luckman67

Very nice indeed I still think the Ric 4001/4003 body shape, is one of the best looking ever.

The machineheads on the Greco stick out more than the original. Plus there is a small pinstripe by the bin ding as well.

The Greco & Fernandes Ric clones have, their name in the Rickenbacker style script. The one annoying thing that the clones do as good as the real 4001 & 4003 basses, is the dreaded tail lift.

No, one of the main points of distinguishing "real" Ric basses from the copies, was the fact that genuine 4001/4003 basses had 2 truss rods. Where as a lot of the clones only had 1 trussrod so just taking of the TRC, gave you a good indication what the bass really was.

Greatest excuse of all, no way of proving them wrong or right.

Unfortunately when it came from Japan it already had the Ric TRC installed. The biggest annoyance is that the action on the Greco is better, than I could get on the Ric & apparently now Rickenbacker only have one trussrod in the necks now.

Congrats on your new bass I hope you, have many happy years with it they are great basses. I had a 1992 Fireglo 4003 for £650 which I slightly modified, totally gutted when I had to let it go instant regret. Fast forward to this February I too had a Ric itch but I honestly couldn't justify the prices secondhand, so I looked for a good copy of the 4001/4003. I found a 1990 Greco RB-85 for roughly what I paid for the 4003. The strap buttons & the control knobs from my 4003, are now on the Greco.

Firstly congrats on your Rickenfacker I bought a 1990 Greco RB 85 recently & honestly I, can't get over how well they are made and I owned a real Ric 4003 for years. Secondly like you I own an original 1964 Hofner 500/1 and the prices now for them is shooing up. Luckily back when I bought mine in Nov '88 I only paid £175 for it.

Absolutely gorgeous love it & want it 😍

Thank you, I don't think its a mod as they are the only holes drilled for them I had seen pictures of other, where the strap button was lower down. It is a nice bass and feels really well made and the pickups are quite hot & loud in it,so I won't be changing them they are good enough as they are. I took the tugbar off as the Ric version was made of clear plastic IIRC. One gripe I have is that the action on this bass is better than I had on my '92 4003, I could never get the action on that bass as low as this one.

Sorry or the late reply been really buy at work here are a couple of picture taken now, & a couple from the seller in Japan the Ric TRC was already on this when I bought it. All I have done is taken off the tugbar & tuned it up. It feels very well made I bought it a I missed my Ric 4003, but couldn't justify the price now.

I bought a 1990 Greco RB-85 Bass from Japan and it arrived this morning, while I was in work so just spending time with it now. I'd owned a real Rickenbacker 4003 but couldn't justify what they are asking or them secondhand, so looking online I came across the Greco did a little bit of reading up about them and bought it. I'll take some pictures over the weekend and post them soon, anyone else here have a Greco RB Bass?

The main floating bridge on Hofner guitars & basses during the 1950's to the present day, has been the ebony 2 piece bridge with fretwire in the slots for each string & metal wheels for string height.

Bodies are the same the main difference between the German '64, & the HCT was the headstock on the HCT was a little longer and the edges coming up from the nut were sharper. My 64 500/1 headstock My 2007 HCT (Recently given a new home)