Call them what you like; Rickenfaker. Fakenbacker, Rickenmocker, etc. I've published this page on this site because I do not like copies of Rickenbacker instruments and I don't like to see anyone get fooled into buying a fake that has a Rickenbacker truss rod cover on it or a missing truss rod cover. The truss rod cover could be genuine or fake. One with a missing truss rod cover might be real/ The bass model that has generally been copied is the 4001.
There are a few copies similar to the 4004 Cheyenne. I've never seen a copy of a 2000 or 3000 series bass, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. There are also some bass guitars that were produced that were not intended to be exact copies 0f the 4000 series basses, but still use the same 4000 series body shape, which can even fool some who have little or no knowledge about Ricks.
Most copies will be manufactured with the maker's brand name on them, but some people take the truss rod covers off real Rickenbacker instruments and install them on the fakes. Some of the faker brand names have their name of the headstock rather that the truss rod cover. Some people will make or buy a fake truss rod cover to try to sell their used fake as a real Rickenbacker. If you are familiar with Rickenbacker truss rod covers, you can usually find something different or odd on close inspection of a fake one.

Manufacturers and brand names you may find on older copies of the 4001 include: Ibanez, Univox, Aria, Bradley, Electra, CMI, Giannini, Greco Guitar, Hondo, Hoya, M Sigma, Mann, Jolana, Penco, Seville and a few others. Some of the copies look much closer to the real 4001 than others. Some are an absolute laugh.
There are manufacturers thave made basses and some that still make basses that do not intend to be exact copies but still infringe on the 4000 body style . There are some that still make copies that look somewhat close to a 4001 or 4003. There is one manfacturer that makes a bass guitar that closely resembles the Rickenbacker 600 series guitars. Since I discourage buying and selling of these instruments, I will not publish the names of these makers that continue to make copies. The manufacturers and brands that are named above have already been dealt with by RIC, as far as I know.

Too often I find out about someone who has bought what he or she thinks is a Rickenbacker bass guitar, when it was just a copy of one. These people have usually paid a high price thinking they are getting this great 4001 or 4003. Occasionally a seller has no idea that they might be selling a fake Rickenbacker, but they usually do. Not only would this be against the law to deceive someone into buying a fake Rickenbacker, but it is also against the law because copies of Rickenbacker instruments infringe on the trademark shapes that are legally owned by the Rickenbacker International Corporation (RIC), All of the shapes of the bodies, headstocks, parts which include the tailpieces, pickguards, pickups, truss rod covers and the Rickenbacker logo are trademarks of RIC.

Trademarks are similar to copy writes except that copy writes are proof of ownership of the arrangement of words and or musical notes, pictures and videos whereas trademarks prove ownership of designed shapes, names and logos. As long as RIC owns the trademark shapes, any copy of these shapes is an infringement. I'm sure and I hope that RIC will always own these shapes.

There are copies available of Fender and Gibson instruments. This is because Fender and Gibson did not trademark their designs soon enough. If they had, you wouldn't see so many copies of their instruments. It's probably too late for Fender and Gibson to do anything about it now, since their instruments have already been copied for a long time.

Overall Construction
All of the 4001, 4003 and 4004 basses have neck-through body construction. The model 4000, many of the 4001S basses and all of the 4005 have set necks. Set necks are necks that are bonded (glued) into a tignt neck pocket of the body, like a Gibson Les Paul guitar.
The only 4000 series bass necks that were bolted on, were on the 4080 and 4080/12 double neck guitars.
The only semi hollow body bass guitar model RIC has made, is the 4005. There were copy basses made with the styles of RIC semi hollow guitars such as the model 330.
The route for the neck pickup wire to the control cavity of 4001 and early 4003 basses should look like a series of drill holes, not a smooth route. Newer 4003 basses have a smooth routed channel in the body for the neck pickup wire, The route of the control cavity of 4000 series basses have rounded, not angled corners.

Wood Composition Of Rickenbacker Basses
Bodies and Necks: Rickenbacker 4000, 4001, 4001S, 4002 4003, 4003S, 4004 Laredo and 4005 bass necks and bodies are made of maple. You can see the wood in the fireglo, mapleglo and other transparent color finishes. You should familiarize yourself with the look of maple, it's grain pattern and whether it is plain or has one of the various types of figured patterns such as birds-eye, flame and quilt.
The 4001 basses made from '72 until production ended in the mid '80's have a strip of shedua which is dark and looks like walnut. It runs the down the center of the entire neck through body stock. Many musicians call the dark strip in the center of the Rickenbacker 4001 and other guitars that have a similar feature, the "skunk stripe". The 4002 also has the shedua strip running through the entire neck trough body stock. The set neck 4001S and 4005 basses have the shedua strip going through the neck and headstock only, not the body. The dark strip in the center of many copies is a bit wider than on a 4001 or 4003. The pre'72 4001 basses do not have the shedua strip, nor do the 4001V63, 4001C64, 4001C64S, 4003 and 4004 have it.
The 4004 Cheyenne was made with walnut body wings. The Cheyenne II has sandwiched maple/walnut/maple body wings. The early Cheyenne II basses had walnut bodies with a maple top. Both versions of the Cheyenne have a maple neck through body stock.
Fingerboards: The 4001/4003 fingerboard is rosewood and should have the conversion varnish finish on it as the rest of the body does. Rosewood is a generic term form several similar species of hard, dark wood such as bubinga, which can vary a bit in color and usually has some pattern in the wood. There are hundreds of different species of rosewood throughout the world. Most copies have fingerboards that are too dark. You can normally see a charactered pattern in Rickenbacker fingerboards, especially in ones which have been made within the past few years.
The early production 4004 Cheyenne and Laredo basses were made with a maple fingerboard,and then RIC switched to producing both 4004 bass models with bubinga fingerboards. The 4004 Laredo has the conversion varnish on the fingerboard. Some of the 4004 Cheyenne II basses have the conversion varnish finish on their fingerboards, but most do not.
The 4002 was made with an ebony fingerboard with no conversion varnish finish.
The wood used for the bodys of some Rickenbacker copies is a lower grade maple. Some are not maple and some have wood that is about as ugly as wood pictured in the background of this webpage. The rosewood used for the fingerboards of many Rickenbacker copies is probably an African rosewood, which is very dark.

The Finish
RIC finishes their instruments using a proprietary conversion varnish finish. There is a clearcoat over the painted or stained coat. Copies of Rickenbacker basses are done with a cheaper finish.
Most copies of 4001 basses were done in a red sunburst to copy the fireglo finish or natural finish to copy the mapleglo finish. Few were black to copy Jetglo. You need to be familiar with RIC finishes and how the fireglo finish has varied over the years. Sunburst copies do not really have same look to them as a RIC fireglo finish. Some copies will also have checkered binding on the body. There are some copies that try to mimic the RIC finishes. There are also copies with finishes that RIC has never done.

Truss Rods
All Rickenbacker basses have two truss rods. The truss rod adjustments are done at the headstock end of the neck, with exception of the early 4003 basses that adjust at the body end of the neck. The 4003 basses that have truss rods that adjust at the body end of the neck were made from late '79 to late '85 and have a two piece pickguard. Most copies only have one truss rod, but few copies do have two truss rods. The truss rods that are in the copy basses will not look exactly like the RIC truss rods.

Truss Rod Covers (Nameplates)
If you are familiar with the look of a Rickenbacker truss rod cover (TRC), you should be able to detect most fake ones. Obviously ones that have a different name or no name on them are not from RIC. The 4001 TRC has "Model 4001" on it. Early 4003 basses from late '79 to about '86 have "Model 4003" on them. Newer TRC's do not have the model numbers on them, however all Rickenbacker truss rod covers have "Made In U.S.A." on them.
Until late '75 / early '76 the TRC's were made of clear acrylic and has the printing screened on the back of them, then the TRC's changed raised letters on a plastic TRC. Left handed TRC's are an exception, as they continued to be produced as clear acrylic with the printing screened on the back.
The TRC for the 75 Anniversary 4003 DCM is special made acrylic one to match the pickguard. It has the Rickenbacker logo screened in a silver sparkle on the back.

Binding
Before July of '73, 4001 and 4005 basses had checkered binding. Some 4001 copies have checkered binding on them, but it usually does not look exactly like the checkered binding on a 4001. The limited 4002, 4003 Shadow and the 4004LK models have checkered binding The 4005 has binding on the back of the body. The checkered binding was installed in 2 layers. The actual checkered layer is the inner one and the outer layer is solid white, except for the 4002 and the 4003 Shadow, which have a black outer layer.
After July of '73, the 4001 basses had plain binding installed on them instead of the checkered binding, though there are a few exceptions to that. Binding on the body of Rick basses is installed on the body wings only, not on the end of the neck stock. On a Rickenbacker bass, the binding stops at the tailpiece. Some copies have binding that goes all the way around the body, including under the tailpiece, on the end of the neck stock.
From the mid '70's to late '90's RIC had also installed black binding on certain colors of the 4001 and 4003. The color of the binding usually matched the pickguard.

Hardware
Rickenbacker uses their own hardware on their basses with exception of the machine heads and the bridges that are installed on the 4004 basses. Most copies of Rickenbacker hardware look very similar, but not really exact. The hardware on copies is poorer quality than RIC hardware. The hardware on copies is much more likely to have rust on it and also have pitting, hazy and or worn off chrome.
The hardware on the 4001, 4002 4003, 4004 Laredo and 4005 is chrome.
Black hardware was installed with certain finishes and special models of the 4003 in the'80's and '90's.
The 4004 Cheyenne has gold hardware.

Output Jack Plate
This is where the serial number is located on Rickenbacker basses. The two letters and or numbers at the top and the numbers at the bottom of the jack plate make up the serial number. The 4001 and 4003 have two outputs, which are labeled Standard and Rick-O-Sound. Ibanez and Univox copies have their output jacks labeled Mono and Stereosound. The 4000, 4001S, 4003S and 4004 models have only one output jack. Their serial numbers are also located on the tops and bottoms of output jack plates. There were a couple of exceptions made where these basses had both output jacks. The single output jackplates have no marking other than the serial numbers. If you do not see a serial number or the appropriate markings on the output jack plate, it's not a Rickenbacker.

Tailpieces
Close inspection of the tailpiece shows that the holes that the strings come through the front on the tailpiece are not the same particular oval shape as on the RIC tailpiece. There are two pictures in the next section of this page that show examples of Rickenbacker bass tailpieces from the '60's, late '80's and current design.
Fake tailpieces might have rounder holes or the oval shape is wrong, some have squared holes. Until early '73, the 4001 tailpiece had what looked like a missing section on the middle. These have been called the "gap" or "missing tooth" tailpieces. ABM bridges are factory installed on the 4004 basses.

Deluxe RIC Features:
The deluxe features always go together on the 4001 and 4003 and 4005. Those features are: the binding on the body and neck, dual output jacks (Standard and Rick-O-Sound) and the triangle fingerboard markers. The S models and the 4004 basses do not have the deluxe features. The 4002 is an exception as it has binding on the body, neck and headstock, three output jacks, Standard, Rick-O-Sound and a Lo-Z Balanced jack, but the 4002 has dot fingerboard markers.