I forgot that you can custom order Chinese basses to your specifications like nut width, scale, color and that is fantastic. CNC machines are so exact that even an inexpensive Chinese made instrument will be better quality than some known brands that were made 20 years ago. As long as you use name brand electronics, and hardware, you should have an excellent bass for well under 1000 Euros. I can't believe how FAST they made that for you. Even 3 months is incredibly fast for a custom build.

I love how everyone says you're hurting an American brand by buying a Chinese copy but obviously the original company is doing fine if they are consistently selling out. It's simple, if the company doesn't have stock, the customer will take their money elsewhere. Customers are impatient, either you can get mad at the customer or realize that companies need to adapt.

That looks and sounds great. I’m glad it worked out for you!

Great success story!! Congratulations on your new bass. It looks great!

Good looking Bass . Very impressed with the manufacturer. Hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of it .

It looks and sounds pretty close to the real thing. I imagine if you installed actual Rickenbacker pickups and circuitry, you could really get that sound. Especially with the push pull vintage capacitor.

Great video, fantastic bass, really enjoyed watching that.

Greetings from 'across the pond.' Impressive Rickenbacker copy. Looks great in the matt finish. Assume electronics are good. Glad you are pleased. Play On !

Beautiful bass and you saved so much money, great to see man

Nice looking bass. I love the walnut color.

That is a handsome instrument. Congrats!

Dude that's awesome congrats! Some of the best instruments (and musicians for that matter) have gotten replicas of famous USA guitars. That thing looks phenomenal!

Looks so cool!

Ahhh ok so now i know where the b roll bases come from on ebay - they are bases like the first one that you rejected. Your bass is awesome by the way! I watched a presentation where they said the best advertising for the real thing are knock offs! Having a copy of the real thing motivates consumers to pursue the real thing when they can afford it!

I’m glad that you had good luck with your builder. Looks great. Chinese copies are a real gamble.

Man I'm impressed.I've thought of trying to do the special order thing but for a 12 string bass.I have my reservations however due to the special problems with neck tension.

Say what you want about Chinese manufacturing. I picked up a new Chinese laminate double bass about three years ago; $750 including bow, bag, and a rosin cake. Although the strings it came with were fine, I replaced them with a set of Spirocore Weichs, and added a Fishman pick-up. This thing sounds like a carved old world masters instrument! I've gigged all over town with it. I get as many compliments on the sound, as I do with my high end boutique Ken Smith six string electric. Man, is it ever a keeper!

That's pretty cool! I like it.

I have the Harley Benton rick style, looks great sounds great , play's great. Im a beginner so what do i know. As soon as i got it it was sent off for a professional set and replaced the strings , the luitheir said it was a fantastic guitar and didn't need much work Maybe one day ill get the real deal, but so far im happy with what i have

Nice. Sounds great 🏁⭐🏁

That sounds incredible!

Awesome, I've been planning one with iyv

I as well ordered a Custom Chinabacker, mine will be with Fender PJ pickups on it , I can't wait to get it lol

Pretty sweet for a "Chickenbacker"

Looking at the configuration of the hardware, yours appears to be a match of my Harley Benton rick bass. Sadly, you have the same bridge which has those loose “barrel” saddles” underneath the strings. If the string is broken or when you change strings you’ve gotta account for those steel barrel shaped saddles. I looked into finding a Rick bass Bridge, it does not appear to be able to match. Would like to hear from someone who tried that. You have a single coil with massive pole magnets. The bridge is a hum bucker. The single coil is pretty hot and has a lot to do with their version of a Ric-o-sound. I like it! I removed The cover over it. I removed that from my true Ric as well. I found the bezel attached to the pick up to be too thin and annoying to the rest of the man. I found a nice solution by using black elastic hair bands (for pony tails). Putting enough on and around the pick up makes for a nice soft landing for the phone. Just thought I’d put that out there for somebody broke their bezel. Whereas mine is the traditional cherry burst was plastic white Pickguard and dots on the fretboard. It was less money than what you spent and I have my original Rickenbacker safe at home while I use this one. Mine plays great and love the sound. The big negative with me is the bridge. And I’ll cross that bridge when I find a solution. Probably some kind of adhesive. Spotwelding is out because of the Chrome.

really nice & good sound too congrats

I bought a CS 4001 in China. It needs a setup but don't play bad. I'm gonna havta rip out the guts and put new electronics in it but I knew that going in. The headstocks reversed but Im just glad it got here, and in 1 piece.

Looks beautiful, one day ill get one

Just ordered one, same as yours. $388, ebony neck, 60 day build time. I paid with PayPal so no risk. When it arrives, I will rewire it and change the pickups to real Ric ones. Then my luthier is going to change the bridge and make it the Ric 33.25" scale length, SIT RB strings. If the frets are awful, I may defret it. We'll see. I also specified walnut headstock. They still have the first one they made for you with the mismatched headstock. They tried to sell me that one, but I prefer to wait for the matching headstock and ebony neck. I don't pretend I will end up with a Ric clone, but it should be a really good tribute. Something to keep me going until the real Ric 4003s/5 I have on order arrives, hopefully before the end of the year.

In a perfect World....Your "Walnut Ricky" would be in Geddy Lee's "Big Beautiful Book of Bass"!!! 😄 Cheers From Ohio p.s.....LOVE the Metal Pickup Cover rather than the "plastic" version!

A while back I had to sell my Rick to help the mum pay the house taxes.But I was able to make do with a Ibanez Korean knock off for a while.I eventually got a Rick but trading my MTG card collection.So it all worked out.Like your bass

well done sounds really nice, wonder if you could tell me what make of pickups and tuners do they use

I wonder if it'd be possible to find one of these factories that does a short scale Stingray copy

What's with the massive square chunk of neck next to the body?

Super looking bass. I wish it came in a short scale, though.

Bought a Chinese LP copy a number of years ago. The tuners it came with were literally not fit for the purpose. They could not be called actual tuners. The frets needed serious work as well. The rest was passable but below average. Over the years I have swapped out the pickups, the bridge and the nut as well. Now it is as good as many USA Les Pauls. I think that for around 450 Canadian, plus another 800 for new parts and for pro labour, you can basically get the equivalent of a 4k Gibson LP. The guitar that actually comes from China, however, will probably be pretty poor and require immediate work.

Beautiful looking bass man! I was just wondering, did these chinese manufacturers put on the Rick-O-Sound setup, too?

Sounds amazing,

I traded for a Chinese made Rickenbacker counterfeit bass thinking I could use it as a project bass. This one looks better than the one I have, but there are some similarities such as the metal pickup cover. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncan Ric humbuckers, a new nut (the one that came with it was very high), a new Allparts bridge, and new pots and switch. The biggest and most costly mod other than the pickups was placement of the bridge closer to the bridge pickup as mine was a 22 fret and it would never intonate correctly from the original placement. The bass is playable and might be gig-worthy, but it pales in comparison to a real Ric. I got an actual Ric last year and it is quite a difference in quality and playability. The neck is thick like a P bass at the neck and becomes flatter toward the body. It is true about the wait times. I ordered mine in March of 2021 and it arrived right before Christmas. That's in the US, so I can understand the frustration with waiting forever in Europe.

It sounds exactly like a Ric! Curious if you’ll be satisfied or if you’ll continue to have an itch for the real thing.

I love it ❤️

Would love to hear how it sounds with flatwound strings

Some things are worth the wait.

How about a link to or name of the company you used?

great purchase man, looks beautiful. How can you fix the fret buzz problem without compromise the first frets?

So the scale length and neck dimensions are the same as a usa?

Who is the factory? Do you have a link? Thanks.

Congratulations - I just got one but the pick ups sound bad - where can I get replacement

The one I ordered from China was great but it sucked with flats. Weak neck. My bud who got it from me loves it. He loves very light strings that start at .040 to .095 or .100.

It even sound better than the real rickens, that’s great cool videos, please share the seller, I want one, cheers

I’m Always tempted by these chickenbackers, but I hear so many disaster stories that I hesitate. If I ever hear of a specific place that does decent work though, like you, I’d see it as a stop gap til I can get the real deal from Rick.

Dude, I live in the USA and even here it can take forever to get a real Ric unless you are fortunate enough to find a retailer that has some in stock. That thing looks great, a Chinese “custom shop.” Sounds like a Ric too, great value!!!

I'd love a chickenbacker in candy apple red, upgraded with a Gibson Mudbucker in the neck, a J bass bridge pickup and a Leo Quan Badass bridge. Not traditional, but it's the look I like with Ricks, nothing else. Might Custom order one, as well

Which builder made this one?? I like it a lot! I've been looking at neck thru versions specifically and only found 1 currently making them. Was the neck thru something you specifically requested for this custom build??

How are you liking the bass after owning/playing it for some time? Do you have a link to where you bought your Chinese replica Rickenbacker copy?

You never said who made the bass, or the website? Please post it?

Yo igual tengo uno de esos pero aparte de los ajustes en el puente y el mástil le cambié las pastillas por unas Seymour Duncan y el sonido q genera es increíble obviamente no es un sonido Rick pero aún así es mejor para mí gusto

So the good, bad, and ugly of these Chicenbackers is well documented all over KZfaq. I personally have bought two. One thing I want to bring to everyones attention is the lack of individual saddle height adjustment, and there's zero radius on the bridge. So you cannot get the strings to match the fretboard radius unless you shim under the saddles. However, on the second one I ordered, they did have a bridge with this important feature. They actually were willing to sell me a second bridge fo $20USD for my other 4003.

Who did you buy the bass from? I am not really familiar with ali express. You can message different manufacturers?

If im never gonna have the money for a real one should i just get one of these? Worth it?

I have a "Magical Mystery Tour" Chinese Rick #4001. I love it. It looks great. It needed about $75 worth of set-up and a set of Rotosound Swingbass 66 strings really transformed this instrument into a nice, cool-looking and good playing bass; at an extremely affordable price.

MAN, IT SOUNDS LIKE A REAL ONE...TIGHT, ROOMY, LOUD, PUNCHY AND THICK CHARASTERISTIC RICKY TONES....

So cool. Did you get it from DHGate?

Thats the way to buy a Guitar or Bass from China. You must contact a bunch of sellers with an unadvertised request. Never just hit buy now. Ask for something they don't have like Ebony fret board custom logo or different finish. Any that don't reply within a day are out, any that say the equivalent of "hey just what you see buddy" , are also out as they are only resellers. You have to make certain that you are dealing with the factory who is making the Guitars in the photos. It is essential if you are to stand any chance of getting a guitar that has any chance of ever being any good. You then want progress photos so you can do your own QA as they will send you whatever they think they can get away with. You will have to be prepared to do some work on whatever you buy. If you're lucky a bit of fretwork will be all thats needed. But usually you'll be finishing fret ends then level and crowning them assuming the trussrod works and you can get the neck flat. You'll end up buying a new nut because the one fitted either be installed scewed or filed to death And the electrics will either be wired back to front out of phase or totally wrong with the added bonus of crappy soldering so that even if it works it won't for long. Usually its then a case of changing out Hardware as its practically a given that the tuners will be rubbish along with the pot metal bridge and the unpotted pickups. .

You should post the manufacturer's info above.

Wow, that looks really nice. Would you mind telling me which seller you contacted...?

Hi Thomas. I have one coming from a Chinese factory, but with a glossy version. Can you share from what Chinese factory that you had your bass made?

Sounds beefy 👌.

nice guitar

OK, so where did you the bass which on the store

Which one of the ten thousand companies did you get this from?

My Harley Benton is the identical instrument (but black, not walnut). Best value around. Got mine from Thomann.

Nice one! How can I find the seller you used?

how can i obtain one like this? how do I find out from which manufacturer was your bass?

Do you have a link to where you got it? Thanks.

So, is this a 30" scale or 34" scale instrument? I too have been eyeing the [so-called] "Chickenbackers" for some time now as a viable way to "get the Ric sound" without paying unjustifiable sums for a real one. See, I like the Ric sound and vibe enough that I would like to have it in my arsenal, but not enough that I'd be willing to shell out Ric prices to have it. The signature "clung" is a ton of fun, but not anything I could see ever becoming "my main thing". I know the pickups and wiring aren't really accurate with the "Chics", but apparently actual Ric pups and looms are available at not-incredibly high prices. So, if the neck/body construction (neck-thru like yours rather than set neck like most I find) and scale length (30" instead of 34" like most I find) are both accurate, then a relatively faithful clone can be had for cheap with those mods. And even without the mods, as your video demonstrates, even with the stock electronics, the sound is still not a million miles off. It sounds really nice, and I definitely pick up on the Ric vibe here! So I wouldn't even have to wait til I could have the mods done in order to have that pleasingly loose approximation of the Ric sound. I could have a Ric-ish experience right out of the box - and hell, who knows whether or not I might just decide "you know what, this is close enough for me" and not even bother with the mods. I can definitely see that scenario playing out! But I do think I'd at least want the "structure" of the instrument to be authentic, or at least insofar as it'd at least be neck-thru and 30" scale. So, please lemme know the scale length of your bass here, and if it's 30, then I may well just see how quickly I can get myself in on the action! And regardless, I'm very happy you're so happy with your bass! Isn't it great when you find one that's "just you"? I'm happy you found that bass! Bravo! Also, kudos to the factory that made it for you to have taken your order so seriously! 🙂

Awesome video cant you please give me a link? Keep up rock on

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it's a duck.

Hi can you please tell me what the sellers name was? I’m trying to order one for myself but am a bit nervous about getting scammed so I figured I could use the same one you bought yours from, thank you!

Nice, you have a neck though, mine wasn’t.

Hey, could you link us to that specific store?

Where did you get it?

Finally I gave up the idea of getting a replica Rick and took the plunge by ordering a brand new authentic Rick in Walnut at my local music shop today and my waiting period starts. I will get the Special mono version without the binding and with body contour however as I wanted more comfort. Funnily cheaper brand new than any used one I see around. I guess time is money so waiting a year for one has its price...

Just saw your vid... As an owner of an original Ric 4003 I have to admit, that your Chickenbacker sounds pretty close to the real thing. Congrats! Plus: Yours will obviously not have some of the well known flaws of the original, especially the bridge construction and the insane pickup hum. It's a shame, that you have to spend lots of time and money to mod a 2k+ instrument for actually being usable. But I still love mine, although it's far from perfect.

can you send a link?

nice

I luv it.

Where did you buy that? Can't figure out whether you've been lucky or there's plenty of ripoff sellers on that website, seeing the bad feedbacks I read on most bass forums.

Can you give the user name of the maker? I would love to order one !

A lot of basses are impossible to get. ESP gave me a time of 12 to 16 months before I see an octave 8.

Maybe I'll get a chickenbacker so I don't have to worry about my real rickenbacker getting hurt.

Can you confirm it was HY guitar store because I would like one too.

Nice bass but that pickup cover would drive me nuts..

i wonder what it would sound with an actual rickenbacker pickups

If I were you, I would've spent the money on lessons

Is the neck really fat and cumbersome like a USA Rickenbacker 4003??

Im in the U.S I have a 94 4003 fireglo in mint condition. Looking to sale.

I tried the original Rickenbacker 4003AC in a store in Norway. For 4000 € I can easily say that this is the worst value of a bass ever. Good for you finding an alternative! With a plek and highend tuners, bridge and pickups it can be really great.

Can you let us in on the builders contact?

call you give me the info so I can get one?