers look like that, but it is easy enought to unscrew a "bolt on" neck, squirt in some glue tighten it up till it sets, then remove the screws and plate... fill the holes and remove the mark that would be left by the plate, sand polish and respray with matching paint..... an awful lot of work and it would have to be done to a high standard to look like it does in the pic..... so my best guess is that it is probably genuine, with a niggling little bit of doubt. Without a photo of the jack plate it is difficult to authenticate 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nibody Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I'm just going to quietly stroll in and say if anyone is in or near Brum, they may want to stroll into PMT.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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