The All New RickenFaker Thread

[Dam1903]

14 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

@Dam1903

 

That looks absolutely fantastic.

Thanks man. The dot markers confused me for a while, I've scoured the Web for similarly configured fretboards and not found another ibanez like it so I pinged @Bassassin for advice, it's really in great condition considering it's age.  Going to have the pickups out to see if they have a date stamp this weekend. 

 

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, Dam1903 said:

Going to have the pickups out to see if they have a date stamp this weekend. 

Brilliant,I was going to ask what hides below the neck pickup cover,.

Now I'll just wait and see what you find 😀

[Rick's Fine '52]

That’s a great version! 

[Bassassin]

14 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Brilliant,I was going to ask what hides below the neck pickup cover,.

Now I'll just wait and see what you find 😀

I can tell you - despite appearances the Mudbucker, and the 8-pole bridge unit, are both single coils.

Would expect they'll have numbers, date codes on Maxon pickups are thought to go back to 1971.

[barrycreed]

Spied a Luxor faker on the continent but he’d prefer not to post. Bolt on. Nice price too.

[barrycreed]

I take it bolt on neck fakers would be inferior to set necks?

[kodiakblair]

19 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

I take it bolt on neck fakers would be inferior to set necks?

No reason they should be inferior. 

In the greater bass guitar world, think of the ratio  bolt on to set necks .  Could anybody even guess the figure ?

[Maude]

22 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

I take it bolt on neck fakers would be inferior to set necks?

It depends on your outlook. If you consider any bass with a bolt on neck inferior to an equivalent set neck bass, then yes. If not, no. 

If you want as close a copy as possible to a Rick then you'll want a set neck, but that doesn't bother me. 

If it's old and the action needs attention then a set neck can be worse. You want low action but the saddle has bottomed out, with a bolt on you can shim it, with a set neck it could be pop it in the bin time. 

It all depends what you want. 

[Maude]

On 28/05/2020 at 20:05, Dam1903 said:

That's a fantastic colour. 

I love a really dark fireglow. 

[prowla]

The bolt-on neck ones are inferior in the sense of being an accurate copy of a Ric thru-neck.

Some of them can be (even) weaker than a Ric at the join, because the wood there is pretty thin and the overlap isn't that much; OTOH, there are real Ric set-neck (ie. glued on) 4001 & 4000 basses too.

The bolt-on neck ones are also all (I think!) 34" scale, as opposed to a real Ric's 33.25".

[prowla]

4 minutes ago, Maude said:

That's a fantastic colour. 

I love a really dark fireglow. 

it's a very similar colour to my '72.

[barrycreed]

Reason I asked the question about bolt ons v set necks is that the few I have noticed for sale online as of late seem to be cheaper when they are bolt on v set necks.

[prowla]

49 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

Reason I asked the question about bolt ons v set necks is that the few I have noticed for sale online as of late seem to be cheaper when they are bolt on v set necks.

Yes, bolt-ons are worth less than a thru-neck. 

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

No reason they should be inferior. 

In the greater bass guitar world, think of the ratio  bolt on to set necks .  Could anybody even guess the figure ?

 

True.

In fact, in cheaper instruments I'd prefer a bolt-on as it gives me a chance to adjust it a lot more than a set neck would.

Actually, I prefer bolt on instruments anyway.

[barrycreed]

@mcnach same here, I do prefer bolt ons, but in a faker, I'm not sure whether a bolt on neck is a "weak point".

[Maude]

I've got D'addario 50-105 half rounds on my Aria bolt on which are fairly high tension. No problems so far. 🙂

[barrycreed]

Has Rick also trademarked the positioning of its pickups? While companies can't copy the look, is it also the case they can't copy the type of pickup, or pickup placement?

Thoman tip their hat to the Ric with their bass but I haven't come across any other brands with a similar neck and bridge type pickup placement as a Ric, apart from the Fakers that is.

Surely, one can't trademark a 33.5 inch scale length, or placement of a pickup...?

Edited June 2, 2020 by barrycreed

[kodiakblair]

12 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

Has Rick also trademarked the positioning of its pickups?

No,I don't think so.

Thing is most fakers are 34" scale and sometimes more frets. If they use Ric positions, they look wrong relative to the PG and knobs.

That Hondo  I picked up recently is 20 fret but 34" scale. If I remember the Ric positions correctly, scaled from 33 1/4" to 34" my neck pickup should centre at 25 1/2" and the bridge at 29 3/4".

 

What I actually have is neck 24 3/4" and bridge at 30 1/2".

 

Basically they've moved the pickups 3/4" to keep the look. That's the Hondo. On my Renegade 4000, the bridge pickup is centred where it should be at 29 3/4" so I suspect on other Renegades the neck position will be correct.

 

[barrycreed]

Surprised that other companies haven't tried to cop the sound if they can't cop the look.

[Bassassin]

17 hours ago, prowla said:

The bolt-on neck ones are inferior in the sense of being an accurate copy of a Ric thru-neck.

Some of them can be (even) weaker than a Ric at the join, because the wood there is pretty thin and the overlap isn't that much; OTOH, there are real Ric set-neck (ie. glued on) 4001 & 4000 basses too.

The bolt-on neck ones are also all (I think!) 34" scale, as opposed to a real Ric's 33.25".

My Kasuga (MIJ, 1975) bolt-neck is 33.25". I'd guess the manufacturers that did both bolt & through-neck versions share the same dimensions between them, eg all Matsumokus are 34", Kasugas are 33.25" etc. Not 100% sure but I think it was only Hondo (MIK, Samick) that didn't have a neck-through variant.

Apropos of nothing, the Rickenbacker 4080 twin-necks were bolt-on.

[prowla]

45 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

My Kasuga (MIJ, 1975) bolt-neck is 33.25". I'd guess the manufacturers that did both bolt & through-neck versions share the same dimensions between them, eg all Matsumokus are 34", Kasugas are 33.25" etc. Not 100% sure but I think it was only Hondo (MIK, Samick) that didn't have a neck-through variant.

Apropos of nothing, the Rickenbacker 4080 twin-necks were bolt-on.

Thanks for that info re. scale length!

(Yes, I didn't mention the doublenecks...) 🙂

[prowla]

1 hour ago, barrycreed said:

Surprised that other companies haven't tried to cop the sound if they can't cop the look.

Too right!

[barrycreed]

@prowla there you go  How does it sound?

[Bassassin]

Oh, go on then, any excuse to recycle a very old joke:

The PRick.

...sorry.

 

 

[barrycreed]

@Bassassin in theory, that's what I was on about. Surprised more companies haven't done this, not necessarily in exactly how the pickups look, but where they are placed. I suppose on the PRick bass, the bridge is kind of where a J bridge might be.... Wonder how it sounds?