2tensandan18 wrote:
Personal experience?
What are you inferring? Answer: no, just knowledgeable.
Well, the only real way to KNOW that any Rickenbacker copy is "crap" is to actually play a few. Therefore, unless you have personal experience with the models in question, how can you have an opinion on their quality?
I don't think you're gaining points with many people, and that may not be your objective, but the long debate/discussion on fakes versus real Rics is that it's not necessarily the quality. It's the ethics and loyalty, not the product itself. For one thing, it's made in China, which is a terrible place to work, and if you buy a Chinese fake, you're supporting their system. Another thing, it's actually food off of Rickenbacker's plate, who designed the instrument.
I'd like to believe an American made Rickenbacker is ten times the instrument than a Chinese fake, but I have yet to see a copy in person, and cannot commentate on their actual quality. I do know that there are well made foreign instruments, but that's not the principle of the matter. I will never buy one.