Bassassin

I wouldn't now choose to sit down & devote an hour to making myself listen to Stanger - but my recollection was that I didn't hate it. At the time I found it interesting - very, very different to anything they'd done previously, obviously the product of a band in turmoil, wilfully difficult/experimental - and what sounded like a big "f*ck you" to an industry that expected radio-friendly unit shifters from them. A lot about it, and what I knew of its creation, made me make parallels with Rush's Vapor Trails, in many ways a similarly difficult, experimental album from a band in trauma. Thinking about it, I probably haven't listened to it in 15+ years. Might dig it out & stick it on later, despite what I just said...

It certainly is - and I'm glad to hear it! 😎

This doesn't infringe any of RIC's trademark designs - see here: https://www.trademarkia.com/company-rickenbacker-international-corporation-1038176-page-1-2 The only thing that's a direct copy is the scratchplate - which RIC never registered, so anyone can use. Although I don't know why anyone would because it's an ugly, design-free afterthought. So no, it's 'inspired by' or influenced by', but doesn't constitute what RIC would legally consider a copy or counterfeit. I doubt they like it, but there's nowt they can do. However I don't think anyone would blame BC's High Hiedyins if they said nope.

That's essentially exactly what I was doing in the pic I posted - the neck in question had a tendency to forward-bow which was only worsened by string tension. After leaving it flexed backward for about a week, it was a lot straighter, and when I re-tensioned the truss I flexed it by hand into the position I wanted before tightening the rod. Strung it with low-tension Dunlop rounds, and subsequently it was stable & much improved.

Well, hang on - that's not a sideways, snidey implication that because Somebody Else lacked the dexterity to perform a simple and functional repair, then I must be lying, is it? Shirley not! It's OK, plenty of people who prefer to Get An Expert In in this thread.

I've had success with it and there was no hassle involved - apart from having to root around a bit to find washers that would fit down the truss channel. Seems strangely defeatist to dismiss a potentially functional solution as not even worth trying.

Why? When lack of truss adjustment is simply a consequence of having run out of thread, why wouldn't you liberate more thread? I can think of two basses & a guitar where I've used this approach, the issues were corrected and the necks remained stable. One of those was a rather valuable through-neck bass. I suppose I should have just lobbed it in a skip.

Have you taken off the nut & stuck a stack of washers under it? Should give a fair bit more adjustment. If the neck's got a natural forward bow without strings on - well - you'd be amazed at the capacity for persuasion the average neck has... Bend it (to your will), clamp it in place then abandon it for a week or two, no food or water. Then it'll learn to behave itself.

Not necessarily... I would suggest most were sold unbranded (like @Rexel Matador's) than with any brand name - most catalogues & small retailers wouldn't want the added cost of putting a name on their starter basses.

It also has no skunk stripe, indicating a glued-on fretboard. I'm not enough of a vintage Fender expert to know whether they ever used separate maple boards on maple necks (and it could possibly be a replacement board with custom inlays) - but the big pale sanded patch under the decal is not exactly pushing me in the direction of 'genuine'. The inlays may not be stickers - but given a quick Google throws up Ebay sellers punting stuff like this (£85 to you, sir), then it's not too much of a stretch to think PRS knockoff bird inlays might also turn up on the odd Chinese Jazz neck.

It's just wood & wire, whether it's a £100 Harley Benton or a Fodera worth more than your house. Quite happy & confident doing setups, fret leveling/crowning, electronics (although a diagram can help!), truss rods etc. Initially from necessity based on having little cash & cheap basses, but I grew up with a can-do attitude to doing practical stuff, & quite enjoy it. Always been a little mystified by the hands-off attitude many have - although we do live in a culture where people will cheerfully pay £100 plus for a 'qualified mechanic' to pump up the tyres and tighten the cables on their pushbikes!

This is what happens when simple folk witness the genius of MDP and ask themselves - "how hard can it be?" This seller's first novel will be published next week.

Oh good grief, where to start? Actually no, don't bother. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Markers-Guitar-Sticker-Decals-Abalone/dp/B01GKX638S

Interesting what turns up on 50+ year old cheap guitars that get dissmissed as trash. Lots of them had strip ply necks, much less prone to warping than a single piece of unseasoned timber. You can find exactly the same thing on many £1000+ Martin acoustics. Shame zero-frets haven't been rehabilitated the way other 'junk guitar' traits have!

It's just a phase. You'll be back...

Aria SBs do have very narrow bridge spacing and a wide (46mm) nut - the necks are near-parallel & very chunky. I'm not a fan. However the SB-Rs & SB Elites (the ones with the big oval inlays) have more conventional dimensions - 40/42mm nut & 18mm string spacing, and nice shallow-feeling necks. I have a post-Matsumoku SB-ELT which has a 38mm nut. The bolt-neck RSBs have a 38mm nut, are pretty light compared to the through-necks, and if you can find a twin pickup RSB Deluxe, are very versatile for a passive bass.

Well - someone's been looking at Sire & going - "oh sh!t!" - haven't they? Very nice. Do like that blueburst on the J.

The Tele thing's not a Jedson, seeing as how it doesn't say Jedson on the end. It's the exact same thing though, sold unbranded as many old MIJ basses were. Both it and the SG-ish thing (an almost-copy of Gibson's budget Kalamazoo KB-1) turn up in the wild badged as Sakai, which makes it highly likely they were made by Sakai Mokko, at some point in the early 70s.

Broadly, the Westone's overpriced and the SB700 (which is essentially a passive SB1000) is a bit of a bargain, if it's in good nick, working properly & has all its original bits. Quality-wise there's nothing in it but the Aria SBs were pro instruments with far more prestige than Westone (Matsumoku's own brand & always 'affordable') ever had. If you don't get on with the Aria (the chunky, near-parallel necks on SBs are very Marmite) you'll get your money back easily enough - I'm not so sure about the Westone.

There are numerous details they didn't get right - most obviously fretboard timber & inlay material. Never seen a Faker with those murky greyish inlays most Ricks have, and most of them used dark rosewood fretboards. Tuners are always wrong too. There's always one, isn't there?

Indeed, finally dragged kicking & screaming into the mid 20th century. The easiest way to deal with any Fakers listed, inadvertantly or otherwise, is that they automatically become forfeit. To me, of course.

Simplest way to weed out copies would be to have a requirement that every ad for a Rick should have a shot under the truss cover. Only two types of 4001 copy had dual truss rods & neither used Rickenbacker types. I'm confident there are no dual-rod 4003 copies. I was expecting that the moment I opened my stupid trap...

I don't see that they could openly agree to letting BC advertise copies for sale without abandoning the trademarks they've protected for years. Maintaining ownership of their trademarked designs means that under US law they have to visibly take action against infringements. Doesn't matter if it's a 50 year old copy which pre-dates the registration of the trademarks, or if it's being sold on a little UK forum. They will be perfectly happy with genuine Ricks being advertised here, and it's not hard to make sure that's all that gets listed.

Can't see a problem with lifting the ban. Over the last 10 years, and particularly since Mr Hall has been 'retired' to his nice, comfy padded cell, RIC appears to have changed somewhat - interesting new models, bridges that intonate, single, functional truss rods - and an acceptance, perhaps, that threatening fire & brimstone at all & sundry will not stem the tide of AliExpress tat, and that maintaining their IP is perhaps a bit more nuanced than the old fake-litigious approach. My ear's nothing like as close to the ground as it once was, but I think copies still get removed from Ebay & the like, so IMO a 'no Fakers' policy would still be prudent. There are a good few of us on here (me & @prowla, for a start) who can spot a copy at 1000 yards, so anything that looked a bit wrong would be potentially easy to weed out. In fairness none of the modern Chinese Fakers bear more than a passing cosmetic resemblance, so we'd only be talking about the handful of through-neck 70s MIJ basses that are still in circulation anyway.

There's another thread about the Ebay listing for whatever the hell this is. His pricing strategy definitely appears to be to add two 0s to the average market rate for any item, unless it's been daubed by, or allegedly breathed on by some minor musical mediocrity, in which case add five. He has a whole lot of signed Megadeth gear - including two Dave Ellefson basses, for remortgage-your-house money. I wonder if I'm alone in wondering what exactly Ellefson signed them with.