Wednesday, November 13, 2024
BassGuitar Tips & Hacks

1970’s Rickenbacker copy has been in storage for 40 years. Will it work?


A Made in Japan Rickenbacker bass copy – who made it? I have no idea! Please let you know if you have any ideas.

So, my friend dropped this bass off the other day. It was the bass he used back in the late 1970’s up til 1984, when it went into storage. It hasn’t seen the light of day since then.

There’s zero budget on this project, we just want to see if we can get it up and running with what we have (even the strings were reused from another bass!).

Thanks as ever for watching

Dunsy

#1970s #Rickenbacker #copy #storage #years #work

Originally posted by UCLPad1KeyuMjfoO4N0o1IDg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgziADQ4v4

42 thoughts on “1970’s Rickenbacker copy has been in storage for 40 years. Will it work?

  • I have owned a Univox Stereo Bass since 1990, I can say with certainty you can cross Univox off the list of what this might be. The only thing about this that is the same is the jack plate.

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  • I would say that is a C M I clear tone musical instruments rick copy C M I was a branch of marshal amplification
    They were made till 1974 no serial numbers on any instruments the tuners and the binding stopping just behind the bridge as a Rick bass, just asingle truss rod
    Got one myself great bass
    Thinck they was made in the same factory as shaftsbury

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  • Ahh, a bit of "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight"…great riff! Could be an Aria Pro II Rickenbacker RB750. Also "Goose/d" used in London too. "Goose 'n' Duck"…

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  • Nice job getting it working again. I have an identical Shaftesbury bought around '72 in a Glasgow music shop. Rose Morris was the distributor for Shaftesbury guitars. In the 80's one pickup stopped working so I replaced both pickups and the pick guard in stainless steel. It is still great to play with a lovely neck and nice action. When I was shopping for a Rick I tried the ones in the shop and this copy had a nicer neck and sounded better than the Rick and was at least half the price of the Rick. No contest! See and here it in action here: https://youtu.be/8UD4seXFzu0

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  • If you appeared on stage with that and played that sort of stuff, everybody would be talking about the guy with the cool Rickenbacker bass and no one would care that it's just a copy. Does need a truss rod cover though.

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  • 4001 copy. I have a 77 4001. You can get a control Knob from Rickysounds also anything Ric!????????????????????????????

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  • Bridge had a rubber pad adjustable by two thumbscrews to act a a mute you can engage/disengage

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  • I have and still use occasionally a Diamond branded Ric copy that is very similar except it is a bolt on neck. It's actually a very good bass.

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  • I'm a guitar bodger… But yunno I can get a guitar playing and working, if I buy a junk shop guitar I'm not going to pay quadruple the amount I paid for it to a Luthier. Just managed to remove a set neck with heat and reset it, luckily I pulled it off.

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  • As a lad I used to regularly pass a pawn shop in Penge that had a "Hondo" Ric copy like this on display, amongst other cheap copy guitars. I always rather fancied it, but had zero fiances at the time.

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  • Also the bridge pickup screws have been changed the pickup should have threaded holes for metric thread to raise lower the pickup looks like someone put wood screws in there.

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  • i have one the same as this and mine is a CMI but i think the shaftesbury is the same.
    there would have been a mute at the back thats missing that you could raise or lower.
    i drilled two screw holes through the back of the bridge to get mine sitting flat.

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  • I bought a hondo 11 p bass for 40quid the other week. The condition of it looked like it had been in a leaky shed for 20yrs..i cleaned it up best I could and fixed the wires back onto the input. Surprisingly it's working again. But the neck is warped

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  • I dunno why, but I was hoping to hear Blowin' Cool. ????
    My first real bass was a bolt-on Ric copy, very similar to this one. Had the two jacks as well. Now I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. Not enough to pick up the bass in the corner, but almost. It's pretty cool. If I lived nearby, I'd make an offer for it, so, best wishes for your mate.

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  • The writing under the scratch plate is Japanese Katakana. It reads cherry sunburst with the sunburst slightly abbrevieted to (cherry-sunba). The Japanese made some quality lawsuit guitars. Love the channel. Cheers!

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  • To clean the pitting off that chrome hardware you can screw up a piece of tin foil a few times and dip it in water and give the pitting a scrub.
    It works quite well!

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  • That looks like something out of Bostons on leith walk if you remember that shop. I would use a Dremmel with a disk to cut a slot in the screw on bridge that way you can reuse it

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  • That's a cool bass, it did a pretty convincing Motörhead! Ted Woodford is one of my favourites too, the man's a genius.

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  • It’s very probably a late 70’s Greco RB 800, I would even consider a very early Fernandez due to the inlays. Very early ones had pants incorrect style pickups.
    The ultra high end ones even had the Rick correct double truss rod!
    Sorry but I’m a geek on these… any serial number would help?

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  • Nice one mate, yeah, I watch T. Woodford too, you are spot on, he is a true craftsman and very relaxing to watch.

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  • That looks exactly like the bass of Peter Hook his first bass was a Rick copy in that sunburst and even the timeline is accurate.
    Wonder if it could be the same person or brand that did that one too ?

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  • You right handers have all the fun…. i was waiting for a bit of Chris Squire to coming blasting out….

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  • Sounds great. Proper Rickenbacker growl…nice bit of Bruce Foxton in your playing as well!

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  • Cracking sound Dunsy. Oor Graeme Schandenbrau might have some insight into the make/model. He’s got 3 random Ricks in his collection the now. He’s as close to an aficionado on Trick Ricks that I know ????

    Reply

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