Fender of China?

[overdrive]

Everyone's heard of MIA/MIJ/MIM Fenders et al...didn't realize that there was a MIC line-up offering unheard of prices...anywhere from around $50.00 for genuine 'USA Standards' & upwards of $200.00 for their 'signature/custom shop' models.

Peculiar/bizarre that Fender USA makes no mention of this offering & kind of curious who buys this stuff as it is apparently being exported into the states from China & marketed as 'American-made'. Talk about a stretch of the imagination, they even come with full decals & paperwork.

Wholesale Stratocaster Electric - Buy China Wholesale Stratocaster Electric from Chinese Wholesalers | DHgate.com

On the other hand & pending inspection of worksmanship, they might make a good mod platform for a project guitar or bar-beater...with the last laugh/joke being on a potential/actual thief.

Scanning through their online catalog, it is interesting to note that they also offer Martin D-28s, PRSs & Gibsons (some of which are mispelled as 'Gibsan Les Puals". *LOL* They've even stooped so low as to offer counterfeit Dunlop Tortex picks.

At $.10 an hour for labor, someone in Beijing is getting rich off this scheme, just like the American robber barons of the 1880s with the time-honored, universal 'recipe' for success in business...cheat/fool the consumers on a grand scale & laugh your way to the bank.

[jrfrond]

All counterfeits. DO NOT BUY FROM THESE THIEVING BASTARDS!!! My son's friend bought a "Rickenbacker" from them, and it is just OK. Not even close to a Rick, but DOES sport the Rickenbacker name. I actually reported them to Rickenbacker.

If you purchase counterfeit products like this, you contribute to the demise of our domestic economy. Besides, with all of the LEGIT affordable Strats made in China, e.g. the Classic Vibe series, is there any reason to purchase the ersatz version?

[J M Fahey]

At $.10 an hour for labor

Hey !!! in Guang Dong province the official minimum wage is $.39 an hour !!! Although "US owned companies can set a lower one if necessary "
I'm not kidding, it's official economic data, I pulled it from Guang Dong International Investment Free Zone page.
Anyway, all this "invest in China" craze is exclusively an American creation, with other countries jumping later on the bandwagon.
They've created a monster which will swallow its master.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if some day it was found that American money was financing (and profiting from) this crooky operation.
Better start learning Mandarin. (I will soon)
No, no place for smiling smilies here.

[David Schwab]

I don't see them saying "Fender" anywhere. And you sure can't get this from Fender:

Transparent Stratocaster ELECTRIC GUITAR Free hard case...USD378.13 Wholesale Price at DHgate.com

This is no different from all the other companies that make Fender knockoffs... some of them well known and respected US companies. They shouldn't be using the name "Stratocaster" though. I also see Asian companies using the name "Les Paul pickups" when they mean humbuckers. Might be a language thing.

Now if they say "Fender" on them, that's another story, and I agree don't buy them.

Now on the other hand....

This one does say "Gibson"

Gibson Special Signature Electric Guitar A:0490 ZXAD ZXAL...USD263.73 Wholesale Price at DHgate.com



This doesn't even LOOK like a Ric!

Rickenbacker Wooden Color 4 String Bass electric Guita A:814 ...USD284.17 Wholesale Price at DHgate.com

[David Schwab]

Anyway, all this "invest in China" craze is exclusively an American creation

Well with the rampant greed in the US this is what happens. Things cost too much here, so you have to go elsewhere to make a profit.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if some day it was found that American money was financing (and profiting from) this crooky operation.

People don't see it, but it does help the overall world economy. To give an example, the poor economy here means that Americans buy less imported goods, like DVD players made in China. The Chinese in turn then don't buy some recycled goods from the US, and that ended up shutting down some US recycling plants.

I buy some parts from China and Korea because I can't buy them from the US at any kind of price I can afford. Sad but true, and we only have ourselves to blame.

In the town I live there are many very wealthy people with very large mansions. Everywhere you go there are "for sale" signs because the property tax keeps going up. Some people here are paying $150,000 a year!

And the greed just keeps making every more and more expensive. Soon no one will be able to afford to live in the US.

[Gibsonman63]

For a while ,Craigslist was full of fake Gibson guitars here in Houston. Then, several people started submitting posts with links to sites that provide information on spotting the fakes and it seems so have died down.

The fakes did photograph well, though. Most of the fakes listed had different finishes than you would normally see on the guitars in the cataloges or hanging in Guitar Center.

On a similar note, I work with a young engineer who is an avid tennis player. Last year he bought a $300 tennis racket from CL. A week later he took it in to get it restrung and found out that it was a fake. He called the guy back and actually got his money back.

[David Schwab]

I have no issue buying a knock off Les Paul or something, knowing it's not real, but they really shouldn't put the fake brand names on it.

You see these Les Pauls on eBay with no hardware for about $300. They don't say Gibson on them. They look like a nice platform to make something out of, and certainly can't be any worse than an Epiphone, since they are likely made in the same factory.

Some people have to have that Gibson or Fender name on the guitar, like it's a status symbol, even though the guitars are sometimes made in similar Asian factories. I could care less about the name as long as it's made well. I have a cheap ass FirstAct GarageMaster that a friend gave me.. it was the guitar you got free when you bought a VW. After I changed out the pickups for something better, it's a great little guitar.

But counterfeits are bad news.

That Rickenbacker was actually funny though. Would people actually fall for that one?

[Gibsonman63]

I agree that the counterfits are bad news. I believe that they do fool a certain number of people, particularly novices who are going for familiar names but don't have enough time with a guitar in thier hands to be able to tell the difference. I don't have a problem with the copies per se, but I do have a problem with them using the logos and trying to pass them off as legitimate. Build whatever you want, just don't put Fender or Gibson on the headstock.

[overdrive]

I don't see them saying "Fender" anywhere.
Now if they say "Fender" on them, that's another story, and I agree don't buy them.

They've got the Fender logo 'blurred-out' on the thumbnails David (e.g. the white 'American Standard' model at the bottom of the first page of that URL).

The folks at Fender are probably aware of what's going on...whether they can actually do anything about it is another story.

And the greed just keeps making every more and more expensive. Soon no one will be able to afford to live in the US.

Except for perhaps the wealthy Chinese who are now operating these questionable kinds of export-type businesses along with the high-tech 'subcontracting' of various goods & services. The migration from overseas is already occuring bigtime in certain parts of CA (i.e. the expensive neighborhoods) & around here, they seem to be the ones primarily sporting the inane status symbols of success (i.e. the MBs, Rolexes, designer fashions etc.).

...all this "invest in China" craze is exclusively an American creation, with other countries jumping later on the bandwagon. They've created a monster which will swallow its master.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if some day it was found that American money was financing (and profiting from) this crooky operation.
Better start learning Mandarin. (I will soon)

Not a far-fetched suspicion & as you say it will come back to bite someone in the ass, usually the unsuspecting working blue-collar/middle classes. BTW, Mandarin is being offered locally in the public schools as a 'second language'...with its purpose primarily serving as an assisted learning tool for the children of these 'successful' entrepreneurs who wish them to excel academically & perhaps unintentionally, eliminate everyone else from the college entrance screening processes.

Whether money or people...call it power in numbers.