Would you buy a fake Rickenbacker? - why? - WHAT A NIGHTMARE! -  

Reminds me of the old mandolin player adage... "You spend half your time tuning, and the other half playing out of tune."

The real tell that it's a fake is that it's strung like a regular 12-string, octave strings first then the standard string. Rickenbacker strings their 12-strings in reverse, regular string first then the octave/double string. And the 5th knob should be a blend/secondary volume control for the neck pickup. It doesn't really do anything noticeable on a real one unless you're in the middle position where it lets you fine tune the mix of the neck with the bridge.

Not a bad relic job out of the box 😂 I appreciate this video, it killed that 0.01% of curiosity I had for a 12 string.

Now that you've modded it, it's become a Ryanburker.

12 strings are why someone came up with Nashville tuning.

I have 2 from Aliexpress and they came in perfect condition. I did send the guitar to my local guitar shop to check on the setup and change the strings. When you said you were going to change the strings, i chuckled a bit. Changing any 12 string is a real job in itself, but that is a true monster. Is it worth it, damn right it is and it only cost $600 between the 2. Sure, it's a copy but it's my copy and won't be changing hands any time soon.

The irony is, this is a regular occurrence on real Rickenbackers. The die-cast R tailpieces from the 90’s just can’t stand the strain. I opened my 1997 Rick 370/12 case last November to be confronted with a similar horror. I replaced it with a Harrison-style tailpiece like the one you took off this guitar.

Lmao honestly love this guitar, I hope you plan on modding it into a true Ryanbacker with some fun mods!! (although I'd understand you not wanting to have to retune this thing everytime you go to mod it lmao) Also if it would possible without facing real legal issues, I think a Ryanbacker logo shirt would be an awesome addition to the t-shirt shop!!

Congratulations! You’ve discovered most of the problems that Rickenbackers have, without having to spend Rickenbacker money. One of the major problems with Rick 12-strings is the narrow neck. Rick 6-string necks are narrower than most, and they used the samw width on the 12-strings! Oops! The too-shallow headstock routs were actually fixed by Rickenbacker fairly recently-now they go all the way through. They did away with the gloss fretboard early in 2023, but they brought it back. “R” tailpieces breaking are a common item, usually on 12-strings-seems they changed the alloy content of the metal used, sometime in the mid ‘80s. Older ones don’t have that problem, and generally the trapeze ones hold up better. Restringing a Rick 12-string is a nightmare, as the strings don’t fit into holes-they slide into channels in the underside of the tailpiece, and they have a tendency to pop out of their slots unless there’s tension on them, plus the entire tailpiece will pop off its bracket unless there’s tension on it. The two outputs on a real Rick are supposed to be a stereo split-it seems this was ignored on this Rickenfaker, and the fifth knob is a secondary volume control for the neck pickup. Why, I don’t know, it’s supposed to compensate for the louder neck pickup. Rick toaster pickups aren’t usually microphonic either, but that’s what you get for buying a Chickenbacker. (Chinese Rickenbacker, geddit?) Ricks are incredibly quirky designs,but they look great, sound good, and a lot of players like them. I wanted a Rick 360-12 when I was a teenager in the ‘60s-couldn’t afford one, and I wound up with a Vox Phantom XII, which had its own set of problems. Now I have a Danelectro DC-12, which is really good, and a Fender reissue Electric XII, which will be great once I can get a shim in the neck pocket to give it a slightly steeper neck angle. Either one will blow a Rickenbacker right out of the water, and a real Rickenbacker will blow that Chickenbacker out of the water. If you’re going to surf, you don’t do it on a chunk of 2x4, you need a proper surfboard!

"She's got an Elmer's Glue smell in the f-hole" has got to be the money quote of the episode.

I think if you tinker with it, you've got at least 2-4 more videos. I enjoyed it, hope to see more.

It just needs a new trapeze, pickups, electrics, a proper deep dive setup and refinishing. Other than that it is simply wonderful...

A few years ago, I had borrowed my BIL’s actual real 12 string Ric for a gig. While I had it, and as it sat motionless in a guitar stand, the distinctive cast metal “R” tailpiece violently snapped. As a result of the “explosion”, the broken bridge swung up and put a small chip in the guitar’s finish. Can you imagine how badly I hated to break the news to my BIL. Turns out(thanks to some pre-break photos), we learned the bridge was already cracked before I borrowed it. We now know It’s a well documented design flaw with those bridges. Anyway, the fracture was tiny and easy to miss. But I was wondering why it kept going out of tune. Lol. So, I contacted Rickenbacker about a replacement bridge which they had for about $100. However, because of the counterfeit problem, they would only sell me one if I sent them the broken one…which I did. Thankfully, my bro in law was remarkably understanding. He paid for the replacement and didn’t blame me at all.

07:54 12 string Ricks have had the channels cut through all the way since the mid 2010s (I think) on the contemporary models, but it's not vintage spec. That guitar is a copy of the 1963 360/12 OS, the same model George Harrison used, with the double binding, shark fin inlays, twin stereo outputs, and the simple trap tailpiece (they're probably aiming this at Beatles tribute bands) so has them cut not-all-the way through. RIC does the same thing with with their vintage reissues of the 12 strings, RIC sells one as the 360/12 C64.

Great video. Another anomaly is that on a real Ric the thicker string is above the thinner one in the pair, I.e. on a downstroke the lower note will sound first.

I just bought a chickenbacker.620/12 Its finish is excellent and the overall workmanship is high. Strangely it was sent without a set up, nut slots were too high and saddles not intonated I don't think it had been tunes to pitch before it left the factory. Thanks to a video on Pat Connors channel Shed of Dreams, i was able to set it up. It took a week for the neck to settle. Next job is to wax-pot the microphonic pickups All-in-all its bloody amazing and i could never afford a real one on my farm boy's wages.

Owned several Ricks: 330’s, 360’s, 360-12 and McGuinn 370-12’s and the neck width seems to be similar to what you describe. The sound surprised me as being quite good. The failure to route the headstock is a big no for me as 12 strings are hard enough to change without the shallow area. $200+ bucks Vs. $2K may work.

It's a worthwhile buy for you and the audience, probably not for the guitar though. Would like to see more of these fun episodes!

I love it. I want one! It makes a mighty fine racket there. It's 4000 dollars cheaper than a real one. I could never save up that kind of coinage.

The biggest screw up of this company is... they cut the nut and stringed it like just another 12 string guitar, with the thin string of the pair first and the regular string second. Whereas Rickenbacker is known for the fact that their 12 strings have the pairs the other way round, the regular string first and the thin string second, contributing a lot of the unique sound of Rick 12s. Look at both headstocks together at 14:43 in the clip.

Great topic! I got my self a real one for a reasonable price some years ago. Never regretted it. Taking it on stage make you feel like a rockstar even when you’re not 😂 Thanks for entertaining vid!

Yeahhh Chickenbackers are a gamble; if you want a Ric copy for a good price, you really have to dig deep. Mine is an Indonesian-made 330 style from the now-defunct UK company Indie Guitars. Sounds great, it has HB-1 style pickups as opposed to toasters or Hi-Gains but it’s still bright like a Ric should be, and it’s a wonderful player.

We've been conditioned that anything fake is bad. But for the vast majority of vintage style instruments the difference between the fakes and the reals is not worth thousands of dollars. It's just not. If companies want to discourage the trend of buying knock offs the answer is correcting the market not tellinf us how much better they are than the knock offs.

I feel your pain. I've built a couple of 12 string electric guitars because I got a bug up my ass about making something different and I'm 100% sure I'll never make another one lol.

The way Rickenbacker designed it. The output you’re getting mono on is a TS jack. The other one is TRS for stereo. Trs in the jack and then one cord to one amp and the other one to the other. Then you use the pickup selector to toggle between them or in the middle is both neck and bridge. Easy way to tell if they put a stereo jack in it is if you plug into that with a regular TS cord and toggle between the pickups, only one pickup should be making sound.

If you turn up at your local blues night with a real Rick 12 you're likely gonna get some sideways looks.

i actually bought a fake 325 from Aliexpress and I'm extremely impressed by it, after new tuners and pickups it's amazingly fun to play

Usually on a Rickenbacker you either use a stereo cable that splits to two different amps, or you use a mono cable to one. Usually you don't use two separate cables out of the guitar.

Looks like the tail hook for the trapeze was made of mild stamped steel, which is not strong enough. The actual Ric piece is made of cast zinc. And historically, the inner string rout was a channel, like what you have there. Ric started cutting it all the way through just a few years ago. And yes, it's a huge PITA. I have two Rics with the channel.

Good work on getting that thing tuned up and functioning. 12 strings are a nightmare to me haha. One thing I’d consider is putting a piezo in the control cavity and using that 2nd jack for a piezo instead of the redundant.

I bought a fake Firebird the other day and I hate to say it but, it’s actually pretty impressive lol. It plays really well, huge neck, and what “probably-isn’t-but-feels-like” an ebony fretboard

The other thing to watch out for, is that the tenon for the neck isn't really up to the job of keeping the neck in place. The fretboard should be parallel with the body, you might notice it starting to pull up after a few weeks of tension.

As someone down the comments said - Rics have a narrower nut width than most guitars (no matter how many strings they have). They're better suited to folks with smaller hands. As mentioned by others, a Danelectro 12 would probably fit your hands a lot better for when you need a 12 in your sonic toolkit.

Looked through some of the comments and didn't see anyone mention one very important thing ,twelve string guitars are tuned down a step and a half to C#. I think you'll find it helpful. I imagine that somebody a the point of origin made the same mistake ,that's why the tailpiece blew out. Happy playing : )

In the last two years I have purchased a Chibson ES-335 and LP standard, and a Chickenbacker 325, all arrived in great condition and in good time. Hardware and pickups could certainly be better, but with my limited skills I set them up to my liking (restrung the 325 with flat wound 13's) and they play and sound just fine. For the three of them, I paid less in total than a new American-made Fender Strat. I'm happy with them. And if I become unhappy, I can Pete Townshend them into kindling at a bargain price.

I'm a guitar tech and had to do a 12 string setup today - this video was pretty cathartic lmao. BTW the "brutalist" tailpiece is actually a much more "correct" tailpiece - I kinda dig it too but dang that sucks it couldn't handle the 12 string tension lol

Ryan: Keep it 12 string! You could sand it down and do a dip paint style in white with black pink and neon green. Then if you can add in some black covered pickups and black hardware 🤩 kind of a stone roses vibe

Yes. Always wanted to have a Rickenbacker but they are sooo out of my budget.

Ryan, since this is only a project “RyanBacker” may I suggest that you route out the headstock/peg head holes to save your sanity? “If” you plan to keep it. Otherwise, no. It’s not worth the trouble to keep it as a 12 string. Even GOOD 12 string guitars are tuning nightmares, but at least they are beautiful, high quality machines, used for their sonic excess cacophony of noise! Well worth it when done correctly and with attention to detail. Cheers, 🥃 thx for the vid. Love the content. 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

Intonation on a 12 can be a total lottery. I hand built my own and opted for a zero fret to keep the action low. Even then I still had to tune the high G ever so slightly flat. It worked remarkably well.

I’ve got one of these(a lefty I got from a Beatles cover band guy in NJ on Reverb in 2018) and it’s still in pieces for overhaul after 5 years. Mines got all kinds of issues. Had tuner clash on the D strings until I replaced them and reamed out the holes. Filed out the headstock by the truss rod because the stings rubbed. Neck has a twist that will require the fingerboard removed, and I replaced every part that wasn’t wood.

Many genuine vintage Ricky 12 strings have the same style headstock without the full through headstock route

I bought a 350 Tokai Rockinbetter about 20 years ago and switched all the hardware and electrics for quality parts. Curtis Novak rebuild and rewound the pickups. It’s not a Rickenbacker, but it sounds dam good very much like a Ricky, especially with flats and compression. I don’t use it that much, so there was no point spending an additional $2500 - $3000 plus for real Rick. Nice video. Some of the older Rickenbacker headstocks are blanked off.

I think it's cool. If it was mine, I'd put the time in to lower the nut slots and set it up as well as possible. I've never owned a 12-string guitar. I think it's a keeper.

Love 12s. Gigged with a Rickie 12 in the 90s. That actually sounds pretty damn good if not for the other issues.

Around 1970 I got an Aria Rickenbacker 300 copy. A very well made guitar, excellent playability and electronics. Haven't been able to find anything related to this guitar. I think that it was one of the law suit guitars. Wish that I still had it.

I've purchased guitars from Aliexpress and DHGate and never had one come packed like that. All of them had been packed in form-fitted foam and arrived in excellent condition. Granted, they all required some adjustment and I immediately ditched the strings they came with to be replaced by Rotosound strings. But for what I paid, I got my money's worth and then some.

When you started strumming all of those out of tune strings, it sounded like some early 80s Sonic Youth noise jams

Aren't the strings on a ricky twelve supposed to have the thicker ones on the bass side? That is one of their unique features and affects the sound.

Definitely get the slotted headstock channel routed out in a future video, it’s absolutely crazy that they didn’t do that originally

I got a Danelectro 12-string because it's way more affordable, and I'm very happy with it- the neck is appropriately wide, although it's still a little tougher on the fingers than my other guitars. The tuning stability is pretty good too. You seemed pretty happy with the 12-string Jazzmaster- maybe that's more your bag?

I went with a Danelectro DC59-12, after an abortive attempt with a Gear4Music Tele 12 that weighed a ton and had major fret issues. Great guitar, very fun to play, quite light. One tip with a 12 - a bit of compression goes a long way. I use a JangleBox when playing into an amp or into the computer , it has a treble boost mode that takes out some boominess.

what a trooper! unboxed a disaster yet stepped up n "saved" it lol! most would send it right back but ryan tuffed it out!

I got one, sent it back immediately. It was the wrong size (36"), pickups/switch/knobs were basically unusable, paintjob was not good, and the headstock logo was laughably bad (like milk carton plastic with paint pen writing). I got a fake full-body Gretch instead and it's awesome, but it was at least $100 more.

Decent sounding pups, Guitar was even a little jangley. Not a bad deal for the money. Having to make repairs and set up on some new guitars is a drag, but when you've bought a few cheaper guitars, each purchase can be made expecting the luck of the draw upon receipt. For $200 bucks it's hard to complain if it's not too terrible.

A real Rickenbaker has the octave string below the regular string. Many other brands reverse this as you set this guitar up. The difference makes a distinct difference in the way the guitar sounds. Without seeing the nut, I can not tell which way the guitar was intended to be strung. Also, since you installed the standard gauge strings on the routed out tuners, that may have made them harder to install due to their greater thickness. I'm not defending the guitar, just pointing out a few things to consider. Maybe rethinking the string setup might help to make it a bit better.

You got the rare “already battered by Pete Townshend” model! 😆

I bought two fake Rickenbacker's at the same time from the same company on AliExpress The six string was truly a wonderful instrument IMHO I have enormous hands and it plays better for me than most Rickenbackers I consider it a good platform to electronically mod just to make it perfect as the "Bones were already there" The 12 string, which looks a lot like yours, had problems though… The slots in the headstock weren't properly finished and the lacquer was put on top of it covering the splinters as it were!🙄 Worst of all though is one side of the head stock was much longer than the other which meant that the tuner-post, on that side, didn't quite fit through! I was left to carve out/shorten the width of the head stock and then paint over it ...not great but especially bad when you consider that it was the side of the head start facing the player!

Thanks Patreon!

I think what you have there is a Orville Redenbacher. Just fill it with popcorn and enjoy! 🎉 🍿 😅

I'm glad you reviewed it, I'm planning on getting one with the expectation of spending as much again to make it playable. It just looks great!

It plays great out of the box! *aliexpress enters the chat*

I have a mid-'90s 360-12; that's the stereo (Rick-o-Sound) variant. I love it, because of its unique sound. I tend to play a lot of "non-Ric" stuff on it. I'm not a shredder, and generally play rhythmic arpeggios, so the Ric is unbeatable in that regard. The issues with the knock-off are many, but most of all, one would have to replace the nut and re-string Ric style. Part of the reason that guitar sounds so odd (if not terrible) is due to the string configuration. String selection is also critical in achieving the "octaves" sound. Also (and not at all surprisingly) those pickups sound terrible. They don't seem to have any particular character at all. So there is no real reason to try a model like this if your goal is to get something that sounds anything at all like a Ric. Reverend and Guild both make good-sounding "twelves" at affordable prices ...

Thanks En Jay, thanks Laura Garcia, Lance Phillip. This has been a deeply chaotic episode. Exactly what the patreon funded episodes are for.

Am I missing something? Why didn’t you just return it and have them replace it? I don’t have any experience with AliExpress. Do they not take returns?

Also your stereo mix with the jack will only work with a stereo plug into one of those jacks One jack should be mono, the other is designed to be the "Ricko-kit" jack for a stereo cable w two 1/4" outs to plug into two different channels or two different amps Your plug should be one Stereo 1/4" to two mono 1/4 " ends

I love janky 12 strings. I don’t think any I have had started with the neck that was on them. I also love the Ric shape. I dunno, I think no matter what, I’d try to distance it from being a crappy counterfeit and work it closer to being a Ric inspired odd-ball.

@23:55 it's the guitar and you. On skinnys but deep necks attack the strings from a higher angle like come in at at least 90

I kind of like it. The nut and bridge can be adjusted or replaced. I don’t know how the sound compares with a real one, but this one isn’t bad, especially for the price. I just wish that you could have kept the original tail piece it came with, just for that extra cheesy knock off look. Imagine getting up on stage with something that is so clearly a copy that just looks like it’s going to sound bad but actually sounds good

My mate bought one for a wall-hanger. He said it's perfect, but he's never plugged it in, tuned it or played it lol. He still has the trapeze thing fitted that it came with and his didn't do the thing yours did but he also said the strings were really lose when his arrived so I expect if he tuned it it likely would bend itself off the guitar. His is a black and white one and it looks great which is something I suppose lol.

An electric 12 string is something you may use once in a blue moon if that. Mine is a wall decoration unless im recording

"Meet The 'Ricken-Faulker"...wow. That's horrible. Almost an insult. If anyone out there is dying to get one of these, please be very patient and determined to treat yourself to the real thing. I wanted one for 20 years and I stuck to my guns by having a budget, saving, penny pinching and using some of my tax returns to make a lifetime dream come true. It's worth every goal to do the real deal and it's staying true to Rickenbacker and it's history. Yes, they're damn expensive and often finicky but again, if you're patient and get a really good set up with the right tech, you will not regret it.

the only nice thing about that guitar is the glossy fretboard! several years ago I picked up a Rickenbacker 12-string copy made by Dillion; it was on consignment at my local GC. It's 25.5" scale length and has a nice wide neck, so the fretboard isn't crowded, and it's super easy and comfortable to play. The fretboard is nonglossy, and it has dot inlays, so I bought a set of triangular Rickenbacker-style fake inlay stickers online, and they definitely make it look better. My only real complaint is that it has mini-humbuckers instead of single coil pickups.

As far as the original bridge, most guitars ship with no string tension so if the bridge was dependent on string tension to stay in place and the guitar shipped with the strings loose then that is probably why it fell off. I'm sure it was fine as is and didn't need replacing.

Unconnected question: would you mind sharing the gear you use to make the cast? The cameras, lights, mics and the fancy screen especially?

Have a Harley Benton 12 and IYV 6 string PickinBarker, and other cheap imports- it's a lot of fun to switch between them all, and I couldnt afford that luxury before. Are they touring quality? They are good enough for me

Ahhh I got a 12 string 330 copy a few years ago.......in some ways, they're pretty good, the superficial attention to details is pretty scary, but the basic stuff is pretty rough.

Lmao. Ryan shouting through the pickup got me

the two jacks are mono and stereo jacks.

I think I ordered the exact same guitar about a month or so ago. Like yours the part that holds the trapeze bent as I tuned it up requiring me to source one that I think is actually made by Rickenbacker. It is almost twice as thick. The Chinese manufacturers are cheaping out on that part, no question. Mine is currently unassembled as I decided to make it a project guitar. I'm going to route out the headstock slots for the tuners, I've changed the pickups to non-humbuckers, Chinese 40-buck ones, with Alnico-V magnets. (Weren't the original real Ricks single coil pickups?) I also poured some epoxy, JB Weld, into the pocket of the neck pickup to fill some gaps in the woodwork. I've not a clue how it will turn out but it's fun to mess with. I figure its a 300-dollar guitar, well $279.99. For me it's worth it as I can't afford the real thing and I like doing the work on it.

Which is that british sounding number he’s playing around 31:28 mins ?

Its sounds like a ricky 12, You just need to find out how the electronics function. And float that pickguard and a better shaped rod cover and bob's yer uncle. Give it a chance,it sounds pretty dang good.

should drill holes in the back of the headstock to match tuner positions to help with string changes

Want a good electric 12 string for a budget price? Check out the Revelation RJT12 „Jazzmaster“. Fantastic guitar, gets everything right that this Faker doesn’t. Super solid, great pickups with tonal variety, and HOLDS TUNE thanks to the zero fret. And it has a wide fretboard for playing comfort. Mine didn’t even need a setup out of the box. Can’t recommend it enough.

Rickenbacker and Gibson. Es twelve string are notorious for being skinny necks And often difficult to play at first

I had 1 of these, the neck snapped off under tension. The tenon on these are so weak and paper thin, some sort of cardboard wood also.

I Built an electric 12 string last spring from a Warmoth Hybrid Tele body and love it. I spent quite a bit more than $200 on it. I wouldn't pay money for that counterfeit.

Wow, I changed the R tailpiece for the same type you took off, exactly the opposite of what you did, ha ha. Mine came packed in a Styrofoam box, so no damage, yours was really poorly packed to say the least. I had to do a complete fret job and set up with new strings, but it plays very well and sounds great. The two jacks are just wired in series, mono mono. The next upgrade for mine will be wiring it to Rick specs to get the stereo jack working. If you do go for one of these you need to be able to do the work, but you will end up with a pretty decent guitar for thousands less than what an original costs. Providing they ship it in a proper box!

Nope....not for me.... glad you did this review. Your seller does not have a clue what to do with this build. My o my....not for this old player. 😢

I have 2 lefty PRS models, had to replace ALL hardware, and you should try finding a left handed PRS bridge....

Very Cool, Thankyou. Interesting Guitar. Looks great. I thought it really had that 12 String Rick sound (was it on The Bridge or maybe Both pickups together) early on in your playing Demo. Impressive really. The 'mix' was awesome.... until you stopped, lol. Wish we could get these into Australia, Ali-Express say they sell Guitars to Australia, but our Customs stop them for "Counterfeit". I guess I will have to stick to Using a Chorus Effect to try and achieve a 12 String Sound. All the Best. Cheers

Is there an official "cheap" or "knock-off" version of Rickenbacker? Along the lines of Epiphone, and Squire/Player. I would love to pick one up, but even used that I find aren't in the price range I want to pay.

You can get a used Ibanez AS73-12 for $300-$400 which is a VERY good 12 string out of the box and with a setup is a great 12 string. Get it Plekked and, though not a Rickenbacker, the Ibanez will be an excellent 12 string.

I have a 6 string version and it plays pretty good. I bought it used for a lower price and it was likely tinker on by the previous owner. It’s not a Rickie but it’s okay for the price and has the tone, looks but no where need the quality. For beater it’s fine.

While the looks from afar are pretty sharp, sounds like a 6 string is the way to go. Love the sound of a 12 but changing strings and tuning is a nightmare. That seems like a short neck?

For a 12 string save up, you get what you pay for most of the time. They even have a payment plans now so you definitely have more shopping power and options. You can get a better quality used 6 string (B.C. Rich, G&L, Carvin, Ibanez, Cort, Squire, Edwards, LTD) from a mom/pop guitar shop or even a Reverb/pawn shop for a bit more that will hold up and have better resale value then that thing.

I got one of those… hard to get used to the fretboard. Might need thinner fingers to play it as an all-around music. Fun for doing snippets of solos tho… Keeping mine. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤗😊

Now you need to make a custom decal that says, “Ryanbacker” and put it on the guitar. Lol.

Did you have to pay customs fees when ordering from AliExpress? I've had my eye on one of their chibsons .

26:18. Thank you for the two princes. I thought maybe you forgot them again for 26 minutes.