prowla

Well - here's my current Ric lineup... '64 4001S (not RM1999!) white (oversprayed), '72 fireglo 4001, '78 4001 blue, 2010 4003 jetglo, 2010 4003 mapleglo, 2013 4003 project, 4004 Laredo blue. I don't get the weight thing - they seem no more or less heavy than anything else, except maybe my Rickenburger... The Ric 4000 series evolved over the years, headstock, pickups, machines, bridge/tailpiece, pickups, construction, strap buttons, tone capacitors, truss rods, pickup position, serial number format, "glo" vs "glow", and so-on; the change to 4003 was associated with a truss-rod change, but all of the other changes are kind of blurred. Interesting on the "glo"/"glow" naming, they seemed to drop the "w" in the mid 60's, as earlier catalogues had it.

I had a Diamond branded Ric copy some time back - it was a generic bolt-on neck Mat model.

I looked at an ad for a Jedson earlier in the week, but it'd be a curio/wall-hanger to go alongside my Top Twenty 6-string, as a reminder of how crap those first guitars we had were.

They're vaguely Ric-like, based on the Rockinbetter/Chickenbacker 34" scale and bridge. I plan to finish off one of my Ric-a-likes today - a black one.

Looks like the headstock was one of those blank squared ones and the person cut it to shape without using a template.

A Shpectrum...

Someone's project - a barebones body, add the hardware, make up an active circuit, bodge the missing back panels. (EDIT: I stand corrected!)

Someone's got that app for their phone where you can add ears on people's faces.

Certainly too many 9s for me!

It's weird - some of the work on it seems really good and other bits are just slap-dash.

Less neck dive than if it were a full-scale bass neck...

1 set of Gotoh SG360s fitted - straight in, screws went in smoothly. Thanks for the help!

Thanks folks. I’ve ordered a set of Gotoh SG360.

Well, well, well!

Wow - £1k for a broken one!

...for the museum of dysfunctional guitars.

That's as sad as a fly with no wings.

There were two jetglos there(!) - mine was in the big hall. I think a few folks had a go.

The jetglo and mapleglo are 4003 2010 models. 🙂

Well, I think my 78 has a deeper sound than my others, but recognisably Ric. Incidentally, I've only ever played one Ric bass which I didn't like - it had a really chunky neck, as opposed to the slim one on every other one I've played. However, that's personal preference - I was chatting with someone a short while back who said he didn't like Rics because the neck is too thin!

I usually take at least one to a BC Bass Bash. @cetera had a go on mine at the last one and said he doesn't normally like Rics but liked mine (slight paraphrasing there...). As for sound, they are quite versatile, but the neck pickup location adds a depth and authority of sound that you don't get on all of the Fender derivatives (except the Billy Sheehan Yammy). As far as quality and finish goes, they are at least as good as any other mass-produced bass (better, IMHO). I'm not sure if there are any in-depth threads on Rics.

I think it's about protecting IP, not customer confusion... RIC do have elements of their design registered as trademarks.

We've had shops and dealers selling Chickenbackers as real Rics. In the past year one shop got flamed for lauding the repair they had done to a lovely Ric, which was in fact a Chickenbacker. There's a counterfeit on ebay at the moment which was priced at double its purchase price. So yes, whilst there are people who can spot them, there are many who would not.

You can trademark a shape, ie. a design; there is no doubt that the headstock and TRC shape of a Ric are fundamentally characteristic of the product. The issue with the current counterfeits is that they also copy the brand logo.