Skybone

It is Pod. He used to work in Electro Music in Donny. IIRC, the other members of Bravado worked there too.

Not too keen on the new one piece strap button / screw arrangement.

No complaints of the old design Schaller's here either. Have them fitted to all my guitars & basses.

The Guitar Gallery Check out the Guitar Gallery, loads of info on Matsumoku era Aria's, inc. catalogue scans.

Nope, he's Pod. Used to work for Electro Music in Doncaster, but now works for Rich Tone in Sheffield. He's still got a couple of Rush notation books of mine!

I used to say that the power would probably blow before the amp, and if it did, the PA would be useless. They still insisted on it though. Never had it with the guitar though.

There used to be a great Rush tribute band based in South Yorkshire, called "Bravado".

I remember having the same discussion with the house sound guys when they put a DI box in front of my bass. The stock answer back then was "in case the amp blows". It never did blow though.

Tried an Octave Mandolin a few years back, been fancying one for a while, but can never find an inexpensive one.

I've got both a Polytune and a Unitune. Bought the Poly years ago for a good price, but it's tendency to 'lose' the E string & drop into polytune mode became annoying. Picked up a Unitune last year, it's quick and accurate, and doesn't lose the E string.

Mr Wire is known for using Ric's as well, so I think it would more than likely be a mod to a standard J, so that he can get Ric-like sounds out of the J without changing basses. Just a theory though.

I must admit that I love their aesthetics. I never thought that my old 4003 gave that "classic" Ric sound (it was a pre-Vintage Circuit model), but it still sounded superb to my ears. More "plummy" than any Fender or Fender derived bass I've played over the years (though that may or may not have been down to slightly changing how I played). Would I have another? In a shot. But they're still overpriced outside the US, and the second hand market is buoyant, new instrument discounts are very rare (I did hear that Rossetti used to "police" the retailers, and threatened to remove the Ric franchise if the retailer was "caught" discounting a Ric instrument - whether that's Urban Myth or what I don't know, but there would appear to be very few Ric's on discount anywhere outside the US). Guess I'll just have to be happy with my Faker's for now.

Welcome! :)

Bumping the Fakers

And that includes older kids with mortgages & other responsibilities too. The discussion of Ric's AND RickenFakers is fine (see the "All New RickenFaker" thread ). Thing is, Ric's (and Fakers) are "Marmite" bass. Unfortunately, most seem to hate them.

Not quite, but close. Especially if you get a through neck Faker.

I had to sell my old 4003, as much as I didn't want to, at the time, I had no choice but to sell it. Do I regret it? Yes & no. Yes, because it was a great bass. No, because the money I sold it for got me out of a pickle, and I managed to get a new bass as well (the fact that it wasn't the right bass for me at the time, and was soon sold on, is neither here nor there). Which kind of brings us back to the "budget" Rickenbacker argument. As stated previously, companies such as Fender & Gibson have their own "budget" brands, like Squier & Epiphone. Add to that, upstart companies like PRS, EBMM, G&L, etc. all have "budget" lines, for the people who aspire to own & play their top line instruments, but can't afford to. These "budget" manufacturer's produce high quality instruments, in line with the parent companies Quality Control guidelines, and so can and do, produce excellent instruments that feed people's desires to own a quality product for less, but also help to feed their desire to own one of the "premier" products when they can afford to. Hence why I play Fakers. I can't afford a Ric, as much as I'd like to. Even importing one from the US is not an option, as although they're relatively cheap to buy over there, then you have to factor in shipping & then import tax. A Faker is as close to a Ric as I can afford just now, but also, I can have a few of them for far less than the price of a real one. My old Jetglo 4003 No.1 Faker (Rockinbetter) No.2 Faker (Bass Collection Californian with Retrovibe pickups) The point? I like really like Rickenbacker's.

Youth isn't "ex Killing Joke" anymore, he's been playing & recording with them since 1994's "Democracy" album.

Intrigued, and wondering whether these will be made to fit into a Ric or a Faker as well as the Fender pattern. I've always wondered why a pickup manufacturer can't make a single, split coil replacement pickup for a Ric (as in 2 coils, like that on a split coil P bass, but next to each other, not staggered like the P pickup)… Maybe that can be your next challenge for the Pickup chap.

What's the difference between Warwick Red's, Yellow's & Black's??? I've used Red's before, quite liked them, but not my favourites. Lasted well though. Much prefer the now defunct Fender 7350m's.

Wide open on my Fakers

They do look like a fine pair! Fabulous work.