http://yadagame.en.alibaba.com/product/795854990-221822687/NBA_american_Pinball_Machine.html

There were a couple of MMs that looked VERY suspicious a year ago in California.

If you can get a BOM of $2500 in the USA, think what it would be in China.....

Neil wanted pinball dead.

He would not even sell the pinball division to another company.

It was important for it to simply rot.

Ask Gene about it sometime.

Stern has a prototype that was completely China made in their factory.

Except that counterfeit goods are everywhere in the American marketplace.

Video games (9% fakes), CDs, Blurays, Nike Shoes, Viagra, Prada Purses, Watches (30% of all Rolex are fakes), Vintage Guitars (95% of all vintage guitars on the market are fakes), Electronics (tablets, TVs), children's toys...

Those are just the counterfeit items bought at regular retail stores, think what is sold at flea markets, gas stations, and "purse parties".

Like airplane parts.

You are joking right?

You can bring in an entire Container (40x8x8') for $3k from China.

If there is one thing pinball machines are known for, it's catching fire; especially Williams' games from 77-87 with the unfused rectifiers.

They could make a super quality pin at any time.

Your Iphone, is it not amazing quality?

How about your Samsung refrigerator? Not good quality for $3500?

China has no problem meeting any quality point the market needs.

My Samsung frigs says China on it.

Apple headquarters is in California, but the Iphone is made in China.

I'm sure you get my drift.....

Have you used DragonPly yet?

It will change your opinion about Chinese plywood.

Pinball runs on caveman parts mostly designed 70 years ago.

China is not going to have any problems building a bunch of coils, flashing lights, plywood, and a CPU less powerful than a 20 year old cell phone.

Look at it this way.

Here in the USA I can get a full cabinet, with decals made for $400.

A screened and cleared playfield for $250.

A populated MPU circuitboard for $45.

What do you think those things cost when made in China?

None of that stuff is rocket science.....

Look how advanced "The Pin" is and it retails, delivered to your door, for $2500

In 2013 the average factory wage in China was $1.54 (a hour).

They can always just move to Vietnam.

Wages are .79 cents per hour for good factory workers.

I went to a bootleg guitar factory in Nam that made perfect replica vintage guitars. And I do mean PERFECT. I took one to a giant vintage guitar show in the USA and every dealer was fighting to buy it. The dealers opened it up, they used microscopes, black lights, you name it - the Vietnamese make the best 70 year old guitars in the world.

I don't know of any links. I just had my employer send it back to the States for me.

These are not cheap knock offs, they are perfect replicas that totally fool the experts.

$160 USD in single quantity in Vietnam. $40,000 USD on the wall at Guitar Center.

Finding out about the perfect fakes took the fun out of being a collector for me.

Now unless I see a $200 garage sale bargain, I can only assume that all vintage guitars are fakes.

When I took the replica to the big guitar show, I actually was hoping that the experts would be able to detect the forgery and point out to me why it was a fake. I wanted to learn some trick that I did not already know.

Instead, every dealer was waving cash around and telling me "Do not leave this show without seeing me last!".

I know exactly what you are saying.

I've got a 20th anniversary Taylor that is simply the greatest acoustic guitar in the world (to me). I bought it at the Guitar Center on Sunset in Hollywood totally on impulse. I sure did not need another guitar, but I could not put it down. I've got older and more valuable guitars, but that Taylor is the shit.

The action is set so low (from the factory) that friends who only play electric always want to play it.

I did not commit any fraud, and took the guitar home with me.

I did not really want to sell it, I just wanted the experts to show me how to detect these perfect replicas.

I still have it. I can take it to a gig or leave it lying on the bed without worrying about having a $40,000 guitar stolen or damaged.

GPE ?

Probably more so with acoustic instruments, like where a pinetop has a totally different sound than an Ash top.

Electric instruments of course have different woods with different tones, but the differences are much smaller.

The wood itself is not fake, just the finishes are aged.

Wood is already 100s of years old, and luthiers have been carefully drying wood for 1000 years - an art in itself no doubt.

I'd like to think that too, especially after spending a lifetime collecting vintage guitars.

Unfortunately, neither I, nor any expert I've ever show that guitar to has been able to detect that it is a total forgery.

They have mastered that.

Even under UV light the paint and fade are so amazingly perfect.

All those things are still made, or are even available surplus and thus truly vintage.

That's a great story!

But the truth is that Leo sold Fender for more than the NY Yankees sold for at the time. He had an incurable sinus infection and was rather ill. A year or so latter, a different team of doctors actually cured Leo.

The moment the non-compete clause in his CBS contract was over in the 70s, Leo had his legendary MusicMan company making guitars (he was a secret partner until the CBS contract expired), and in the late 70s he started G&L guitars (much nicer woods than Fender, better pickups and better tremlo system ).

GL010.jpg

China will make any product to any quality standard you are willing to pay for.

Tube amps and high end stereo equipment? Check.

Phones, computers, tablets? Check.

Optics and eyepieces for high end telescopes? Check.

Great plywood? Check.

$3500 high end refrigerators? Check.

When you get something crappy from China, it's because the company importing it only wanted a crappy product.

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Japan used to have the same reputation. "Made in Japan" used to be slang for crappy quality.