NBD - Counterfeit Ric 4004LK

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GCPENG

GCPENG

Mar 7, 2017
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Ontario, Canada
eclecticpowercompany.band
#1
I know that I'm probably going to get some shade thrown at me, but I don't really care.

A few weeks ago, I was perusing AliExpress and DHGate and I got the idea to look for a replica 4004LK. I found a few sellers and I bought one from a seller on DHGate. Heeding some advice from people on getting photos of the merch before it gets shipped, I asked the seller for same. The photo that he sent didn't match at all. Bent "L" fender-style bridge. Chrome pickups. Clover tuners. Perimeter of the body matched the color of the middle stripe. I told him that maybe I should just get my money back. Then, he sent another photo. Bridge was better. Proper-shape tuners, but the body color pattern still didn't match. I wrote some color comments on the photo and seller suggested another one, which was a pretty good match. A little different, since this one had three pickups plus a pickup cover (actually, there's another pickup under it) in the middle, similar to the way Lemmy had his. The bridge was still not a Rec replica, tuners are not in the right position, pickups still a bit different, pickup cover is not the right shape and the central stripe was much lighter than a real 4004, but it was really close enough for me. It was shipped from China last Friday and arrived here at my home in Canada today.

I've just unpacked it and plugged it in to see that it works. It does. No setup yet - I'm going to wait a day or two to acclimatize. It's not stellar craftsmanship on close inspection, but it's a cheap, knock-off Chinese bass.

Side by side with a real 4004LK, you could certainly see the difference. But nobody's ever going to do that. In the real world. Not that I'll ever be trying to seriously represent it as anything other than that which it is.

This was a novelty purchase for me, and a tribute to Lemmy. I'm delighted. It needs some polishing, tightening and tweaking, but I expected nothing different.
01adff2e7d4a72094ea5628160b866dded69186e59.jpg
014312159719a8a2df5597be4252d3f1c859ce62e1.jpg
0154a35a3d78e814b95674da9ff72279bdc6bc1610.jpg

And now the shot that will enrage many of you.

016c8c46b65e2b576a770e6843412f4244b2479654.jpg


Feel free to list all the ways that this differs from a real 4004LK. For about $15,000 less.

:)
 
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#3
creaturegods said:
Nice! How long did the whole order process take? I've been thinking of biting on one of the 4001 copies if I can ever find one with a maple board.
Click to expand...
I ordered the night of April 18. There were several back-and-forth messages and emails until I saw that actual bass I wanted. I confirmed everything April 26 and it was shipped April 27. Arrived here today, May the 4th.
 
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#5
If they shipped it in a week, it was probably airmailed to Canada. As a replica, I think it's awesome. It's like when you want to drive an AC Cobra, but know you will never be able to afford an original. I wonder how your Ric replica sounds, and how it would sound with genuine pups.
 
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#6
Here I am to throw that shade you predicted. Even if you're fine with it being a fake, and you never intend to represent it as the real thing, you really should not be supporting the counterfeit instrument market. Not every bass they make is as obvious a fake as that one, and the next guy may not be so savvy. That's the guy who's really going to pay for your cheap bass.

Glad you're happy with it tho.
 
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#7
Qlanq said:
Now then, that is nice.
Can you imagine Rick doing a Lemmy Sig bass. Not gonna happen.
Rock that, with your c?ck out.
Respect.
Click to expand...
Except they did. Which is why this bass exists.

Headstock looks like a 3rd grader traced the real deal with a crayon on construction paper and cut it out with safety scissors to make the template. And knowing Chinese labor laws it may well have been...

I'd rock it.
 
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#11
look, I'm not going to judge your for buying an instrument whose features or design would otherwise be out of your reach. I've been tempted myself. reserving certain basic design features then pricing them out of reach of the average musician upsets me. (see PRS vs. Gibson)
that being said, you need to remove the truss rod cover. I know you made light of it, but I am completely serious. applying a companies name to an inferior product does legitimate damage to their brand, and is unnecessary. infringing on IP is one thing, public fraud is another.
let me give you a real-world example. when I was first starting out, both in playing and the retail industry, before or after the show I'd slide up to the stage and memorize every guitar, bass, amp, and pedal used. if they sounded good, I'd take note of that. if they sounded like cow patties, I'd make a note of that as well.
now, I learned a lot from simple observation (such as the surprising usefulness of the OD-3.) imagine if I'd gone to a gig of yours, heard your tone, saw your bass, then thought that's how "real" ricks actually sound? admittedly, I haven't heard your particular bass, but I'm gonna guess build quality isn't the only thing they skimped on. I'd go so far as to say it probably sounds like @$$. hypothetical teenage me would think that all rickenbackers are trash. and that's a bias that can take a long, long time to overcome. this is probable, because this happened to me when I was like 13 and heard a SPECTACULARLY bad player with a stingray.
so, the way I see it, you have two options: never take it outside. ever. or, remove the truss rod cover and stop pretending. it's not only detrimental to rickenbacker as a company, but the bass playing community as a whole.
just do the right thing, man. it's easy.
 
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#13
Apolicious said:
look, I'm not going to judge your for buying an instrument whose features or design would otherwise be out of your reach. I've been tempted myself. reserving certain basic design features then pricing them out of reach of the average musician upsets me. (see PRS vs. Gibson)
that being said, you need to remove the truss rod cover. I know you made light of it, but I am completely serious. applying a companies name to an inferior product does legitimate damage to their brand, and is unnecessary. infringing on IP is one thing, public fraud is another.
let me give you a real-world example. when I was first starting out, both in playing and the retail industry, before or after the show I'd slide up to the stage and memorize every guitar, bass, amp, and pedal used. if they sounded good, I'd take note of that. if they sounded like cow patties, I'd make a note of that as well.
now, I learned a lot from simple observation (such as the surprising usefulness of the OD-3.) imagine if I'd gone to a gig of yours, heard your tone, saw your bass, then thought that's how "real" ricks actually sound? admittedly, I haven't heard your particular bass, but I'm gonna guess build quality isn't the only thing they skimped on. I'd go so far as to say it probably sounds like @$$. hypothetical teenage me would think that all rickenbackers are trash. and that's a bias that can take a long, long time to overcome. this is probable, because this happened to me when I was like 13 and heard a SPECTACULARLY bad player with a stingray.
so, the way I see it, you have two options: never take it outside. ever. or, remove the truss rod cover and stop pretending. it's not only detrimental to rickenbacker as a company, but the bass playing community as a whole.
just do the right thing, man. it's easy.
Click to expand...
Or, it's his bass, he can do whatever he wants with it. You're hypothetical teenage you couldn't afford a Rickenbacker anyways. I think it's quite rude to post what you did. It may be a fake, but who cares, and to say it probably sounds like *** is uncalled for.

More power to the OP. Happy NBD and sorry people around here like to poo poo on people's NBDs.
 
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#15
GCPENG said:
I know that I'm probably going to get some shade thrown at me, but I don't really care.

A few weeks ago, I was perusing AliExpress and DHGate and I got the idea to look for a replica 4004LK. I found a few sellers and I bought one from a seller on DHGate. Heeding some advice from people on getting photos of the merch before it gets shipped, I asked the seller for same. The photo that he sent didn't match at all. Bent "L" fender-style bridge. Chrome pickups. Clover tuners. Perimeter of the body matched the color of the middle stripe. I told him that maybe I should just get my money back. Then, he sent another photo. Bridge was better. Proper-shape tuners, but the body color pattern still didn't match. I wrote some color comments on the photo and seller suggested another one, which was a pretty good match. A little different, since this one had three pickups plus a pickup cover (actually, there's another pickup under it) in the middle, similar to the way Lemmy had his. The bridge was still not a Rec replica, tuners are not in the right position, pickups still a bit different, pickup cover is not the right shape and the central stripe was much lighter than a real 4004, but it was really close enough for me. It was shipped from China last Friday and arrived here at my home in Canada today.

I've just unpacked it and plugged it in to see that it works. It does. No setup yet - I'm going to wait a day or two to acclimatize. It's not stellar craftsmanship on close inspection, but it's a cheap, knock-off Chinese bass.

Side by side with a real 4004LK, you could certainly see the difference. But nobody's ever going to do that. In the real world. Not that I'll ever be trying to seriously represent it as anything other than that which it is.

This was a novelty purchase for me, and a tribute to Lemmy. I'm delighted. It needs some polishing, tightening and tweaking, but I expected nothing different.View attachment 3006355 View attachment 3006356 View attachment 3006357
And now the shot that will enrage many of you.

View attachment 3006358

Feel free to list all the ways that this differs from a real 4004LK. For about $15,000 less.

:)
Click to expand...

Looks pretty sweet if you ask me. There's copy versions of just about every high end product out there. If the quality is decent and you're happy, enjoy. As long as the craftsmanship is good enough, hardware can always be replaced or upgraded.
 
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#16
bassstrangler said:
Or, it's his bass, he can do whatever he wants with it. You're hypothetical teenage you couldn't afford a Rickenbacker anyways. I think it's quite rude to post what you did. It may be a fake, but who cares, and to say it probably sounds like *** is uncalled for.

More power to the OP. Happy NBD and sorry people around here like to poo poo on people's NBDs.
Click to expand...

Having something that resembles a branded good but is clearly not an original, without logos is appropriate. Copying and applying logo of original logo is theft. Sorry if facts offend you but it is true.
 
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#17
Ulf Buck said:
Having something that resembles a branded good but is clearly not an original, without logos is appropriate. Copying and applying logo of original logo is theft. Sorry if facts offend you but it is true.
Click to expand...
Facts don't offend me and it's presumptuous to assume that of me. And are you really sorry about it if it does? Fake basses or logos on fake basses don't offend me either. In this world consumers need to be educated before purchasing anything. When it comes down to it it's wood and metal, and I'm sure Rickenbacker, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Music Man, and the rest of the gang are all going to still sell guitars and basses despite Chinese knockoffs.
 
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#18
makaspar said:
I’m curious - can you post the pictures of the other versions they tried to sell you?
Click to expand...
This was the first one:
1d.jpg


And this was the second one:
2a.jpg


So I sent this back to the seller:
front bass body color.jpg


And the seller asked: "so build like this one?"
3a.jpg

And I approved that. Not that this isn't even exactly the same as what I received. The bridge is different. But close enough.
 
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