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Indie IRK5 Semi Acoustic Guitar

 

Review of the Indie IRK5 by The Man in the Jar

This is a cheeky little copy of one of my favourite guitars of all time. How very dare they!

Features of the Indie IRK5

Tuners - Sealed chrome mini-tuners that co-operated very smoothly.

Headstock - Dangerously close to the Rickenbacker 330 original. A slightly offset three-a-side paddle design. The truss-rod cover mimics the original in its outsized length, but strict patents protect the design of the Rickenbacker cover.

Nut - The white plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is well finished.

Neck - The maple set neck is extraordinarily slim and comfortable, with the depth of the neck tapering slightly as you move towards the headstock. This is a departure from the Ricky 330 where the oh-so-slightly chunky neck retains a parallel depth along its full length. The Indie feels like a more modern beast because of this. The maple shows through the red lacquer finish in a most attractive way. 

Fretboard - The medium rosewood fretboard carries 24 medium-fat frets that are nicely finished. Traditional dots mark the frets and each side is bound in white, the upper binding carrying small dot markers for the player's convenience.

Action - Quite low out of the box, but it looks like it could be coaxed a tad lower if you chose.

Body - As far as I can make out this is an exact copy of the semi-acoustic body of the Rickenbacker 330. All the familiar features are there; the extravagant sweep of the horns behind the heel, the coquettish carving of the top under the tailpiece which gives the impression of shapely buttocks in repose and the Art Nouveau resonance of the "slash" soundhole reminding us that this is indeed the Modern World and we don't need no-one to tell us what is right and wrong. The grain of the alder is not quite as pretty as the maple used on a Ricky but the Fireglow finish makes it work well.  

Bridge - The bridge is a tune-o-matic variation copied exactly from the Ricky. Individual saddles which are adjustable for intonation are provided for each string. The bridge unit which holds the saddles has two Allen screws at each end which sit in small depressions on a flat rectangular bridge plate which is in turn screwed to the body. The four screws in the bridge unit adjust the height and therefore the action (it's best to adjust each pair in unison to avoid leaving any tilt on the bridge assembly which reduces stability). These screws are fitted with small springs which help hold the bridge firmly where it is put - this is a vast improvement over the small rubber grommets on the original. The saddles are covered by a chrome plate which provides an ideal place to rest the palm of your hand, close enough to the strings to allow palm muting when required.
The strings run out behind the bridge for two inches or so before anchoring into a sprung tailpiece. The Rickenbacker "R" tailpiece is protected by the same stringent patents as the truss-rod cover so Indie have been forced to design this alternative solution. 

Pickups - Two toaster-style single-coil pickups are of vintage design, looking for all the world like early Rickenbacker pickups. They are fixed to the body so are not adjustable in any way.

Controls - Each pickup has its own Volume and Tone control and there's a three-way pickup selector.

Scratchplate - The two-tiered single-ply white plastic scratchplate mimics the 330 exactly.

Strap-buttons - Medium strap buttons, one on the bottom of the body and one on the upper horn.

Output Jack - In the lower edge set in a square black plastic plate.

Finish - This Korean-made instrument is very well finished throughout.

Accessories - None

 

Sound of the Indie IRK5

OK, I'm well-equipped for this bit - I own a 1979 Rickenbacker 330 that was my main live guitar for quite some time, so I was able to do a side-by-side comparison between that and the Indie IRK5. I have to say that the difference in sound between the Indie bridge pickup and my recently rewound Ricky bridge pickup was not that much. I'm pleased to report that my Ricky does have the better tone but that may be due to the Rickenbacker's slightly heavier weight, the use of maple instead of alder in the body and the more solid nature of the neck. The neck pickup on the Indie was definitely less powerful than the Ricky but was nonetheless balanced with its own bridge pickup and was complimentary when both pickups ran together, if a little weak when run alone. All in all if you want Ricky noises, the Indie can deliver them. 

 

Overall Impressions of the Indie IRK5 

Indie are not a cheap copy company. Having said that the IRK5 is a copy and compared to the original it is cheap. I recently reviewed Indie's Les Paul copy and it greatly impressed me. I am pleased that the IRK5 has lived up to that precedent. It is a lovely quality guitar for the money and if you're looking for the Ricky sound on a budget, then it has to be the guitar for you.   

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