diff --git a/pyvisa/rname.py b/pyvisa/rname.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/pyvisa/rname.py
+++ b/pyvisa/rname.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ class ResourceName(object):
                 rn.user = resource_name
                 return rn
             except ValueError as ex:
-                raise InvalidResourceName.bad_syntax(subclass.syntax,
+                raise InvalidResourceName.bad_syntax(subclass._visa_syntax,
                                                      resource_name, ex)
 
         raise InvalidResourceName('Could not parse %s: unknown interface type'
Fixed bug in rname error reporting