rickenbacker police

[Stacker]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363293027' post='2011256']
Spend too long thinking about Rickenbacker - and Fender and songs start coming into your mind...........

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCyC1dZiN8[/media]
[/quote]

What's happening with the fella on the maracas? HE looks like he's speeding his tits off!

[Musky]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1363291669' post='2011236']
There isn't anyone doing with Rickenbacker style instruments what Sandberg, Nordstrand, Sadowsky etc. are doing with Fender-esque basses, except perhaps John Birch who isn't around anymore. I can understand the rationale behind buying their instruments, as they provide the functional attributes and much of the appearance of the Fenders, but with far more options available and a degree of personalisation that a larger company would struggle to provide.
The currently available Ric copies are all cheap knock-offs, but if a small company was to offer a quality bass built like a Rickenbacker except with a sensible bridge, no uncomfortable pickup surround and the option of five strings, I'd be sort of tempted to save up my gig money for one! It'd be even better if Ric themselves offered such a thing, but I can see they have little incentive to.
[/quote]
Ahem...

[Beer of the Bass]

Discontinued, and didn't most of their five strings keep the four string neck width and pickups? Otherwise, one of those in mapleglo would be great!
Actually, I may have to build myself something some time in the future. It doesn't even need to be Ric-shaped, just imitating the construction and functional bits so it gets a similar sound and feel...

Edited March 14, 2013 by Beer of the Bass

[Musky]

You didn't say it had to be new!

Edited March 14, 2013 by Musky

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='Some ar*e on You Tube' timestamp='1363293712' post='2011280']"I'm a better musician. Serious musicians and composers are not commercial I trained at the top music school in the US.. I'm a CREATIVE person. I am a vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist. I taught myself how to write music but I had extensive training. I sing advanced music and write advanced music. I can write simple music too. I need donations since the commercial world does not fund serious composers or serious musicians. I need assistance. All serious musicians do.

Sorry, I forgot to ask - do you want fries with that?"[/quote]

Fixed it for him.

[12stringbassist]

Ric have done the thing Fender and Gibson couldn't do, which is protect their ideas. Hence all the arguably sh*t / better copies out there, cluttering the world up, because some companies don't have the wits to come up with their own design... Fender and Gibson didn't see it coming. Rickenbacker did.

However, Ric copyright certain bits of their design, as they are perfectly entitled to do and yet people are up in arms about John Hall setting his team looking for copies on sale?

If you want an instrument that looks like a Ric... buy a Ric (says he with a Retrovibe 5er and a John Birch, which I just couldn't turn down at the price), but 4 Rics.

Edited March 14, 2013 by 12stringbassist

[The Dark Lord]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363291090' post='2011223']
I do! Black! Black is the day! heavy is my heart! - so much so that I'm going to paint it black & turn Goth.

maybe it should have been a Gibson Gothic?
[/quote]
You could maybe even try turning funny.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1363303376' post='2011459']
You could maybe even try turning funny.[/quote]

What a planker!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1363302349' post='2011437']
Ric have done the thing Fender and Gibson couldn't do, which is protect their ideas. Hence all the arguably sh*t / better copies out there, cluttering the world up, because some companies don't have the wits to come up with their own design... Fender and Gibson didn't see it coming. Rickenbacker did.

However, Ric copyright certain bits of their design, as they are perfectly entitled to do and yet people are up in arms about John Hall setting his team looking for copies on sale?

If you want an instrument that looks like a Ric... buy a Ric (says he with a Retrovibe 5er and a John Birch, which I just couldn't turn down at the price), but 4 Rics.
[/quote]

Nope, all the better and worse versions exist just the same but Rick haven't made any money from the copies where fender/squier Gibson/epiphone have.

Edited March 14, 2013 by stingrayPete1977

[The Dark Lord]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363303821' post='2011474']


What a planker!
[/quote]

Ha ha, There you go again.

[Big_Stu]

About as funny as a Fender fetish.

[The Dark Lord]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363304780' post='2011488']
About as funny as a Fender fetish.
[/quote]
Very good. You are a funny one.

[skankdelvar]

On a happier note...

In the event of a Celebrity Smackdown Deathmatch between John Hall and Henry Juskiewicz of Gibson, who'd win?


[size=3]Juskiewicz: biter / gouger[/size]


[size=3][/size]
[size=3]Hall (right): upper body strength / lawyers[/size]

[12stringbassist]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1363304286' post='2011482']
Nope, all the better and worse versions exist just the same but Rick haven't made any money from the copies where fender/squier Gibson/epiphone have.
[/quote]
Ric just want to make their own product without other people ripping their design off. Which is fair enough.
They don't want or need to start off a 'budget range'.

The only people who ever talk about the idea of a Ric 'budget range' are the people who think Rickenbackers are too expensive [i](I think they are a bit too expensive these days too)[/i] and therefore complain because they now have trouble finding copies on EBay, as the ads get pulled. These are of course the ones that people are selling on because they have realised they bear such a slight resemblance sound-wise to a real Ric.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1363304852' post='2011493']
Very good. You are a funny one.[/quote]

Your easily pleased! - Oh course you are - Fender devotee!

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1363304988' post='2011496']
On a happier note...

In the event of a Celebrity Smackdown Deathmatch between John Hall and Henry Juskiewicz of Gibson, who'd win?[/quote]
The one with the most lawyers in their corner?

[Musky]

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1363302349' post='2011437']
Ric have done the thing Fender and Gibson couldn't do, which is protect their ideas. Hence all the arguably sh*t / better copies out there, cluttering the world up, because some companies don't have the wits to come up with their own design... Fender and Gibson didn't see it coming. Rickenbacker did.

However, Ric copyright certain bits of their design, as they are perfectly entitled to do and yet people are up in arms about John Hall setting his team looking for copies on sale?

If you want an instrument that looks like a Ric... buy a Ric (says he with a Retrovibe 5er and a John Birch, which I just couldn't turn down at the price), but 4 Rics.
[/quote]
People are up in arms because JH is seemingly tracking down private sellers. Trademark law doesn't apply to private sellers who aren't acting in the course of business. The fact that such things aren't covered by the law apparently doesn't bother JH, as evidenced by his hounding of Hipshot.

I have two Rick's but no 'fakers. How does the moral high ground look from down there.

[12stringbassist]

I can't claim any moral high ground at all, as I have the Retrovibe and a John Birch.



I have had personal email rows with John Hall, because I criticised a Ric finish issue that I once asked for basic help and advice on. His attitude to me absolutely stank.

That said, while I think the man can be ignorant and petty (I agree someone selling their own bass SHOULD be left alone), Ric should be able to stop further copies being made.

Edited March 15, 2013 by 12stringbassist

[VTypeV4]

I'm not a fan of rics whatsoever least of all their company attitude..

If we break it down into fundamentals then all my Warwick is is a Jazz copy albeit turbocharged.. Are Fender about to take Warwick on? I rather think not.. The question is, where do you draw the line...?

I think Ric should sort their own issues with QC with the top flight models and much like Fender, Gibson etc, bring their own budget models to better compete in that market..

[Prunesquallor]

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1363309319' post='2011536']I think Ric should sort their own issues with QC with the top flight models and much like Fender, Gibson etc, bring their own budget models to better compete in that market..
[/quote]

Totally! I've some sympathy with protection of copyright and so on, but their attitude is over the top. Bullying private sellers? Seriously?

A Rickenbacker IS part of my future, but the company's not getting any of my money. There's plenty of second-hand basses out there.

[skankdelvar]

In the long run and given the cost of lawyers, perhaps it might be cheaper (and more friendly) were Rickenbacker to buy up these second-hand fakers each time they appear and destroy them in an annual 'Fake Bonfire'. Punter gets his money, it's good PR and fewer fakers for Mr Hall to worry about in the future. Eventually, the old fakers are all gone and the legal beagles can spend their time closing down Chinese sweatshops.

Thing is, no one would give a toss if Rickenbacker were ruthlessly going after the mfrs because that's a big boy's game. And I appreciate the need to preserve copyright, but their sour heavy-handedness towards the end-user irks many people who would otherwise be friends and advocates of the brand.

Still, it's been said before and they've not listened, so f*** 'em. Stay a niche brand with a bad rep. See if I care.

[cheddatom]

I just googled rockinbetter, there are loads of businesses selling them, and yet he goes after private sellers? No wonder people get pissed off!

[Mr. Foxen]

RIC don't have copyright over anything except the headstock shape here. And they have none in the far East, so all that position is pretty meaningless. Plus all the nice vintage copies predate them even having the headstock copyright here, and they were made outside of anywhere where the copyright existed anyway.

[icastle]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1363362114' post='2011858']
I just googled rockinbetter, there are loads of businesses selling them, and yet he goes after private sellers? No wonder people get pissed off!
[/quote]

Probably because a private seller is less likely to fight back.

[cheddatom]

Maybe the real problem is not Rickenbacker, but the companies such as Ebay, Gumtree etc who capitulate at the first whiff of a lawyer

[aende]

The attitude does not make sense, I think that this thread shows that if you can very easily alienate your [u][b]potential [/b][/u]customer base.

I won't say that Fender have encouraged the clones. Fender were smart enough to know that if a design is reliable, sounds good and accessible it will become iconic. Quite naturally we all will aspire to the brand, even though there are some great clones out there even made by Fender themselves!

Will I ever buy a Squire Precision? Probably not. Squires are great instruments, no doubt, but they are not a Fender! I will save up a bit more for a Fender Precision though!