NBD - Look who's Rockin' Better!

gusman2x

Actually got it a couple of weeks ago. Guess it's a copy of a 4001/3. 

I'm not a bass player, but I'm really enjoying this. I have a mustang bass as well, but the difference when playing a long scale seems pretty big to me.

Can't really comment on sounds, it just sounds like a bass to me (lol, what a bastard).

More importantly, I can now join Sex B'Bomb!

http://i60.tinypic.com/28jz8n9.jpg

littlegreenman

Don't post that on Basschat! :-O

ICBM

gusman2x said:

Can't really comment on sounds, it just sounds like a bass to me (lol, what a bastard).

I agree - they just sound like a bass, not like a Rickenbacker.

Save up for a real one, it's worth it. I can't say I didn't start that way either - mine was a 70s Shaftesbury copy which I used until I could afford the real thing and found one going cheap enough.

But as littlegreenman said, don't post it on Basschat - let's just say they take a very conservative attitude to potentially being sued by Mr. Rickenbacker (John Hall).

gusman2x

Haha yeah, I've heard Rickenbacker are dicks about copies of their guitars. This'll do me as I doubt I'll ever dedicate enough practice to become an actual bass player. Biggest problem at the moment is string noise (mainly not dampening the E and A). 

Bass is cool though. Way cooler than guitar.

Rox

gusman2x said:

Haha yeah, I've heard Rickenbacker are dicks about copies of their guitars. This'll do me as I doubt I'll ever dedicate enough practice to become an actual bass player. Biggest problem at the moment is string noise (mainly not dampening the E and A). 

Bass is cool though. Way cooler than guitar.

They're just protecting their copyrights in ways other manufacturers didn't, which is fair enough, really.

ICBM

Yes - not dicks really, although John Hall can certainly come across that way. I'm in two minds about it - I totally support the idea of protecting trademarks and I know that's what you have to do in order to retain them, but I sometimes wonder if they aren't making things unnecessarily difficult for their loyal fanbase to like them.

It would certainly help if they had a cheaper range - which would have to be made in the far east or Mexico, almost certainly - but I know that's not going to happen either, at least not while the current management are there.

The proper ones really are something special though. I wouldn't play anything else unless I really had to. I tried using a friend's Fender P-Bass for a rehearsal last week because I was on my way to deliver it back to him and I couldn't be bothered carrying two basses, but it just didn't sound or feel right for me - and a P-Bass is a perfectly good bass.

Rox

I think with the way the copyright laws work in this area, unless you can prove that you actively protect your copyright, it can fall into other people's hands.

A good example (although not guitars) is the use of the Police Box in Doctor Who.  About 15 years ago, the Metropolitan Police tried to sue for the trademark of the Police Box - which had actually been granted to the BBC.   Of course, the BBC had been using it without a problem for (at that time) 35+ years, without anyone from the Met complaining.  So it proved they'd allowed the BBC to use the image, and now it is more associated with Doctor Who than the Met - so now the BBC own the trademark because they actually chase any copyright infringements.

So chasing it up vociferously is a necessity in law if you want to keep your designs.

jpfamps

Rox said:

gusman2x said:

Haha yeah, I've heard Rickenbacker are dicks about copies of their guitars. This'll do me as I doubt I'll ever dedicate enough practice to become an actual bass player. Biggest problem at the moment is string noise (mainly not dampening the E and A). 

Bass is cool though. Way cooler than guitar.

They're just protecting their copyrights in ways other manufacturers didn't, which is fair enough, really.

I'd agree with this; they are simply protecting their business.

UnclePsychosis

I have no problem with Ric protecting their business but I can't help but feel that they're overly aggressive with the way they go about it.

They quite aggressively pursue private sellers selling second hand instruments that were made decades ago and in some cases before Ric actually had any protection on the design. That seems a bit heavy handed to me.

I like Ric instruments a lot but John Hall puts me off them quite a lot. Have any of you ever visited the Ric forum? It's like a cult...

ICBM

I was excommunicated from it, apparently for daring to question Mr. Hall.

dogload

ICBM said:

It would certainly help if they had a cheaper range - which would have to be made in the far east or Mexico, almost certainly - but I know that's not going to happen either, at least not while the current management are there.

There is certainly a precedent for this, as they built guitars under several other names during the 50's/ 60's. It is one of those 'Fender did it with Squier, Gibson with Epiphone etc' arguments. 

I think that Rickenbacker are happy to maintain their niche in the marketplace with 'high' quality and low production, relying on their reputation to keep the orders coming in, instead of mass-produced, cheaper instruments flooding the market. Which is very unfair to those fans of the instruments who can't afford them; I don't think a more 'budget' Rickenbacker line would harm the Rickenbacker 'legend', and it would claim sales from those lines that they are so eager to stamp out.

And yes, there is an incredible amount of snobbery on the Ric forums!

ICBM

dogload said:

Which is very unfair to those fans of the instruments who can't afford them; I don't think a more 'budget' Rickenbacker line would harm the Rickenbacker 'legend', and it would claim sales from those lines that they are so eager to stamp out.

That's exactly what I think.

In the same way as I don't think the SE series has harmed the sale of American PRSs much if at all, if anything it's probably acted as a 'leader'. It's also helped remove most of the point in buying a cheap knock-off.

But trying to suggest that sort of thing to Mr. Hall is a bit like suggesting how the Catholic Church could modernise to the Pope, except that the current Pope is more open to new ideas.