HADGE Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hi folks some of you may have noticed i have been after a ricky left handed bass for months now i have given up looking but have been offered a ibanez copy i was wondering have any of you had one of these what are they like and what is a fair price.I have already got 2 ibenez basses one a cheapy the other a musician bass and think they are great basses but not had anything to do with the ricky copy i would like to hear from anyone with any info about them thanks to you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Fuji Gen Gakki made these for Ibanez (and sold the identical instruments to other brands), and they have a good reputation as a manufacturer. There were several different versions of their Rick copies made over the years, and they came in both bolt on and through neck varieties. The 2388B/DX was the last version they produced and the closest to a real Rick in looks. A few things to beware of though: There's a vast number of Rickenfakers out there claiming to be Ibanez when A) they bear no resemblance to a Fuji Gen model, or B ) they don't bear an Ibanez logo which means it could have originally been sold under any number of different brand names. This may not be entirely unrelated to the fact that Ibanez copies tend to command a premium, despite the fact that the Fuji Gens sold under other brand names were in every other way identical. Through neck Rick copies may suffer from incurably high actions (or at least the actions need fairly drastic work to cure). Basses with the 1/4 inch gap between neck pickup and neck can suffer in exactly the same way as the originals could - the neck can delaminate. If you've got the chance go and play it. If you like it, buy it. If not, walk away. Edited February 1, 2012 by Musky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacker Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1328056244' post='1521296'] Basses with the 1/4 inch gap between neck pickup and neck can suffer in exactly the same way as the originals could - the neck can delaminate. [/quote] I reckon you mean 1/2 inch spacing? I've seen Rick thru-necks shifting but was unaware that the pup spacing had anything to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 [quote name='Stacker' timestamp='1328057549' post='1521313'] I reckon you mean 1/2 inch spacing? I've seen Rick thru-necks shifting but was unaware that the pup spacing had anything to do with it. [/quote] Yeah, that'd be the one! AFAIK the reason why the neck pickup was moved back in the first place was to strengthen that part of the neck, to prevent the neck bow forwards. Over the years they made other changes to the neck and truss rod aimed at keeping the neck true, culminating with the 4003. I've got a 68(ish) 4001S that's been strung with rotosounds for the last 28 years and it's never needed so much as a tweek, so obviously it's not something that affects all older Ricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 http://basschat.co.uk/topic/270-rickenfakers/page__view__findpost__p__1524328 Send a message to the seller asking for his phone number before the auction is pulled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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