prowla

One of my fakers... 🙂

They're the best basses money can buy.

But I like the twin truss-rods!

Nah - the has never been a factory bass you couldn't spot.

Plenty of other forums, groups, and sites carry genuine and faker ads; apart from some staunch RIC-only SIGs, BC is the only one to ban sales for either. Indeed, I started this thread to point out the irony of BC banning Ric sales but carrying ads for other site(s) showing them.

unfortunately, RIC are now making single truss-rod basses.

Is Trademark infringement retrospective?

You mean ask them to endorse the sale of fakers?

🙂 And those 70s fakers were made before RIC registered the trademarks.

Crowd: "We're all individuals." Brian: "I'm not!"

I think there is a big difference between a company taking action against a counterfeiter or distributor vs. going after private one-off sales between individuals via the classifieds. That said, RIC don't even appear to be going for the folks selling counterfeit £4.99 TRCs for £25+ on ebay.

Tokai should've complained as well, as they don't make Rockinbetters!

This is the one I bought in 1977, along with one or two others...

My lessons from the previous occurrence of an uncannily not dissimilar scam is do not pay by unsecured means (bank transfer, friends & family, etc.); if the seller doesn't like it then be prepared to walk away (it's happened to me). Also, don't pay for something and you arrange collection - the item in the box could be faulty, damaged, or a box of bricks for all you know. The bottom line is if there's anything you feel uneasy about then there may be good reason for that; in my case I have my suspicion-o-meter set to high sensitivity these days. Regarding police and other recourse: Try reporting to the police in the seller's location too. Report to Action Fraud - they can be slow to respond. Report the seller's items on ebay/Reverb/Gumtree/FB/etc. Coordinate with other people (eg. in the previous case, the scammer was giving people the same shipping reference as proof of the item being returned after failed delivery).

I guess I've been lucky with Rics; I have '64, '72, '78, '88. 2010 x2, 2012, and 2013 ones (4001, 4003, 4004 models) and I like them all; the one which is markedly different is the 2013, which has a noticeably thicker neck, but it was for a project with a whammy bar so I'm OK with that. I also had one of the newer 5-strings, but I didn't really bond with it and found I preferred other 5-strings instead; it felt like a 4-string with an extra appendage rather than an integrated unit, so I sold it back to the person I bought it off. I guess some of it is what you've become used to; a lot of folks seem to criticise the Ric for not being more Fender-like (just a generalisation, not saying that's you!), but it isn't and it shouldn't be, so the answer to that is to just buy a Fender! (Actually, I have more Fenders than Rics...)

I just noticed that BC is running ads for Rickenbacker sales...

Well, there y'go; you can't please all of the folks all of the time! Me, I've bought 9 Rics in my time and I've only sold one. I've got a nice '72 FG too...

Well, if people get together and also get the authorities involved then there is a chance of getting it back. It's also worth contacting your bank's fraud department and they may do a recovery; some folks had success with that in the previous scammer issue.

Yep - friends & family is a gift; as a buyer I won’t use it.

It can't be the same person, can it?

Well, if you're playing Prog you might! 🙂 But does that mean you have to organise your settings to put them near the beginning, etc.

I think they both need a supplementary MIDI controller; tapping a footswitch multiple times to step through 99 settings is not a viable method.

WhaddabouttheacousticStick????

Comes with pre-bent strings.

Oh - Essex Studios... ...no need to look further!