SUPER CHEAP Chinese Rickenbacker... Worth Buying?

[Meddle]

DHgate? From the makers of Watergate right?

Either way the Rick fans are quite entertaining in this thread. Firstly they rat on the bass, then they say that these copies will sound nothing like a real Rick. If so then where is the problem? Realistically they won't be confused with a real Rick (unless Rickenbacker bring out a bass with a bridge mudbucker or twin jazz pickups). I guess it has something to do with misplaced loyalty in US-made products and othersuch slightly childish patriotism often apparent in US forum members.


For what its worth the natural Rickenfaker posted in this thread has better grain matching on the back than the real Rick that had Gibenbacker foaming out of every orifice across a whole slew of threads a few months back.

 

[audiomitch]

Hilarious. I shouldn't have checked it out at work cuz I started laughing.

But as far as those $200 chinese basses go, I wouldn't want to give them a card number. If anyone does, though, I bet it'd be fun to end a show smashing what looks like a Rick.

Meh... Already been done.

 

[Meddle]

Townshend could not in any way afford to smash those expensive import Rickenbackers but he did anyway. Must say something for his Dada artistic integrity.

 

[audiomitch]

Townshend could not in any way afford to smash those expensive import Rickenbackers but he did anyway. Must say something for his Dada artistic integrity.

He smashed expensive import Fenders and Gibsons too. I don't think he was biased towards any particular expensive import.

 

[Meddle]

He was bias towards Fenders because you could (in theory) screw them back together or atleast make a guitar out of two smashed ones... Its a shame to see some photos of him chopping up the stage with a big old ES355 or something.

To keep this roughly on topic, I remember seeing a guitard on another forum getting chastised for smashing a Chinese Les Paul copy onstage. It had the full Gibson logo and everything, and people would rant all day about how horribe these axes are but when somebody actually smashes one it seems to change everything.

 

[jswingchun]

Firstly they rat on the bass, then they say that these copies will sound nothing like a real Rick. If so then where is the problem? Realistically they won't be confused with a real Rick (unless Rickenbacker bring out a bass with a bridge mudbucker or twin jazz pickups). I guess it has something to do with misplaced loyalty in US-made products and othersuch slightly childish patriotism often apparent in US forum members.

Dude, read the whole thread. They are putting pics of real Rics on their website, then shipping out fake Rics. Yeah, you are right, only us childishly patriotic US forum members would have a problem with that.

PS - I don't own a Ric, and wouldn't want one. I also play Chinese made Fender copies. I also read thru entire threads before posting.

 

[audiomitch]

Dude, read the whole thread. They are putting pics of real Rics on their website, then shipping out fake Rics. Yeah, you are right, only us childishly patriotic US forum members would have a problem with that.

PS - I don't own a Ric, and wouldn't want one. I also play Chinese made Fender copies. I also read thru entire threads before posting.

Every Ric thread ends up with the haters frothing at the mouth. I think that's one of the rules here or something.

 

[jswingchun]

Every Ric thread ends up with the haters frothing at the mouth. I think that's one of the rules here or something.

I'm not sure if you were agreeing with me or commenting on my statement of not wanting a Ric, but just to be clear, I got nothing against them. I just wouldn't want one. I love the way they look and sound, just don't like how they play.

 

[audiomitch]

I'm not sure if you were agreeing with me or commenting on my statement of not wanting a Ric, but just to be clear, I got nothing against them. I just wouldn't want one. I love the way they look and sound, just don't like how they play.

I was agreeing with you. I totally respect that, there are a few quality brands that don't ring my bell too. But I don't go out of my way to slam them like other posters do (and I don't mean you).

 

[jswingchun]

I was agreeing with you. I totally respect that, there are a few quality brands that don't ring my bell too. But I don't go out of my way to slam them like other posters do (and I don't mean you).

Rock on!!

 

[Billy3000]

Well they are cheaper the american ones are around 4k, as for how they play i have yet to play one.

GOOD GOD!

If I thought the $2400 ones were overpriced for how they felt, I can't imagine that I'd feel like the american ones are worth anywhere near $4k!

Seriously though, How is it that EVERY Ric thread is flooded with haters saying they cost too much, yet the sadowsky club is onto 20 threads now?! I can't wrap my head around the idea of people ripping on Rics for being too expensive and then going out and buying a bass that is twice as expensive as a ric and is on par with the quality of an american standard fender which costs even less than a ric.

 

[BillJarrett]

A quick story on the kind of exchanges you will likely have with the sellers on DHGate:

Our store has seen this website for a couple years now, and a while back one of our customers decides to roll the dice and buy a Tele copy from a seller there. Equipped with "Made in the U.S.A", "Fender" and what even appeared to be an appropriate Fender serial number along the headstock. He pulls the trigger and gets one sent to his door from China for $213.00

Now this guy knows what an American Tele should and shouldn't have. Things like a one piece maple neck and fretboard, CTS pots, solid saddles, the big bridge plate, etc etc. I'm sure after being exposed to music for even a short amount of time, you can probably picture one almost perfectly in your head.

When this thing shows up, it doesn't look that bad - from 10 feet away. Closer inspection reveals shoddy hardware, metric sized nuts, poor wiring, dismal sounding pickups, and the Fender logos on the tuning keys were stamped in all different directions. The biggest difference was the neck. The neck was obviously a poor quality maple neck with a maple fretboard glued on, instead of the "Skunk stripe" style Tele neck that was shown in the picture. No quarter-sawn, rolled edged maple anywhere in sight.

All that being said, its wasn't a TERRIBLE guitar for $213.00, but an American Telecaster it most certainly was not. I don't even think it was of Squire quality, certinaly not anywhere near the new CV/VM lines. Perhaps the "Starcaster" level that they sell to Sears and Sam's Club. The factory is probably just taking a guitar they would normally sell for $40 to a large company and selling it directly to the public for more, with shipping.

The funniest thing about this transaction was when the customer, obviously slightly upset at the large quality disparity between what was shown and what was sent, ended up emailing the company about the guitar and mentioning the neck specifically for it's different build and lack of a skunk stripe.

The reply email read a little something like this: (obviously paraphrasing, I don't remember exactly how it went)

"We are very sorry to have hear of you trouble with this instrument of guitar. If another guitar purchase can be made we will gladly send you two skunk stripe next time."

Priceless.

Guitars, Golf clubs, Iphones, Cameras, Watches.... really anything of moderate to high value, is being cloned and dumped from these sites.

Simple common sense, if you see a guitar that normally goes for thousands being sold for hundreds...somethings up.

Caveat Emptor.

 

[darkstorm]

"we will gladly send you two skunk stripe"

Lol.

 

[R Baer]

YWhat 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.

+1 Bingo! As a manufacturer myself, I can't stress how devastating counterfeiting is to the original companies that put years of R&D and capital into creating and developing their products.

For those players that don't see anything inherently wrong with getting a decent Ric knockoff for $200, let me ask you this. How would you feel if after years of hard work and paying your dues, your band finally gets its big break and has a song hit the charts. Now imagine that almost everyone overseas is going to be buying Chinese counterfeit CD's of your music, for which you will never see a dime. Same thing, isn't it?

You put in all the hard work and paid your dues, which means that you are entitled to make money from your efforts. If you really want the Ric sound, then support the company that actually came up with the iconic instrument in the first place by buying the real thing.

 

[AphekGreg]

The big issue here, is that they are counterfeit goods. They claim to be something they're not; i.e. a US made Rickenbacker or Fender etc. You could argue that there isn't much difference between these and the Japanese/Korean copies, but that's missing the point. The Japanese/Korean instruments never claimed to be Gibson/Fender/Rickenbacker etc. They were always identifiable as copies.

 

[AphekGreg]

so they are fake???

Yes completely fake.

 

[Buster Brown]

A couple of months ago our guitar player purchased a brand spanking new Les Paul. The top 0 the line Les Paul. Cost him something like $4,000.

So, last night he and I are talking and he tells me that he rarely brings the new Les Paul out of the house....??? What I ask?? I've seen you playing it!! Nope he says.....then he tells me about this site:

Link Removed

He went there and bought an EXACT copy of the LP that he had just laid out $4,000 for a couple of months earlier. He opens his case and shows me. I was absolutely flabbergasted! Looking at it VERY CAREFULLY, one could actually see signs of a forgery, but to the untrained eye - you would never know.

He says he bought it as insurance against damage to his "investment"........I guess I can understand that.....then he tells me what he paid for the copy......$315 w/case.

I thought I was going to fall over. He swapped out the PUPs for Gibson PUPS and changed the tuners. Total into the guitar? about $450. The workmanship on the fake is absolutely second to none.

Bottom line - I guess I can understand why he bought a copy, but I don't approve of it for myself - but I DO understand the logic of paying that much for an original and wanting to protect it.....I guess.....

Anyway, just wanted to pass that along.....it totally blew my mind....

 

[steelhead2]

forgive me if it's already been asked;isn't there some way to inhibit the company from importing anything it sells(and following the OPosters link that's a lot more than these 'ric' fiddles,,,due to copyright infringment,isn't there a world court for this?

if someone started offering phony phord 150 pickups i'm certain somebody would take note and make some moves,doesn't make sense to label these'USA' to me.

all well,maybe they are just'bait' like a squier or off branded Fender copy to get you going,then you'll want a real one.

 

[73 rickey]

yeah, buy one... keep the theiving bootleg business a float.
The paint is probably full of LEAD!!


this counterfiet crap p.. me off, by the way once everyone losses their jobs due to China making everything counterfiet. you will be able look & see what you support, when you are on the streets with nowhere to live & begging for food....

If mfgs want to build offshore ie: Epiphone, Fender etc. that's business whether we like it or not. (I have an Epi & 2 Mexican Strats) I can't afford Gibson's, thats life but at least my Epi's & fender's are not counterfiet.

 

[bassplayer8953]

all well,maybe they are just'bait' like a squier or off branded Fender copy to get you going,then you'll want a real one.

Once people get used to paying cheap money for a brand X counterfeit version of a name brand instrument, the chances of them "moving up" to the real deal are slim to none, IMO...

Witness the posters here who profess that their Squier basses are better than Fender. I've played many Squiers, both guitars & basses, and have never found any of the to be on a par with, or superior to, any Fender (even MIM), in any way. Yet people get used to the low prices, and rationalize that Squiers are something that they are not, nor were ever intended to be.

The additional damage that counterfeits do (as opposed to 2nd line instruments like Squier, Epi, LTD, etc) is that ultimately they will be resold, perhaps by unscrupulous sellers, as the genuine product. And once in the hands of someone who doesn't know better, the original manufacturer will be judged by people bad-mouthing thier product, instead of the Chinese factory it came from & where the blame belongs.

If the Chinese are as good at instrument building as some here claim, they should design develop & build their own designs, instead of stealing (yes, the term is stealing) the intellectual property of others.