Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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hansbrinker
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Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:19 pm

Hello!

Long time lurker, some time poster here. I've embarked on a curious journey and I thought some of you might enjoy the ride — its problems, pitfalls and (hopefully) successes! I dare not post this on a Rick forum... if I did John Hall would have drones over my house within the hour!

A quick note before I begin: This is an informative and entertainment based post. I am not interested nor will I partake in any conversations about the ethics/morality/anything else regarding Chinese fakes/replicas/whatever you may call them. The guitar I am having built has been out of production for more than 50 years and once I get my copy it will never be resold. I happen to have a real Rickenbacker 360v64 12-string that I love, so it's not about screwing over Rickenbacker or any other company.

Whew! Now that that's out of the way...

I often trawl the depths of the Chinese *ahem* replica market and I stumbled upon a 'custom' shop that offered a truly rare and (frankly) unobtainable classic guitar model — the Rickenbacker 360F. I've always been intrigued by this elusive, rare beast ever since I saw Martin Rotsey of Midnight Oil playing a 60's-era 360F in the video for 'Blue Sky Mine' (though his is a 12-string - mine will be 6). The model that I am having made for me is based on the '50s' model, which was last manufactured in 1964. To buy a real Rick 360F — if you can find one — is to pay easily $5000.00 and up. I've even seen them over $10,000.00. For those of you not familiar with the model, here's a pic of an original 360F - obviously not mine (with drool-worthy amp):

Image

To find out more about the 360F, go here:

http://www.rickenbacker.me.uk/home/F_Series.html

Back to my 'replica.' After putting down a small down payment (in early May) I have been eagerly awaiting pics and updates. As with any quasi-shady business venture, the communication has been spotty and the pics have been sparse, to say the least. Finally, last week, I received a rough pic of the unfinished neck. First impressions — the rosewood looks pretty decent, correct number of frets, and the triangle inlays are pretty close to the original (the fingerboard will be lacquered like all Ricks). I requested the neck be three pieces with the headstock being 5 pieces of wood like the original - and it is! Here's the pic:

Image

Another week went by and after pestering them for a few days they sent me a photo of the body... except that the top is arched when I specifically asked for the top to be flat like the original. The seller admitted as much when she sent it - which explains the delay - and she said she'll send pics of the corrected body in the next few days. We'll see...

Anyway, here's the (wrong) body pic:

Image

That's where it stands so far. For you trainspotters, here are the specs I requested (and what they could and couldn't do):

I initially requested a maple body. They gave me a basswood body and wouldn't seem to budge on that. Whatever, it's an electric guitar and for the price point I can't complain.
3-piece maple neck with a 5-piece headstock (yes)
Rosewood fingerboard with crushed 'pearl' triangular inlays, 22 frets (yes)
'Checkerboard' binding around body (yes)
2 'Wilkinson' (Chilkinson?) toaster-style pickups (which I'll probably swap out)
Bone nut (yes... we'll see!)
Gold(ish) pick guard and TRC (yes)
'Autumnglo' finish - which is kind of between a red sunburst and a tobacco sunburst (yes)

I didn't specify tuners since I'm going to swap them out since most Chinese ones are junk. The seller doesn't offer TV knobs as an option, but I already have a set left over from another project so I'll use those. They also have just a cheap, generic tailpiece which I'll swap out with the long Rick metal trapeze tailpiece you see in the photo of the original.

For now I'll hold off on giving out any info regarding the seller or what I've paid — I want to wait until I've received the guitar and I'm satisfied before I relay those bits. I'll post updates (if anyone's interested) and maybe even post an unboxing vid once it's all done.

Thanks!
Last edited by hansbrinker on Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by NoiseNoiseNoise » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:31 pm

*gets popcorn, waits for next episode* ;)
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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by JBhome » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:44 pm

While I hope your post is helpful to someone, I can't help but feel that the message of 'chinese knock off = dodgy' is akin to saying 'I was shocked to find bear sh!t in the woods'.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:51 pm

It's not meant to be helpful, necessarily... more like "I wonder what would happen if I custom-ordered a 'dream' guitar from China and how good/bad would it be?' But I get your point.

I'm going into this with eyes wide open. I bought an LP knock-off from stock inventory at DHgate years ago and have a love/hate relationship with it. It's a fun platform to mod, but it's just an LP, you know? How much more fun would getting a weird old Rick copy be? I'll find out!

That said, Chinese quality is rapidly improving and I've been quite amazed at some of the quality work that's coming out of there.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by mediocreplayer » Wed Jun 01, 2016 12:56 pm

Yeah I am following this as well. The potential for it exploding (or going well) makes it difficult not to.

I have never seen this Ric model before.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:00 pm

The 50/50 chance of disaster has made it too intriguing not to do. The fact that this could turn into a weird, mutant hybrid guitar makes it exciting! :freako:

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by Fiddy » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:11 pm

im getting one built as we speak.

Should be ready in about 6 weeks.

Pic of the headstock logo plan.


Image

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:17 pm

That TRC is awesome. Are you getting a 360F model too?

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by Fiddy » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:27 pm

Yes, a 360F.

I was thinking of getting the long tailpiece for it, but i might just leave the Wilkinson.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:42 pm

Sheesh. Here I was thinking I was all special. :derp: Maybe we can compare notes once they're done.

What color will yours be?

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by Fiddy » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:48 pm

So far, fireglo.

Unless i change my mind. :whistle:

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by Fiddy » Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:59 pm

Hansbrinker, no need to start 2 threads.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:02 pm

Like I said, I'll remove this if requested but I know this forum gets more action. Just thought people might be interested.

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by Fiddy » Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:06 pm

Theres just no reason to post the same thread twice on two different sub-forums. People will get to it. If you feel one sub-forum has more traffic, post it in that one, provided it is still the appropriate one.. :)

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Re: Chinese Rick saga... join me, won't you?

Post by hansbrinker » Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:15 pm

Ok. I'll leave this as is and any updates will only be made on the non-offset forum.

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