rodl2005 Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Picked this up a few days ago. Will do it's 1st gig (with me-& looks like with ANYBODY) tonite-Fri. in our classic rock band. Damn near NEW condition, in OHSC & with orig Greco polish cloth & sales tags!!! 1978?!?!? Feels LOVELY to play, sounds warm & pretty versatile- quite dark w/ neck pup, & 'bitey' w/ bridge pup! DAMN near NEW- Oh I said that.... Next to ZERO fret wear- no dings..... Hope I can keep it that way too! REALLY looking forward to tonites gig w/ it. Opinions???? Anyone with any links or info on these'd be appreciated also! I mean I know it was built in '78 in the Matsomuko(??) Factory-Japan... Fender Bought that co. right??? Became Fender Japan??? That right too?? Cheers, Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allighatt0r Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Wow that's a nice bit of kit you've got your hands on there! Where did you get it from? Did you put the flat wounds on or is that how it came? You should put a post in the Rickenfakers thread in the ebay links section of the forum pointing those guys in this direction, they'll probably be able to tell you all you ever wanted to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelk27 Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 [quote name='rodl2005' post='476808' date='May 1 2009, 09:56 AM']Anyone with any links or info on these'd be appreciated also! I mean I know it was built in '78 in the Matsomuko(??) Factory-Japan... Fender Bought that co. right??? Became Fender Japan??? That right too??[/quote] Greco is a brand name owned by Kanda Shokai. Starting in the 60s, Kanda Shokai contracted various factories, including Matsumoku, to produce instruments under the Greco brand. Fender licensed Kanda Shokai and Yamano Gakki in the 80s. Kanda and Yamano contracted FujiGen Gakki to manufacture the initial run of Fender Japan instruments. As part of its Fender licensing agreement Kanda Shokai had to stop production of Greco-branded, Fender-style instruments. Although some parts intended for Greco instruments were utilised in the early production of Fender Japan branded instruments. Singer Corporation owned Matsumoku Industrial. Matsumoku was contracted by Aria to manufacture instruments. Through its contract with Gibson to produce Epiphone instruments, Aria sub-contracted Matsumoku. When Gibson moved production out of Japan, Matsumoku Industrial went bust. In short, Fender had no connection with Matsumoku Industrial, and Matsumoku never manufactured any instruments for Fender. As for Greco (although pages in Japanese), check here: [url="http://homepage3.nifty.com/greco/"]http://homepage3.nifty.com/greco/[/url] [url="http://psyco.jp/greco/siryo.html"]http://psyco.jp/greco/siryo.html[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 (edited) [quote name='rodl2005' post='476808' date='May 1 2009, 10:56 AM']Anyone with any links or info on these'd be appreciated also! I mean I know it was built in '78 in the Matsomuko(??) Factory-Japan... Fender Bought that co. right??? Became Fender Japan??? That right too?? Cheers, Rod[/quote] Doubtless Jon will be along to set you right, but I think Grecos were built by a number of factorys including Fuji Gen, who did indeed go on to build jap Fenders. The were never 'Fender Japan' though, just one of the factories that have built japanese Fenders (along with Dyna and Tokia a bit later). I might be imagining it but I think Jon said there was some doubt about which factory actually made the rickenfakers - I'd guess Fuji Gen looking at the checkered binding, but Jon's your man for these kind of details. Incidentally, Matsumoku weren't bought by anyone - Singer (who owned the factory) closed it in 1987 and later the factory burned down. Edited May 1, 2009 by Musky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Wow - where did you find that? Pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 That really is one of the nicest fakers I've seen. I love mapleglo. Just don't tell the Rickresource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Porn I feel........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmz Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 You got yourself a real beaut there - that wonderful Japanese attention to detail strikes again. Let us know how the gig went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassassin Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Absolute beaut, fantastic condition too. Tell us the serial & I can date it exactly. Your bass is a Fujigen, like Musky said. Kanda contracted Matsumoku (through Aria) and Fujigen simultaneously at the beginning of the 70s, and as the decade went on, production seemed to move wholly to Fujigen. Initially they actually sold Mat & Fujigen Rick copies simultaneously. The old Greco catalogues [url="http://psyco.jp/greco/cata.html"]here[/url] are fascinating - if you like that sort of thing... Anyway your bass is an RB700N and appears in catalogues commencing around 1977 - initially the Fujigen copies were less accurate & had early 70s Rick detailing like full-width inlays & chequered binding alongside big chrome Gibson-looking pickups. These same basses were also sold badged as Ibanez. The Mats were very accurate, right down to twin truss rods, wavy Grover-type tuners & a translucent scratchplate. Fujigen gradually updated their design to have the correct hi-gain type pickups & smaller inlays (but kept the rather cool binding), and it seems Kanda phased out the Mat versions & bolt-neck Fujigens at the same time. Greco was/is predominantly a Japanese home-market brand & while the Rick copies disappeared from the export market by the end of the 70s, it appears that they remained available in Japan at least until the 90s, in various guises & configurations. Jon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodl2005 Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 1978 MINT condition Greco Ric copy. w/ a few minor upgrades- CTS pots put in,, I WAS thinkin re new RIC or SD pups, but the ones in it sound great! A/B'd it with a similar year Real RIC last nite & was eeerily similar!!! VERY close sounding!! & I think the main prob w/ mine were simple things like the pup height for example. Sounds SUPERB thru my Tube amps!!! I know in these pics the PUP cover is mountd on OUTSIDE.... it's NOW been rectified & is mounted underneath. BUT I may visit www.pickguardian.com & get some of their Ric bridge pup surrounds.... Cheers, Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 (edited) Hang on, I'm havin' a deja vu. You posted about this on May 1 - The original thread was moved to gear porn here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=47906"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=47906[/url] And it's still a lovely rickenfaker. Cheers Edited May 12, 2009 by skankdelvar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Very pretty, looks very convincing too. The only thing that really sets it apart lookwise is the wider skunkstripe in comparison to a real 4001. But still, with another truss rod cover, I'm sure it would fool many Rickenbacker enthousiasts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanSpeeltBas Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 A real beauty - must be great sounding as it stems from a glorious period of the Fuji Gen Gakki factory. They made the Ibanez Studio & Musician neckthrough, as well as similar Greco and Roland models. The near-identical Ibanez Rick-copy is also a great find, used by Bruce Foxton in The Jam's early days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbigniew Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Absolutely gorgeous !!! I wouldn't mind having that bass as well as the original Rickenbackers with the checkered binding. z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodl2005 Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 Sheeeeiiiiit!!!! Deja vu.... the ol' brain's a bit dodgy these days!! Sorry! Yeah it sounds great. will report after a few gigs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodl2005 Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 HEy THANX for the info & LINKS. Gig went OK- had to do a li'l adjusting re the pups height etc... But all in all she SOUNDS LOVELY. It actually has OLD roundwounds on it. Quite possibly the 2nd set ever on it. The orig. flats it came with are included! Will add more after more gigs & experience. Thanx again. Rod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Hmmmmmm a clitch in the Matrix...... Agent Bob will merge these 2 topics...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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