As far as I know Rickenbacker doesn't have any dealers here in Brazil. So people here can't even buy online because any dealer in the US or Europe refuse to ship to Brazil because of Ric's policy.
So the only Rics here are the ones that people buy abroad and bring with them on the plane or a handfull that was sold back in the late 80's when there was a dealer for like only 6 months, but didn't work out well because of local business men wanting to make too much profit out of it.
From the early 70's to early 80's the biggest local manufacturer by the brand name of Giannini used to build 4001 copys using the same japanese parts you find on Univox and Greco, but those are pretty hard to show up in decent conditions, and when they do, they go off for as much as a new Fender Standard. And the thing is that people pay the price because that's closest thing to a real Ric we can lay our hands on.
I've built 4 Ric copys so far, 2 basses and 2 guitars and I'm likely to build more since there's a big demand for it.
Now, I'm a one man business here and I'm just hoping not to be hearing from John Hall any time soon.
