I've been very happy with mine. I 've bought 3 in the last couple of years and they work great. All of mine have come from "Urby" on Amazon. They really pack them good. It takes about 15 minutes to get the foam out of the package. I also just bought a replacement ballast for my big Heineken sign. It was about 30 bucks and works perfect. The old ballast was made in china also. Just about everything is.

They all come from china anyway. Buy them on ebay and if they are broke file for refund.

Bought a custom neon from Queens Place on Amazon. They were great, couldn't be happier. I'm assuming it was manufactured in China. Tubes were a bit narrower than the old vintage signs I have, but the craftsmanship was great and the colors are emmitted from the gas. Some places just have colored glass si its just white gas that illuminates the colored glass versus colors being created from various gasses.

bought mine off amazon, all from china, one showed up DOA and I sent it back and amazon sent me a another.

Buy old school neon and you won't be sorry.

John

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i have had no problem with any neon bought from china.neon lights are still used just about everywhere in china.one of the few things i buy from there and was lucky enough to see neon being blown in a small factory.one of the crafts they do well and some family's have been doing this for 50 years..orig. neon lights made here years ago are to expensive for the average guy building a home arcade and the choices for these are limited..go to the jukebox show in chicago to get an idea of costs for these old ones..silly ass prices and not that cool looking for an arcade..here is one i bought for $300 bucks..even un lit it still looks cool..

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I thought you didn't want to over pay for your neon?

John

as i can see from your neon collection john these neon lights are almost the same as pins..after you buy the first one your hooked..we have many different kinds of vintage spinning lights in our arcade as well as ones i redid in monster themes.hard for me to find working vintage lights that fit the theme of our arcade..

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Hey!...I love that Saucer-Men thingy!!

thanks..i will try to get better photos.i have a different monster on each side of these lights. they both spin around and really give the monster look to our arcade..these are the iron on monsters from t-shirts.i had a guy make me 8 different monsters to size to fit these lights so the light shines in a yellowish glow..i have made a few of these for friends..i encourage people to look at even broken lights to re-do into what fits their arcade theme..its cheap,fun,and you get to learn new things..

Received one from China a couple weeks ago, completely broken to pieces. Took 2 months to get here, now having difficulty with Amex filing a claim. Never again.

China is trying to MURDER us physically and financially but by all means, keep supporting Chinese companies.

3 out of about 20 of the neons I bough from China- the ballasts went on them.

Need to buy replacement ones. My JJP is flaky- sometimes works, sometimes doesnh

100% agree...it is refreshing when I hear fellow Americans tell it like it is and not sugarcoat the situation we are in. Anyway, purchasing a neon sign made in China is a complete gamble as you might get lucky, you might not.

I ordered a Bally neon on eBay from China the 2nd week of January. Cant remember the sellers name. No Covid in USA at that time. Thought about canceling it due to CV a few weeks later but read where it should be ok due to the length of time shipping would take. Took over 2 months to get here due to the shipping issues. Opened it and cleaned it with gloves on. Lol. No damage to the sign when it came. Was packaged great. Looks good. Probably won’t do it again. Wish there were more options here.

I once bought quads from China for my kids . Picked them up from a distributor a few miles away. I was blown away by how good they looked, and what a good deal they seemed to be. Loaded them in the pick up and drove home around 20 miles in a light drizzle of rain. Unloaded them in my buddy's garage. Came back a few days later with kids to surprise them opened garage door and all metal bolts and practically every thing made of metal had surface rust everywhere. They lasted all of one day once we hit the woods chains were popping, axles were sliding, nothing would stay tight. Complete junk in every aspect aspect. Lesson learned.

Most of my neon signs were bought from a guy called “Hong Kong Gu”

They were a little bit on the flimsy side and I did have some failures but he was always very prompt at giving me a free replacement when something went wrong. He would also make custom signs for me.

He started an online store which no longer advertises the licensed neon, logos, etc. however I suspect he would make them if requested. https://www.aoos.com/custom-neon-signs.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo6CXpb-p6QIV9uzjBx1OUwQyEAAYASAAEgJ3sPD_BwE

Here is a page with some examples of his offerings previously:

http://www.vidiotarcade.com/pub/VidiotArcadecomNeon/

Ive worked with him too. Positive results...any issues were resolved with ease.
Shipping thin glass from anywhere, has it risks...

my guess 1k

I did the direct China once - never again. It was a lot cheaper and they packed it great. But it had the smaller tube glass and the transformer started acting up right away. The sign will just go off. I am addicted to neons and ordered 5 or 6 from neonsignsusa.com but looks like them may not be in business as I cannot get their site to come up (contact was [email protected]). Here are 3 they did. The Molson I bought as is from a pic on their site. The Corona extra I saw a pic and sent it and they did it from that. The slots I did from coloring a picture of a neon a saw on another site and they made that one from scratch also. I think they were all about $550 or so but that was a couple years ago. All very solid made and I did have one that came with a broken part but they sent that and it was easy to fix.

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That Urby company sells them on Amazon. $119 dollars. I wouldn't stress about buying one from them.

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A few years ago I bought a China made Bud neon sign from a local seller. The sign is turning off and on now. Sign looks great but frustrating that it already appears to be failing.
Is this the transformer which is going?

Heres one I got for christmas

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Yep. The average American consumer thinks this is paranoia. The truth is they make a concerted effort to destroy individual industries in America and the jobs they take are gone forever. We are fools at this point. I’ll never forget the representative from a Chinese trade association telling me at show at McCormick Place in Chicago that since I made merchandise for Marvel and Marvel was now owned by Disney, I had to move all of my manufacturing to China. She was incredulous that I told her to take a hike. And then there were the 20 Chinese reps who couldn’t figure out how I made my stuff so they swarmed my booth to steal samples and scrape off the materials for analysis. They have every intention of taking over our entertainment industry as well as all others. We are at war and the American consumer wants their trinkets more than their independence.

So keep being drones and sending your money there instead of supporting your neighbors. Schmucks.

This should be on your list. Comes in 3 different sizes.
ebay.com link: i

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China neons are to bar neons
As
Zizzles are to Pinball machines

Beer distributors in my area switched to the China-made a while ago. They used to ask for a broken one to replace with a new one, now you just trash the old.

Dayhuff summed it up best when he said if you should 'buy old school neon'

I had a problem with one and it was replaced instantly and works fine. China is our largest export country so I have no problem buying their products.

I've gotten a few for gifts for people. They use small/thin tubes, where the old school USA ones, are nice big/thick tubes. The quality of the sign is not as good as the ones you can get from made in the USA, but as long as you understand that. They are an awesome way to get a custom sign in a decent price range.

The first sign I ordered was a Mich golden, a section of white lettering was an off yellow/white. I contacted and sent a picture and they sent me a replacement section. That website/store is gone now, but they are all usually similar. I think I used NeonSign USA this last one.

Most likely, but could be a bad tube as well.

If you are on Facebook look up Neon4u2. They make their own signs out of Michigan. There are several people from Pinside who have purchased from him and love it. I'm sure its higher in cost but the signs are hand made in the good old USA.

fat tire...with the bike?

I see them around my parts decently frequently. So usually you'll find them at the local auction houses, CL and FB market. I bought all my neons from a mix of those, but the local auctions usually have ones pulled from a bar. And sell for $50-150. If you just keep your eyes open and searching, you'll find one in 3-6 months. It is kind of like finding your first pinball. Seems to take forever, then you can't stop finding them

I have a
Williams - working well
JJP - flaking sometimes one of the transformers
doesn’t work and JERSEY JACK goes dark
Stern - doesn’t work
Bally - doesn’t work

I’m going to order neon ballast from
Amazon, see if that works

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They are like spark plug wires. You just twist them on and put on a boot. Simple as hell

They are all made in China. The one I just replaced from my 20 year old American made Heineken sign that just failed was made in China.