The All New RickenFaker Thread

[Skybone]

There was me, thinking, "we need a new RickenFaker thread"

However...

[b][u]DISCLAIMER:[/u][/b] [i]In accordance with the rules of BassChat, the sale, trade and asking for the availability of RickenFakers is prohibited. Anyone using this thread for this will be reported to the Moderators. BassChat is a great community, and we do not want to jeopardise it's future by bringing down the "Wrath of Hall".[/i]

This thread is for the intention of discussing Faker's, discussing modifications, just discussing (not selling. trading or enquiring about the sale of...)

Anyway, I currently have 3. 2 Rockinbetter's (from the "Tokai" era) and a Bass Collection Californian (basically a Rockinbetter under a different TRC badge). The 2 Rockinbetter's have mirrored scratchplates & TRC's from "A registered member of this here forum who makes custom replacement scratchplates", they all have Schaller strap locks, chickenhead knobs and Ric chrome, raised bridge pickup surrounds. I've considered changing the pickups, but I've no idea which ones to try out (without spending a small fortune!), anyway, the originals sound pretty good to me.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Skybone

[Mattmit]

Those are nice! I've got a black 'custom' brand one. Really hard to google anything about them but it's Japanese from the 70s I believe. It's got just about everything spot on for a ric except a double truss. I never wanted a rick or a faker until I saw how hard that guy tries to shut down any fakers or mods to genuine rics, and how angry it all makes him. Then I knew I had to have one.

[fretmeister]

I can see Mr Hall seeing this as a promotion of things he doesn't like.

[skej21]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1495140643' post='3301653']
I can see Mr Hall seeing this as a promotion of things he doesn't like.
[/quote]

Quality instruments at a decent price that arrive in a reasonable amount of time?

Edited May 18, 2017 by skej21

[prowla]

I have a 'faker, at least 'til the weekend, when someone is due to come and take it off my hands.

I've enjoyed the fun of buying it in bits and building it up to a full bass, which included replacing the tailpiece, replacing a pickup, wiring it up, acquiring a twin jack plate, and finally playing it!

[Skybone]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1495140643' post='3301653']
I can see Mr Hall seeing this as a promotion of things he doesn't like.
[/quote]

If we stick to the rules of not advertising them for sale, asking if there are any for sale, or trading them, there's nothing to worry about. They exist. Mr Hall and his legal team know they exist. We are bass player's, these are basses.

Quality instruments at a decent price that arrive in a reasonable amount of time?

Not sure about the "arriving in a reasonable amount of time" bit, but agree with the quality instruments at a reasonable price.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my old 4003, but I couldn't afford to keep it. Simple. It was a great bass, no mistake, but I needed to sell it. I'm gutted I had to sell it, but I don't regret selling it (well, not too much anyway). I would love to own another Ric at some point in the future, but for the time being, a RickenFaker was the only thing that could have possibly replaced a Rickenbacker.

The point of this thread is that RickenFaker's exist, and some of us actually quite like them.

[Beer of the Bass]

You might want to edit your post to remove the name of the guy who made your pickguards and TRC's - it would be a shame if he got any hassle from RIC over it, and I think they have some sort of trade dress registration on the TRC shape.

[pmjos]

Lets all go hide in a corner incase we accidentally breathe the R word..........

[Skybone]

"A registered member of this forum who makes custom replacement scratchplates"

[xgsjx]

A guitarist asked me last Sunday what I thought of rickenbackers (I think he was thinking about buying one). I told him a wee story & he then said "I've seen this really nice Gretsch White Falcon".

[Mattmit]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1495175401' post='3301787']
A guitarist asked me last Sunday what I thought of rickenbackers (I think he was thinking about buying one). I told him a wee story & he then said "I've seen this really nice Gretsch White Falcon".
[/quote]

Love the white falcon

[Bassassin]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1495140643' post='3301653']
I can see Mr Hall seeing this as a promotion of things he doesn't like.
[/quote]

Well, boo-hoo.

[quote name='Mattmit' timestamp='1495137475' post='3301631'] I've got a black 'custom' brand one. Really hard to google anything about them but it's Japanese from the 70s I believe. It's got just about everything spot on for a ric except a double truss.
[/quote]

From my own research "Custom" was a 70s EU importer brand (possibly from the Netherlands) which may have had some distribution in Scotland. I owned a Custom-brand Gibson LP Special copy, which I found at an Edinburgh car boot, I've subsequently seen 4 or 5 Customs come up for sale locally but not elsewhere in the UK. My LP was a Moridaira build but I don't know who made their Fakers.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1495145908' post='3301700']
You might want to edit your post to remove the name of the guy who made your pickguards and TRC's - it would be a shame if he got any hassle from RIC over it, and I think they have some sort of trade dress registration on the TRC shape.
[/quote]

Worth noting Hall does own copyright on the TRC shape, but oddly, not the scratchplate. Don't know why that is, but it's probably not because it's a poor, lazy design which spoils the look of the bass, even though it does.

[TrevorR]

When I was a teenager there were three guitar shops in Truro where I lived, all of them of not very great quality. One, more of a piano store only really sold sheet music and Hondo guitars. The one round the back of the cathedral sold a range of slightly better far eastern brands. The last, the upper floor of another keyboard shop had a limited range of upper middle range stuff (the guitar salesman went on to set up Modern Music a few years later which was a proper job!).

Anyway, as a teen my bass lust was for the Ricky which the bass player in my brother's band played. A really lovely Jetglo 4003. As I walked home from school each day my route toook me past the middle shop. I recall that alongside the Westone, Columbus and Satellite instruments there were some fakers in the window. Can't recall the brand but it was something like Westfield or Westbury - not Westone but pretty sure it was a longish W word. So of course, they were the ones I stood staring at with my nose pressed against the glass.

When I finally did get a bass it was actually an Aria SB700 from City Music so I never did pluck up the courage to play one of those fakers. Of course, a few years later when Modern Music had started and I'd learned to play a bit I finally got to try out a proper Ricky. And discovered I hated just about everything about the playing experience - neck shape, varnished fingerboard, string spacing, awkward body shape... in the end I never ever have owned a Ricky or a Faker. Those W...hatever-they-were's still hold a little nostalgic spot in my heart though. Kinda like that first girl you fancied at school but never plucked up the courage to ask out.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1495226982' post='3302381']Can't recall the brand but it was something like Westfield or Westbury - not Westone but pretty sure it was a longish W word.
[/quote]

Westfield's a fairly recent brand & Westburys were original designs. I'd have said Westminster but that was a Japanese domestic market brand & never officially imported to the UK.

Can't think of any other W----- brand Fakers!

[prowla]

Wickenbacker?

[Bass_Guardian]

[quote name='prowla' timestamp='1495263414' post='3302479']
Wickenbacker?
[/quote]

I think Jonathan Ross told me he had one of them

[Happy Jack]

What happened to the old Rickenfaker thread?

[ped]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1495264909' post='3302492']
What happened to the old Rickenfaker thread?
[/quote]

Just trying to find out - no idea! Was it called 'The RIckenFaker Thread' or something?

[ped]

OK here it is. It seems someone ruined the party by trying to sell something and the thread got deleted rather than the single post presumably by accident....

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/270-rickenfakers/page__st__2460

[Skybone]

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1495239059' post='3302444']
Westfield's a fairly recent brand & Westburys were original designs. I'd have said Westminster but that was a Japanese domestic market brand & never officially imported to the UK.

Can't think of any other W----- brand Fakers!
[/quote]

I was thinking "Westminster" as well.

[Skybone]

I did a search for the old thread, and it appeared to have disappeared completely. I spoke to Billy Apple, a Mod of this parish about setting up another one, including the above disclaimer about trading RickenFaker's being against BC policy, and was given the green light.

Anyway, the way I see it is that RickenFaker's exist, in bass and guitar form. I appreciate both Rickenbacker instruments, and a well made faker. They're basses, we're bass players.

[Bassassin]

Seems we now have two functioning threads, possibly a good time to lock the original one? If I'm right, it's already been merged with the ancient Ebay Faker spotting thread - so possibly all those dead Ebay links might look a bit ambiguous to new members who don't know BC's Faker/Rick policy.

[el borracho]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1495226982' post='3302381'] Can't recall the brand but it was something like Westfield or Westbury - not Westone but pretty sure it was a longish W word. [/quote]

I know it doesn't start with a W but you mention Westbury - Shaftsbury maybe?

[ped]

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1495273919' post='3302610']
Seems we now have two functioning threads, possibly a good time to lock the original one? If I'm right, it's already been merged with the ancient Ebay Faker spotting thread - so possibly all those dead Ebay links might look a bit ambiguous to new members who don't know BC's Faker/Rick policy.
[/quote]

Ok all done

[Skybone]

Now the old thread has resurfaced, and been locked, we can get on and discuss RickenFaker's.