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SUPER CHEAP Chinese Rickenbacker... Worth Buying?

you guys are bitching like little old ladies who lost at bingo or something.
blow the factory up? ban them fro the USA? Never spend a penny?
all good reasons not to buy from them?
:rollno::rollno::rollno::rollno:

ok then fine, let's ban, blow up, never spend a penny on ALL FENDER COPY manufacturers then as well...ONLY PEOPLE WITH BRAND NAME "ORIGINAL" units can now play till the end of time.
Naturally after all that..all the GAzillion copies out there will magically disappear. Bye-bye music world. Sounds like a perfect plan to me.
 
Well, you know they're not the real thing. They are obviously being made and shipped from China, where chances are that Rick can't shut them down. OTOH, China and Korea are making some decent instruments, although I sure wouldn't expect quality to be close to that of a real Rick.

It's a crapshoot...you pay $ and take your chances.

Actually Rickenbacker can press for the U.S. Customs office to seize any shipment of these fakes as soon as they hit a U.S. port of entry. Our nation has laws against counterfeiting, and contrary to popular belief, the laws do get enforced, and all manner of counterfeit goods are found contantly. Tons of fake goods are destroyed yearly when they are found and seized by the Customs Department. So you do stand a small chance of never getting your Fakenbacker. Sure Rickenbacker can't do much of anything to stop the production of these fakes that use their name, but they can sure work with U.S. Customs to make sure they don't get much past the shipping container as best they can, when they get over here.
 
hmmm these days our government seems to have little interest in enforcing laws ...

Also those basses are not worth the selling price ... if they sold for $109 like an SX they might be a good buy ... But there is no way they will sound remotely anything like a real Rickenbacker with the pickups that are installed.
 
This site is a scam. When you buy something from them you better hope you like it because you will never get your money back from them. I know people that have fallen for some of their cheap wares.

+1

I rolled the dice once on a Chinese copy "Gibson" ES-335. It looked great in the pictures. No, the pics were not "the real thing," I could tell the guitar had slightly different appointments than the real thing. But it looked great nonetheless.

Long story short, it was the worst built piece of crap I have ever played. Unsalvageable is putting it lightly.

I had to get my credit card security team to help me with the refund as the seller was most reluctant, and I lost $200.00 in non-refundable shipping to and from Beijing.

Buyer beware.

And as for the QC on these being better than the USA version,

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thanks trolls, you make my day.
 
A shipping container full, I think would be a risk. Just one? meh.

The point of this thread is that they're cheap enough someone could give a try with little loss.

The trouble I see is the joy (to me) of an instrument isn't the name on the headstock. For some products (e.g., fashion accessories), the label is really all that matters.

A crummy instrument isn't any fun. So to me, buying a bad knock-off is like getting a lap-dance from an ugly stripper.
 
Didn't read the posts here, but just have to vent 1 more time that I'm still burning up inside about a fake Ric deal I lost out on at NAMM this year. Beautiful fireglo, looked like the real thing, felt solid, played great - $140. Some old fat dude pulled it right out from under me. I had asked about it but the guy at the NAMM booth didn't speak english. He said "when girl come back". I waited like 20 minutes for the girl and then this guy grabbed her attention first. Even though I was there long before him, she gave it to him, and she didn't understand enough english to reason with me about it. The guy wouldn't hear it either and really started pissing me off. I had to walk away because if I got any angrier I'd wind up getting myself thrown out of NAMM. I'm adult enough to not get into stupid crap over stupid things also. But damn, that bass was awesome. And $140! Rant over.
 
you guys are bitching like little old ladies who lost at bingo or something.
blow the factory up? ban them fro the USA? Never spend a penny?
all good reasons not to buy from them?
:rollno::rollno::rollno::rollno:

ok then fine, let's ban, blow up, never spend a penny on ALL FENDER COPY manufacturers then as well...ONLY PEOPLE WITH BRAND NAME "ORIGINAL" units can now play till the end of time.
Naturally after all that..all the GAzillion copies out there will magically disappear. Bye-bye music world. Sounds like a perfect plan to me.

You have something against little old ladies? Well, in all fairness, I read my post and it is rather short and vitriolic. So let me explain my anger.

I have nothing but appreciation for vast variety and availability of low cost "copies" out there in the world. It has been a boon to musicians and the industry, and I would never advocate their "magical disappearance". What I think is reprehensible, criminal, and scumbag-like, is that this business is labeling them as "Rickenbackers, and Made in the USA".

They are stealing the name and the reputation.

If these jerks took the exact same bass, and branded it "Chang", or "Boss Bass", do you think they would sell the same number of units? I strongly suspect the answer is no. That would mean that a certain percentage of their customer base is buying based on the Rickenbacker name. Certainly none of the highly informed, hyper aware members of TB. But people like us are a small percentage of the buying public. Make and sell anything you want, they could make them look even more like a real Ric as far as I care, just don't steal the name.

So yes, I have always had a lack of tolerance for corporate, government sanctioned, institutionalized THEFT AND DISHONESTY. It's just the little old bitchy lady in me.


I should have been a little clearer in my first post, but it was late, and I was on my way to bed, sorry.

Here's an analogy from the world of music. I personally think that sampling a famous artist, and reusing it in a new work, is a wholly acceptable practice. What would be wrong, is to claim that your new work is authored by that famous artist.
 
Without seeing the headstock, I think your average punter would be hard pushed to tell the difference between this one and the real thing.

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just a photo of a Rick so they can lure u in don't ya think?
 
Well..... Ricks are overpriced a bit, for what they are. So whats the harm in feeding some overseas company that is ripping off Ricks rep and brand right? After all..... The instument that they offer is probably pretty comparible to a real Ricky right??

Might bring Rickenbacker prices down any how. Maybe I will order a few of these nice looking gems, turn up the amps.... nobody is going to tell the difference anyway!












NOT!!!!

Bunch of scumballs!!
 
btw that looks to be a 2010 model which no longer has a strip down the middle

4003's never had the strip down the middle. that was the 4001's which were replaced by the 4003 in 1979/80, however that pic is indeed either a 2009 or a 2010 model (the inlays go to the edges of the fingerboard and the pickguard is slightly shifted closer to the neck on the '09 & '10's)