The All New RickenFaker Thread

[Skybone]

Bought a new set of the Retrovibe "Vintage" pickups recently, decided to fit them to my Bass Collection Californian. All was going well, until I realised that the neck pickup is bigger than the original, and expanding the existing hole would be very messy.

Some time ago, I bought 2 sheets of pearlescent plastic (black & white), with the intention of making some new scratchplates. I completely wasted the black sheet, made loads of mistakes, and they were resigned to the bin. The white sheet was untouched, until now. Third attempt, started slow, taking my time, looking good, until I realised that I'm not left handed. The air turned blue for a moment or three. D'oh! Fourth attempt. Start slow & taking my time again, looking good. Made sure it was the right way round this time too. Some time later, I was left with a new scratchplate & TRC that I was happy with. Big grin.

Fitted them last night, new neck pickup fitted perfectly, had to make a couple of minor mod's as I went, nothing too drastic though. Definitely need a new soldering iron. neck pickup fitted, sounded good, switch to the bridge pickup, sounded thin, something wrong. Take the strings & scratchplate off again, and the earth wire is loose. Resolder that, put everything back together, restring, plug in, and boom! Good to go!

The new pickups sound great, quite "zingy" (the new strings help I suppose), and the new scratchplate & TRC look good too.

 

[prowla]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

Not Aliexpress. Dunno who Dale is.

One of the folks on the Rickenfakers FB group...

[Skybone]

Took the BC along to rehearsal last night, knew I should have taken a screwdriver with me!  

Overall, the new Retrovibe pickups sounded good, just the string definition wasn't quite right, the skinny strings were getting lost in the mix & the fat strings were booming. Great sound from them though, a few tweaks with the screwdriver sorting the pickup height should sort it I reckon. The Retrovibes are brighter sounding than original pickups, which is a good thing.

I did take my No.1 Rockinbetter (RickenFacker) along as well, and reverted to that one part way through, mainly because I've got the pickup heights just right, and it sounds ace IMO.

[SnakeEyes]

Good morning all!

I found some RFs surfing around the web, and I wanted to ask all you guys, are the 100 GBP actually worth it?

[prowla]

3 minutes ago, SnakeEyes said:

Good morning all!

I found some RFs surfing around the web, and I wanted to ask all you guys, are the 100 GBP actually worth it?

It very much depends upon the particular one; the better 70s/80s Japanese ones can be up to £500-600, with lower prices dependent upon brand, model, condition, etc.

IMHO, the current Chickenbackers are a pile of toot.

The main thing for me is that they are a bit of fun and not to get one thinking it's going to be better than a real Ric.

[SnakeEyes]

6 minutes ago, prowla said:

It very much depends upon the particular one; the better 70s/80s Japanese ones can be up to £500-600, with lower prices dependent upon brand, model, condition, etc.

IMHO, the current Chickenbackers are a pile of toot.

The main thing for me is that they are a bit of fun and not to get one thinking it's going to be better than a real Ric.

Yes, of course I never meant to even dare to compare them, even remotely, to the sound of the original Rick. I had a similar experience when a friend of mine wanted to compare his HB bird to my TBird. 
I just kind of thought is as a chance to mod one and have fun with it, but I wondered if they are generally playable. 

[Skybone]

I assume that you're looking at the "Rocktile" Fakers?

Don't know much about them, but I think someone on here has got one (or was it the FB RickenFakers group?).

At £100, it'll be a cheap bass that might have a passing similarity to a RickenFaker. Without seeing/trying one, I can't really comment. You could always buy  one from Aliexpress/DHGate, or join the RickenFakers Facebook group, and buy one from there.

[prowla]

5 hours ago, SnakeEyes said:

Yes, of course I never meant to even dare to compare them, even remotely, to the sound of the original Rick. I had a similar experience when a friend of mine wanted to compare his HB bird to my TBird. 
I just kind of thought is as a chance to mod one and have fun with it, but I wondered if they are generally playable. 

I've had two previously and now have two more I'm restoring.

I like them as a bit of fun.

I'm thinking of putting a Kahler trem on one.

[Rick's Fine '52]

Here's my pair, UK hand made from scratch, no Chinese crap, and not cheap either. I couldn't decide on WB or not, so decided to have both!

4005 Fireglo, chequerboard binding to rear, full width crushed pearl inlays, 60's spec throughout. 

4005 WB, Mapleglo, plain white binding to front and back. Both full 60's spec in every way. 

 

 

[police squad]

4 hours ago, Rick's Fine '52 said:

Here's my pair, UK hand made from scratch, no Chinese crap, and not cheap either. I couldn't decide on WB or not, so decided to have both!

4005 Fireglo, chequerboard binding to rear, full width crushed pearl inlays, 60's spec throughout. 

4005 WB, Mapleglo, plain white binding to front and back. Both full 60's spec in every way. 

 

 

are they DC built? They look fab

[Rick's Fine '52]

31 minutes ago, police squad said:

are they DC built? They look fab

No, PM'd with details, and pics.

We obviously share the same taste in basses!!  😉

[Skybone]

They do look like a fine pair! Fabulous work.

[Triumphman]

I’ve got a Kay, it’s a project. One project too many tho, might be going!!!...

[kodiakblair]

Joined the fakers last week. Bought an Ali Ex 5'er from a fella on the FB page Saturday night. Right of the bat I spotted a few wee issues.

Nut was off to one side. B&G barely registered on the neck pickup. String/pickup poles were off over the bridge pickup. The RIC logo had been sanded of the TR cover.

 

First job,get that logo sorted. Had some adhesive labels so just printed out the RIC logo. I know this offends some folk but tough stinky poo. My old man knows better than to try telling me what to do so a stranger's outrage means nothing 🙂 Moving the nut took a dab of glue and no time. Turned the G saddle 180,that and the nut improved things at the bridge pickup. The neck toaster just wasn't wide enough for 5 strings nor was the Retrovibe one I'd had in the spares box. I've been impressed with the Warman jazzbar and used it a few times. This was a good excuse to order another. It arrived yesterday but this afternoon was the first chance to fit it. Bars span the string spacing no problem though tomorrow I plan on the parallel wiring option. It's a high output pickup and the change should balance better against the bridge one.

 

£100 for bass,£18 for pickup,less than couple of hour work 😎

 

 

[prowla]

Looks like a good buy for a 5-banger chickenbacker.

Good on the previous owner for sanding off the counterfeit Rickenbacker logo. (If you want to put a Rickenbacker logo on your own, then it's yours to do that; some people like vanity plates on cars and fake boobs & botox.)

[kodiakblair]

47 minutes ago, prowla said:

 

Good on the previous owner for sanding off the counterfeit Rickenbacker logo. (If you want to put a Rickenbacker logo on your own, then it's yours to do that; some people like vanity plates on cars and fake boobs & botox.)

And we have a winner 😂 

You just can't stop yourself can you.

[prowla]

6 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

And we have a winner 😂 

You just can't stop yourself can you.

Saying it's a good buy?

[Skybone]

Bumping the Fakers

[kodiakblair]

Not really sure if the Faker 5 is right for me 😔 Long term abuser of flats/tapes have me struggling with the twangy sound.

Must be the roundwounds as the low tension is another gripe. Oh and I've got to mention the pickup cover getting in the way too 😄

 

Thought my next post here would be a call for advice on bridges, a 5 string jobbie wide enough to cover the inserts of the MM type bridge used on many fakers.

 

So how do I kill most of the twang,tighten up the tension,get a shorter pickup cover (don't mind it but it's too tall). I've a set of Sadowsky blue label flats so hopefully they'll kill 2 birds.

[Big_Stu]

On 22/05/2017 at 22:36, leftyyorky said:

..........I sold the bass in late 80s only to quickly buy it back. In 1996 I part exed it for a Yamaha bb1100s which I still have.................

There's one of those in our local Crack Converters, they want £500+, which I thought a tad  but I could be wrong.

[BrunoBass]

On 03/06/2018 at 11:46, prowla said:

One of the folks on the Rickenfakers FB group...

His work looks very impressive.

[prowla]

40 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

His work looks very impressive.

Yes - I might get him to make me a bass when my ship comes in.

[Richard T]

Hi all,

Any idea what this is, other than a mess? Spec suggests 4003s, jack plate claims 1983, condition says 'grossly abused', heart says worth saving, head says fake.  I don't know enough about these to take a view but I find it hard to believe that anyone would treat the real thing this badly.

Obvious points (see pics):

-Truss rods apparently in place but the retaining plate & hex nuts are not, haven't yet had the scratch plate off so dunno whats happening at that end, if anything;

-Bridge/saddle assembly entirely missing, some kind of wood & plastic bodge installed in the mute position, and...

-...non-stock tuners missing bushings, so intonation totally goosed.

-Bridge p/up covered with some kind of weird black velvet.

2 piece through neck  looks about right, chrome a bit bubbly, bridge vol pot crackly but all pots work. Obviously impossible to sort tuning/intonation/action in present state.

Belongs to the brother of a friend, latter has no idea of provenance and former is in and out of institutional care and sometimes needs a prompt to remember his own name. 

Worth acquiring and salvaging?

 

[prowla]

Hmmm - dunno if that's a real one, but it has some real parts.

WTF with the bridge!!!???!!!

[Richard T]

I know, I've never seen a Heath Robinson job quite like that!