prowla

The problem with Jaydees (for me) is that they are rather large.

Hahaha!!!! It started with Chinese counterfeit Gibsons being called Chibsons, and went from there...

Yep - for £150 new it's difficult to find just complaints about it. I frequent some other fora and every once in a while someone buys a Chickenbacker and then sets out their plans to put a Ric bridge and pickups on it, and/or says it's as good or better than a real Ric, and/or someone is selling one at a hugely inflated price. So I now get the collywobbles whenever I see those bridges. What this is is a Chickenbacker with a different body shape and headstock, and a bit of fun; can't say fairer than that! 🙂

See - I knew it would all go to pot!

Yep - the issue is that the dimensions of the Chickenbackers (of which the HB is one!) are different to the Ric and so the bridge position is in a different place; they made a base plate in a similar shape, but it is not really the same.

Zat's wot I sed!

Well, Rics are supposed to have a low action and a hint of fret buzz (or at least that's how I like them!).

The brexit bill was that existing EU legislation is adopted into UK law; presumably it will remain so until it is specifically changed. Yes, I think the body shapes, pickups, etc. aren't covered this side of the pond.

Ah yes - the US ones too...

Here's one of the EU registered trademarks. https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/010177038 HB (and Rocktile) have decided to avoid that by just plonking a different headstock on their copies. I don't have it to hand, but RIC also registered the distinctive upper edge curve of the body.

Also, Rickenbackers aren't cheap!

You've expressed my thoughts perfectly! 🙂

He'd need more than the usual half bottle of JD if you gave him that to work on!

Can you imagine trying to adjust the truss rod and neck relief on that!?

Now £285.00...

🙂 I've just got the treble pickup added; I had to cut the treble pickup mount to fit it to a normal humbucker mount...

I'm glad I didn't see it in time, or I would've bought it.

They originally did a Fender shape and then modified it to avoid the possibility of legalities...

Dunno - I've never weighed one; they just seem fine to me when compared to putting on another bass.

As a further comment on the 'faker question, the stereo output of the Japanese ones which had dual outputs is labelled "Stereo-Sound" instead of "Ric-o-Sound". The Japanese fakers also didn't have the serial number stampes on the jack plate.

Someone on another site said that they thought the originals were Gotohs too! This is a really good neck, BTW - Blades are fine instruments. I've currently got it on a Warman body, but I think it might merit a better one. The downside is that the overhang in the neck pocket is deeper than a normal Fender fretboard extension, as it includes the truss-rod adjuster; that means that the bulkhead between the neck pocket and the neck pickup well needs to be cut down.

I'll be there! I'll bring along my latest faker too... (For the record, it's the one on the right which is a real Rickenbacker and a couple of folks had a go on it at the last SE Bass Bash!)

You use a stereo jack in the "Ric-o-sound" socket for split, or a normal mono one in the "Normal" one. The stereo jack is also known as a TRS, for tip-ring-sleeve, with the treble pickup connected to the tip and the neck one to the ring. You can't use both at the same time, because the mono socket has an integral switch which connects the neck and treble pickups together. The advantage of the stereo cable is that it's a single cable rather than two; the disadvantage is that you then have to split them (via a Ric-o-sound box, or your own assembly - I think I'm making one today, funnily enough!). Incidentally, to further contribute to the head-slap, RIC did release one guitar (a particular 620 model) which had dual mono outputs rather than the either/or Normal & Ric-o-sound ones.

I think they look awful - I guess we just have differing opinions! 🙂