How Bad Can A $250 Rickenbacker Copy Be?! 

What'd y'all think about this Fakenbacker?! Should I even bother upgrading it? Follow me on Instagram and let me know! instagram.com/patrickhunter

100% LEGIT. Still think you should have gotten pink so we could be matching super best friends 🙃🙃

In the hands of a good player anything sounds at least decent.

Turning it into a copy of Cliff Burton's Rick might be interesting, with the guitar pickup and the mudbucker.

It just doesn’t sound like a Rickenbacker. Sounds almost like a PJ.

I'd say upgrade it with real Rick pickups and hardware. It would be interesting to see how it stacks up against a real rick

Fun fact, Peter Hook loved his Ric copy because it didn't really sound like a Ric

I’m so glad you made a video over these. I’ve GASSED over a Rickenbacker for a long time but don’t have the cash to get one. I considered one of these chickenbackers but couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. Glad I never did! Great video!!!

The reason the bridge pickup is so quiet is because when you took the cover of you didn't raise it high enough. I have one of these and that same thing happened to me and the bridge pickup sounds amazing, better than a real Rick, I've played both and it's incredible

Given the conduct of Rickenbacker and their CEO, I have trouble feeling sorry for the company over the fake issue.

Would make a fine, if expensive, prop for someone's Scott Pilgrim cosplay.

I actually thought it sounded good.

You look like Leddy Gee with that bass...

Hey it sounds pretty good actually

If only there was a sub brand that could make licensed copies of rickenbacker designs and go through qc to make sure everything works and plays right 🤔

I like the inlays says the guy who hates Jackson who uses the same inlays

I as a first time bass player, this is definitely A good start-up for myself. It’s got the look, the sound (pretty good to me, but that’s just me), I don’t really care, but once I get more experience I’ll definitely consider getting the real deal to make up for the Fakenbacker. Other than that, I am still very happy I got myself a guitar in the first place.

"Not that great, not that good". Sounds like a real Rickenbacker then. Tried a brand new, flat black finished real Rick recently, and was amused to see they'd not even bothered to finish the inside of the lower horn properly. It was rough, as though they'd not sanded it after being initially cut on the CNC machine. I decided to stick to my 1979 Greco copy.

It’s a Trickenbacker!

I would buy it hands down because I refuse to take my authentic on the road with my bands. I would do all the modding as well, don’t get me wrong lol but I love that 4003 style

This would be GREAT for a kid just starting to play bass. All his friends would be super jealous!

I personally think it sounds pretty good

You left out quite a bit... (covered in my review of these basses several years ago!) They are 34 in scale, not 33 1/4 scale like a real Ric. Which if you are used to a real one, is quite noticeable, that and the extra frets make them very "necky". The fake Toaster pickup is actually a humbucker (real ones aren't) They are most often out of phase - neck to bridge, which is fixable. The bodies are usually Chinese Elm, unless you pay quite a bit more for a custom one. One of the biggest problems is the incorrect radius of the bridge for the fingerboard used !!! This is also fixable with 1/16 in shims under the "D" and "A" saddles. A major fail is the mismatch of that neck pickup with the fanout of the fingerboard. The fingerboard is more like a Fender in how it widens as you go up the neck, and by the time you have the strings passing over the neck pickup, they are actually leaving the magnetic field of the pole bars - Chronic weak E and G string compared to the A and D.

It’s you man . You play great. It’s just a bass but you breath life into that wood and metal!

That is some great playing, I didn't ever think of doing harmonics on a bass. I could listen to this guy all night.

the tripple harmonic at 0:48 was impressive as hell

Dude, for $250 it is good.

Hey man, just wanna give you props for doing these demos, you play in a similar style as me with a pick and the tone all the way open. Too many people demoing basses are guitarists who just palm mute

I have a 1976 Univox Rick copy, and actually love it. Although the neck has a bow in it and I'm really nervous about trying to fix something with double truss rods.

For a fake rick, it sounds pretty good.

Sounds amazing when you’re playing it

There is a very high possibility the bridge pickup is a 1:1 copy of an old rick pickup. Those had very low output too. Lemmy put a Thunderbird pickup in the neck for a good reason.

It’d be a cool project to put ACTUAL rickenbacker parts on it

I think it sounds good for the price, a student would be happy with the sound. You spent 8:40 so far talking about the look and what not. How was the setup, the neck feel, fit and finish? I can't knock it from what I'm hearing.

I concur with your assessment. I have one and what improved it a lot was replacing the stock strings with really good ones. I put on Rotosound Swingbass 66s and the thing came to life. Cheap fix and it works. I also oiled the fretboard with Old English dark oil polish and let it soak in for a few days because the fretboard was very dry and it looks very nice. I waxed and machine buffed the painted neck and that improved it immensely.

Definitely not the worst sounding bass. I'd say try some mods on it!

Sounds pretty good for the price, just doesn't sound like a ric. Great video Patrick!

Yes! Maybe you could also do something like the high intergrity mod with it :)

I once owned a 1972 4001 jetglow; I loved the way it sounded,loved the way it looked but the way it felt; not so much. I once needed tech support for it so I called the factory in Santa Ana and talked to a super nice guy ( I think his name was Dave) he was very helpful with my questions. Rickenbacker is a class act company all the way!!! If I ever get to where I can afford another one, I'll have them build me a 4003 contoured with no binding, it probalbly won't look as good as their standard bass but it would be a lot more comfortable to hold and play. Every bass player on the planet knows that a Rickenbacker is the Harley - Davidson of bass guitars; nothing sounds quite like a Ricky !!!

Sounds nothing like a Ric, but in a band context from 100 feet away, I probably wouldn't know the difference.

There was a UK based company called Retrovibe that made Ricky copies with stingray style pickups, till they got hit with a cease and desist. Sounded nothing like a proper Ricky but it had the aesthetics. They actually ended up getting bought out by Chowny, the company that made Davie504’s signature bass/purple hollowbody.

I think this would be a fun bass to modify … heck you can't make it worse

Please do an upgrade video. Would love to see what you do with it.

I thought about getting one of those, and then I checked one out that a friend had. I played it a bit - it's hard to find a lefty Rick - and frankly I hated the neck. Slow, unplayable. And with both pickups roaring (the toaster and a pseudoMM) it was loud AF. The only advantage it had over a Rick was the bridge - Ricky bridges are garbage. Doing intonation is a disaster. Tuning and intonating his fakenbacker was actually easier. There are other major problems that aren't as obvious, some of them structural. As you noted the wood isn't mahogany. I have no idea what it is. Pine? Who knows... But that's a big issue, for sure. The other structural problem is, it's a set neck. So, the neck is crap as you know, and will eventually warp, especially if you use high tension strings like Rotos. The truss rod will have to work, and if it doesn't the guitar is only good for kindling. Once you scrape the paint off. Sure, you can steam the neck off, but good luck finding a replacement neck for one of these, and steaming a neck off one of these would cost more than the guitar is worth or even costs. The pick ups are hash. The neck toaster pickup is OK, for sure - it almost sounds rickish-like-esque. The bridge PU is crap. My friend replaced it with some huge Musicman type pickup. Thing freakin' roared, but didn't sound like a Rick of course. As you noted, the routing is amateurishly bad, so one can attack one of these with abandon - you can't make it worse. One thing he noticed was that the fret ends started sticking out after only a year. Seriously. He didn't want to get tetanus, so he got that fixed. He played it for a year after that, but after 2 years, the Rotosound roundwounds he put on it ate the frets up. So, now it's pretty much a dead bass. His verdict? Fun while it lasted, but never again.

I bought an Amoon bass on ebay a few months ago for $89 complete with shipping. How bad is it? The neck was not seated in the neck pocket exactly perpendicular to the pickups. So if they had centered the bridge correctly, the strings would not have been lined up with the neck. By a lot. So this is how they build their instruments. Slap the neck on, then put a string on it with the bridge not screwed down. Move the bridge until the string is aligned with the neck. Screw down the bridge. Do not worry for one second the the strings are not centered above the pickups. So I have a bass to play with and work on making right. First thing I have done is remove the frets and installed veneer in the fret slots. It was my first try and it went pretty well for first try. The veneer broke off below the fret-board in one spot. I probably will just leave that. But soon, I will buy a new body (probably from Guitar fetish) and put the parts all back together with a different body. I will have to drill out the screw holes in the neck and glue hardwood dowels into them as they will likely not align with a different body. I know that sounds iffy, but I have done it before and it works. I think I will most likely sand 'Amoon' off the neck too as they really don't deserve to have their name on a musical instrument. IMO.

It doesn't sound like a rick at all

WOW!!!!!! no string rattle and fret buzz. Excellent.

It would be cool if Harley Benton came out with a Rickenbacker style bass. I'd have to buy one if they made a lefty.

Turn the volume down on the bridge pickup just a little and it will actually probably get louder. Cheap knobs will sometimes short out the signal when it's all the way open.

seems like a fun gigging bass but I'd not record anything with it

Working hard and saving then being able to find a real Rickenbacker is far more satisfying than finding and modding a cheap/fake one. I dreamt of having a Ric since i was 14 years old. Never thought I'd be able to find one. Let alone afford one. At 24, I came across one and bought it on a wimb. One of the happiest most satisfying achievements of my life.

Seven minutes in and I’m still waiting to hear why it’s bad. So far he has said that the ad lies about its materials. Okay

I have a cool video idea: Take that chickenbacker bass Put a mudbucker in the neck, seymour Duncan hot stack in the bridge position, and a single coil under the bridge plate Replace the hardware with legit ric parts or some other brand like hipshot or gotoh. Boom, Chinese cliff burton bass

I’ll be honest and say that it sounds pretty good, it may be a knockoff but I’ve always loved Rickenbackers. They feel and sound great and they’ve always been one of my dream basses

Thanks Patrick, suddenly my GLARRY moved way up the food chain. Your playing is incredible as always.

Doesn’t sound like a ric but looks kickass

That rear pup assembly is actually much better than a ric. Low pup height and being out of phase might be the problem. Hipshot Bridge, single coil P bass pickup - JBE 50s or Seymour Duncan single P will do the trick an it ll screw directly to the fiberboard assembly. New pots and wires and that thing should be good to go. Oh, a setup and shielding. Thats a fun project.

I traded a broken Epiphone Casino for a Chinese copy Ric several years ago thinking it would be a good project bass. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncans, had a new nut fabricated, replaced all pots and the switch, Ric strings, and replaced the bridge with an Allparts. The bass would not intonate correctly until we moved the bridge closer to the bridge pickup. After all that, it’s just an okay bass. It has a good sound when played through my effects - maybe that’s the Seymour Duncans though. Still didn’t spend as much as a real Ric though. I enjoy your videos. Thanks.

That 100-dollar Harley Benton still sounds better!

Oh my gosh, I just found your channel a few days ago. That whisper pick up! Hysterical.

Buy a second one and do what cliff burton did to his 4001 see if you can get some sick tones

I bought one a few years back. Same issues. I replaced the pots and wiring with a vintage set made by a guy on ebay called aceonbass1. Rheemed the output jack, and added the rick-o-sound mono stereo jack. Can now hear both pickups good.Had to fret level, and tap down a couple fret ends. I then replace the musicmaster pickup with a better one from ebay as well. Other than it being head heavy, plays as well as any Squire, or Epiphone, but at almost twice the price of those two.

Every time I see a video like this I'm constantly reminded of the fact that tone is in the hands, not the gear, because I cannot tell how shite this instrument is. You make it sound impeccable.

I had one of these in Wine red and after a setup it was sick. Sounded and played like an Epiphone EB-3 SG bass. It was my main till I sold it to help fund my fender p-bass

sounds pretty sick, not like a rickenbacker but suck nonetheless.

I love how you play bass, like damn you go ham

>it's bad, it's not even good It sounds decent, actually.

I have a 1970's Japanese Rickenbacker copy that I love. Not as nice as an actual Ric, but it gets me 70% of the way there and it only cost $400. Great for studio work. They're hard to find though because Rickenbacker pulls the listings. The guy I purchased mine from had it on Reverb and got a cease and desist letter from Rickenbacker to take the ad down.

Personally it's crap I wouldn't do shit to it, but you're already in this deep, you might as well try to upgrade its parts and show it off. I'd definitely watch.

Thanks for a good review, it sounds pretty good the way you play it. The notes at the frets sounded ok and in tune, all in all a bit of fun!

Kinda sounds like a Thunderbird?

Bow material, brazil wood? What?! That had me laughing hysterically!🤣🤣🤣

Decent guitars/basses: "meh... you may want to get new tuners" This crap bass: "Good tuners." WHAT!? This makes no sense. LOL XD

Big Thanks for testing it and your references 👌👌👌

I prefer the term "chickenbacker" over "fakenbacker"

This guy works for Rickenbacker!

Wait, he is using a PICK, ILEGAL

Perfect for a Scott pilgrim cosplay where the bass tone actually matches the guitar he used

See if you can turn it into a good rick copy.

Id love to see new pickups/fretboard on this, I've always wanted a Rickenbacker and considered buying a Chinese fake and replacing the pickups.

Everyone I know pronounces it Ricken Bocker

These imported copies serve to underline the heartbreak of wanting to purchase the real article and not having the available discretionary money to just get one- but still having reservations about buying an imported copy like this. Patrick, I suspect you could make a cheap archery bow sound like butter, let alone the real Ric 4003.

boi

As a lefty, trying to find ANY lefty handed bass can be tricky, much less a Rick thats affordable, SO getting a "Chickenbacker" and modifying it to my needs was a good option

Brazil wood !!!kkkkkkkkk no way ..... ou melhor; Nem fudendo !!!!!

I have a neck through Chickenbacker bass myself. Your assessment is pretty much spot-on. The bridge is absolutely horrendous. It took me way too long a time to get it set up halfway decent. The bridge pickup was a challenge as well. The holes on the pickup itself where the screws would go in to raise it were bigger than the screws themselves, so I had to put a piece of cardboard underneath the pickup just to get it to a height where I could hear it as well as the neck pickup. But THEN the pickups go out of phase when both are engaged, and that sounds like garbage. Overall though it's okay for a project bass where you slowly upgrade the parts, which is what I eventually intend on doing.

Sounds not "that" bad ^^

My old bassist had an original and it sounded like it fell down several flights of stairs. It ruined them for me. I'd much rather get a kick ass knock off like this.🍻

Rickenbacker's should be on the ugliest bass list

Well now that Harley Benton tried a Rick style, this one is basically obsolete

For me, the biggest issue I have with these Chinese Ric copies is that they all have a Fender style neck (in terms of width). One of the best aspects of a real Rickenbacker is that the neck width is basically the same all the way up the neck, where the Fender is significantly wider at the 20th fret.

Definitely like to see a video on trying to upgrade this bass... go for it.

In 1978 my father picked up a Rickenbacker copy from Greco Guitars on a visit to Japan. I have played it ever since and it compares favorably to the actual Rickenbacker.

Perfect example of "You get what you pay for". It looks nice, but that's about it. With just the bridge pickup selected, it sounds like you're playing without an amp. You could probably commission your local high school's shop classes and have them build a better overall quality one as a group project.

That bassist was playing hard, driving it, hitting deep accents, getting a beautiful sound... deep piano tones...

rickenbacker also owns the copyright to the bass shape as well

I have a 70's Carlo Robelli Rickenbacker copy. It too suffered from the Rickenbacker curse. *Remember:* Rickenbacker basses have a strange double truss rod problem that causes the fretboard to split away from the neck. They did not correct this problem until 1984. The best Ricks are between '89 - '96. I did some research and I also saw that 70's did not have a high resale value.

Regarding the complaint about the bridge pickup volume, are you sure you adjusted it properly after removing the bridge over? As the bolts that hold the cover on also control pickup height.

Put some new pickups in, upgrade the electronics, change out the bridge and you’d probably have something you can use for gigs. I did the same thing to a subpar silvertone p bass copy and it’s something special

Chickenbacker! Sounds pretty cool, cross between a rick and a P-bass