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How to spot a fake: Gibson warns of counterfeit guitars sold in USA
Submitted by GSite_Editor on Tue, 07/05/2011 - 05:15.
Gibson Guitar continues to protect its intellectual property rights and provide consumer protection against the growing problem of counterfeit instruments being shipped from and sold by outlets and individuals in China.
This is a 're-print' of a popular article - there are still many people asking questions about how to tell if a Gibson guitar is genuine.
Originally published in April 2009, this article continues to get a lot of readers and people posting comments and questions below. We hope you find this useful if you're wondering about a second hand Gibson you're looking at buying, or even one that is being sold as new if it's not from a regular Gibson dealer.
Several complaints from consumers who were sold fake instruments has prompted an aggressive move on Gibson Guitar's part to work with government officials and other instrument marketers in an effort to curtail the growing problem. Gibson Guitar advises all consumers to purchase Gibson instruments only from their network of authorized dealers.
Authorized Gibson dealers can be found on the company's website at www.gibson.com and should be referred to by consumers when purchasing their choice of Gibson instrument. A consumer is warned against purchasing any Gibson brand instrument outside of the authorized dealer network and the inevitable risk of purchasing what can turn out to be a fake.
The growing problem, originating out of China, has been reviewed by the U.S. Trade Commission and currently has the attention of Washington. China regularly defends its record in fighting piracy and counterfeit production of merchandise, however many pirated consumer products continue to be sold in various Chinese cities which affect a multitude of international manufacturers across many categories.
"We will continue to do everything in our power to protect our consumers and the integrity of our family of brands," said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. "We hope that by issuing this warning our consumers will be armed with the right information to protect themselves and understand what they need to do to insure that what they are purchasing is, indeed, an authentic Gibson instrument."
Consumers can check any of the references below when examining a Gibson guitar in an effort to insure its authenticity:
- Make sure the size is not undersized
- The headstock and headstock logo should match those of authentic Gibson guitars
- Pearl should always be inlaid
- Les Paul Model script is always in cursive
- If the guitar has a 3 screw truss rod it is not authentic
- Check the control and pick up cavities for sloppy routing or wiring
- Real Gibson guitars use one piece necks
- Many fake Gibsons have their pickup cavities painted black inside
- If purchasing a Gibson always ask for the Gibson's Owner Manual and Gibson/Warranty Inspection Card
- Check the wiring, if it is plastic it isn't a true Gibson
In a recent case in North Carolina, a man was charged with trying to sell counterfeit guitars after a 15 year old discovered the instrument he bought from the suspect was a fake. The man was arrested on two felony counts of criminal use of a counterfeit trademark, following an investigation by the North Carolina Secretary of State's Trademark Enforcement Section. The investigation was initiated by a complaint to the Secretary of State's Office from a victim who allegedly bought what appeared to be a Les Paul model Gibson brand electric guitar from the man. The man had advertised the guitars for sale in the local paper.
Auction websites currently have hundreds of instruments which resemble Gibson Guitars and other brands. Some even feature trademarked headstocks and logos. Many of these items carry a very low sale price but exorbitant shipping costs. Upon close inspection the guitars will not feel or sound like a true Gibson and most are not of good standard of quality overall. If a guitar is up for an auction for a straight price or a fraction of what one would cost typically, the consumer is taking a great chance in purchasing it. Gibson Guitar warns against such action. Consumers should be wary of such sales that also offer shipping prices that are more than the guitar.
Illegal merchandise entering the country offer great damages on many levels; and counterfeiting in the United States is a serious crime punishable in a court of law. By Federal statutes, selling and also owning counterfeit merchandise is a felony. By issuing this warning, Gibson Guitar hopes to educate its loyal consumers about such wrongdoings and protect them.
This is a Press Release
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good info only thing is dat i dont have gipson.....i have kapok
Gibson Les Paul Fakes
Hi Guys what a load of "Bolony" or if you like Crap, I have played Gibsons and Fenders for years, I own a 1957 Goldtop (real one), and a real Fender American Standard Strat, and have just aquired a Flame Top Chinese Les Paul, Absolute belter fitted with Epiphone 57 Alnico Humbuckers, not only looks great with a nice flame top, and a nice neck on it and the detail is perfect, all it required was a little fret dressing which took me 1 hour, and a $20 dollar real truss rod cover although it had two screws on it, it was not quite the correct shape, and the sound and feel is as good as the real thing, but the best thing is the $2600.00 change that I have for not buying the real thing, wood is wood, and at the end of the day, it is down to the guy or girl that is playing the guitar, if you are not a good guitarist, buy a $30000 gibson, and buy a $500 chinese les paul, you will sound the same on both of them, so guys wake up as we are now in the real world, Give Slash a chinese copy les paul, and he will sound the same as he always does believe me.
I rest my case.
just another point, when I was a kid growing up we had motorbikes, I had a Japanese Suzuki 125cc Twin, and a friend of mine had a British BSA 250cc motorbike, I could leave him standing with a passenger on mine, and the cars used to be the same, buy a Japanese car and you got electric windows etc etc, and they are faster than the english equivalent, or buy a british car and pay for the extras, all I can say is that Gibsons are now overpriced and very good, but I bet they are very worried about the Chinese Guitars as they are now taking over as they become better, look at the "Orville" Les Pauls built in Japan and play the same and are probably better built than an American Gibson mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Makes you think does'nt it ?..
Regards
David R
Gibson 335
That is the most incredible example of a run on sentence I have ever read. Nice work!
Up Yours Too
Same to you buddy you are a legend in your own mind Like a used Toilet wipe usefull but not often wanted
troll hunter
Your a dick so shut up!
GIBSON Fakes
Gibson themselves are having their Epiphone guitars made in China in order to increase their margins in selling guitars. So who is the hypocrit here? It's OK for them to save money in order to manufactuire their guitars in China but not OK for anyone else to do the same? I am a Gibson buyer and love their guitars but I fail to see how this makes in a logic whatsoever. So if you are outsourcing your business and giving away the tooling, engineering and knowledge that is yours, how can you be surprised when they use it to compete against you? Kind of looks like karma to me.
Chinese Epiphones...
Not only that, from what I've seen, the Chinese-made Epiphones are not as well made as other Chinese guitars. I bought several budget Chinese guitars and was pleasantly surprised by all of them (even the SX that cost $100 on eBay), until I got a new Epiphone-- had to go through three to find one that didn't have problems. I suspect Gibson has instructed their supplier not to make them quite so good because it makes their regular guitars look bad. I recently got an Italia Maranello (similar to a Les Paul), and am still awe-struck by its quality. And my Chinese made Ibanez ART100 is killer.
I do agree however that labelling them as real Gibsons should not be tolerated, but otherwise so what? I don't care what name is on the guitar if it's a well-made well playing guitar. Modern "authentic" Gibsons are grossly overpriced, and frankly, the last good model they made in my opinion was the LP Custom Fretless Wonder (still my favorite guitar which I bought new in '73), that they haven't made for decades.
Gibson Les Paul Copies
First off, David R., you're clearly missing the point of the thread and probably don't own a real LP anyway. Listen, it all comes down to the law, laws that protect law abiding copywright owners. I'm 34 years old, and have owned more guitars than most women have owned shoes. I never once been taken by some copy of any guitar, where my common sense and good judgement was impaired by the "good deal" pitch. I look at guitars like I do a woman, I'm in no hurry, just because she looks like a good deal doesn't mean she's worth a damn. The good ones need a good moment to get to know and of course, you never blind date. You hold the guitar in your hands before you pay a dime, and if it feels wrong, let it go and no harm done. So you shop around and when that special one shows up, you can feel it, see it, hear it, she's beautiful all around and regardless of price, she's the genuine article and you are quite proud to have her in your arm. Unlike the cheap, broad that smells cheap, looks cheap, feels cheap, and wreaks of cheapness. Oh, and might I remind that the genuine Gibson LP line has its uniquenesses within itself too. Each one is a hand carved work of art that is unique unto itself; I have 4 Gibson LP Custom Ebony guitars and each one is unique and a little bit different from the others. All in all, you get what you pay for, so pick your lady carefully.
LP Fakes
First Off I have owned 6 "Real Gibsons" in my lifetime, I still own two, I also own a Fake 1959 Les Paul Flame Top, which looks and plays as good as the 1960 "Real Les Paul" I own, but it looks a heck of a lot better, The Flame is awsome I have real "Kluson" Tuners on it and it has Epiphone 1957 Burst Bucker Pickups, so I do know the real thing from the "Fake" but You couldn' tell the fake was fake, I have also had this guitar to many gigs and people just don't believe it is NOT "Real" , I appreciate your rants about Copyrights etc but this is the real world and you pay your money and takes your chance, I have owned and played many real Gibsons, some great, and some Crap, I have also seen and played a few Fake Gibsons, again, some Great and some Crap, so don't prejudge without trying one,
Best Wishes,
David R.
you are right they all are
you are right they all are different but sometimes that cheap piece of ass is the best you ever had
Best Piece of Ass
I agree the roughest piece of ass is usually the best.
Best piece of ass???
Come on guys, you have to up your game. If all you've ever had was the worn out broad that has been pounded out like wet garbage, and you call it the best, what the hell are you gonna do when the tight gal that has it all and knows it crosses your path? Like I said, guitars are like women. You have to up your game a bit. Ill tell you about another two girls I have. Sometime in 1995, I was passing through Clarksville Tennessee, and stopped in at a Pawn Shop. I looked around a bit and noticed this "Hummingbird" copy hanging up in the corner for $100.00. It was made by Ibanez, made in Japan, and had the name "Concord" on the trussrod cover. Nice looking guitar, parallellogram inlays, heritage cherry sunburst finish, the works, bought it on the spot. This Ill dub the Japanese Geisha. With new strings and setup, she played beautifully. With a bit of research, I found that she was made in 1976 as a direct copy of the real thing, diring the Lawsuit days of Ibanez and Gibson. Fast forward to 2005. I'm in Colorado Springs CO, at a major music retailer checkin out the new Gibson Music Rising LP that the Edge had just released a few weeks earlier. So I step into the Acoustic humidor and start to eye this used Gibson Hummingbird. I had the salesman tell me a bit about her and he tells me she's a 1974 Hummingbird made at the Kalamazoo MI plant. I played with her a bit and she was spot on in every detail. She went home with me for $1800.00. Once I was at my home I compared the two models as anyone would. I figured that with the Ibanez being a 1976 and the Gibson a 1974, their dreadnought shapeshould mirror eachother perfectly, since this era of Hummingbird was more than likely used for Ibanez to copy. Aesthetics first, the Gibson looked played more, compared to the Ibanez that must have spent most of its life cased. The mother of pearl inlay on the Gibson was eye-popping though, where as the inlay on the Ibanez was pearloid, not mother of pearl. The neck on the Gibson felt slightly thicker than the Ibanez. And the hardware on the Gibson had a sturdier look than the Ibanez's which was excellent in and of itself. Both guitars woods were identical, sitka spruce top, and mahogany neck, back, and sides. But this is where the similarities ended. The Ibanez's voice was bright and silky, all the notes in any bar-chord rang beautifully, not much bass I might add. But the Gibson had this, projection with its voice that I can only describe as a hearty exhale, if that makes any sense. When I strummed the Gibson I felt soundwaves coming out of the soundhole like someone turned a small fan on! The Ibanez didn't respond like that. The Japanese Geisha had a nice voice no doubt, but man, my fingers made that Hummer moan! I use the Geisha as a backup incase I break a string on the Hummer now. Maybe I'm one of those guys that have never owned a bad USA Gibson, perhaps. Again, guitars are like women, Ill only surround myself with the best.
fakes
Get real---the only thing----Hand carved at Gibson is the top of a Super 400--------so much for your years of expertise.
:0 word up .....remeber
:0 word up .....remeber kiddies appetite was recoreded on les paul copy .....and its still the main squeeze LiII;)'':
1970 Les Pauls
Hi Guys if the Les Pauls of the 70s were so good why did they have a "Valute" or lump at the back of the neck ?????????????????, because without it the necks kept breaking and this is what you call Quality ??????????????????????,
I rest my case. As for the guy with the 1972 Les Paul Custom with Cherry Sunburst have a look at the neck and ask yourself why is that "Valute" or lump on your guitars neck ???????, The Chines guitars don't have them on.
Regards
David.
Chinese Gibsons
Good Morning, I have owned a few Real Gibsons, and still have one a Old Les Paul, I also own a Real Strat, I also bought a 1958 Re-Issue Flame Top Chinese to see what the Chinese guitars are like, and all that I can say is that it looks superb, plays great, and the only "Faults were the truss rod cover although it had two screws was slightly not the correct shape (real one cost me £16.00), the other job that I did was to polish the frets with rubbing compound where the frets meet the binding because this was not finished quite good enough for me, although most people would have thought this was ok, my opinion, as for the sound well all I can say is "Wow" absolutely beautifull, and it even has Epiphone 57 Humbuckers on it as well, so much tone variety in the pickups best I have ever played in any guitar, and I have played guitars for the past 45 years as well, so all in all I spent £260.00 and have got the equivalent of a £3500.00 Gibson, and I got a free leather case as well, just look at this quote from the guy at gibson, he is so wrong,
"Though some guitars are especially deceptive,
Gibson’s Customer Service Manager Jason Davidson says, “Usually we can
spot a fake right away. They’re absolute garbage. They play terribly,
they feel terrible. They are only made to look like a Gibson, and they
do a poor job of that.”
How wrong you are Mr Jason Davidson,
RegardsDavid Roberst. UK
Really?
I have a hard time feeling sorry for Gibson or anyone who has has spent a fortune on one and is mad that there might be cheap copies out there. Everybody wants to blame the Chinese or anyone else who sells affordable copies, but the real people to blame are the ones who sold out America and made all this possible. This includes companies like Gibson who outsource work.
The first thing outsourcing does is make a market for cheap products. The copycat gibsons would not exist without a market.
The second thing outsourcing does is destroy the job market at home and make the working class poorer. Joe wants a Gibson guitar, but Joe makes 9 dollars an hour and his company keeps him from getting overtime. His rent is 1500 a month, his utilities 400 a month, his car payment 350.... you get the idea. He could make more money if companies like gibson refused to outsource work and he could find a skilled trade job. So what can Joe afford? A chinese copy of a Gibson... so he buys one, thus driving the market... and who can blame him?
Pissed off American companies like gibson only have them selves to blame. America sold themselves out over 40 years ago and we are reaping the consequences. Bring work back to Americans... and they might be able to afford to buy American products.
I recently visited Asia and saw one of these fake Gibsons in a store. My first reaction was, that can't be a genuine Gibson. As this article states, there was an obvious cheapness to the guitar, I didn't even pick it up, just looking at it in the window I could see that it was wasn't a high quality instrument. All of the clues mentioned above were there.
For people who are thinking of buying a Gibson, go to an authorized dealer and familiarize yourself with the the models, features, and price ranges. Or, if buying used, see if you can find info online about the general price range and features of the model you are interested in. If the deal sounds "too good to be true", it probably is. You are far better off waiting and saving your money for a quality guitar, it's well worth waiting a while for it.
Go to the Gibson factory and store in Nashville if you have a chance, they may still offer tours and it's a cool place. Check www.gibson.com for details, also i think a virtual tour. Believe it, you'll see a pretty great selection of Gibsons right there. Thanks Henry, keep on keeping on ;)
GREEDY GIBSON U.S.A!!
ITS A SHAME THAT COUNTERFEIT GUITARS ARE BEING MADE IN CHINA!! BUT GREEDY CO,S LIKE GIBSON,GRETSCH,FENDER, AND OTHERS!! SELL THIER GUITARS FOR WAY TOO MUCH MONEY! KEEPING THEM OUT OF THE HANDS OF EVERY GUITAR PLAYER WHO IS NOT SLASH OR SOME BIG RICH ROCK STAR! THE BEST GIBSON FROM THE US SHOULD COST 500.00!!MAX !! AND THEY WOULD STILL MAKE A HUGE PROFIT AND CURB THE CHINA COPIES !! I WANT A GIBSON ACE FREHLEY MODEL!! THE EPIPHONE GUITARS ARE PURE CRAP!!!!!!!! AND GREEDY GIBSON WANTS 3 GRAND FOR ONE!! SO FUCK EM, ILL GET A CHINA ONE WITH A HARD CASE, ALL THE LOGOS AND BE HAPPY! FOR 3OO,OO BUCKS! I HAVE A RICK AND A GRETSCH FROM CHINA! AND THEY ARE 1O TIMES BETTER THAN EPIPHONE OR SQUIRES! STOP BEING GREEDY AND THE COUNTERFEIT STUFF WONT BE AN ISSUE! I PLAYED A CHINA 57 BLACK LES PAUL!! IT LOOKED GREAT AND PLAYED GREAT! IT COST 250.00!! VS 3 GRAND!
Chines Fakes
I agree totally I recently bought a $500 Chinese 1960 Flame Top Re-Issue with Gibson Logo'ed case and it is awsome, I also have a 1960 Genuine Les Paul Standard Plain Top, which in comparison the top looks crap at the side of the Chinese counterpart, as for the quality the chinese one is spot on with a superb finish and the sound is gorgeous, so again Gibson if I was you I would be very worried indeed, all in all they are superb, so anyone that is saying they are all crap has not seen a good one yet. you are bound to soon though as they are flooding the market like the asians did in the UK,
Regards
Larry.
Chinese Gibson
For all of you that buy the Chinese les Paul are not only fake
Musicians yourself. Everyone you buy is stealing a job
From a hard working Ameican. I save my hard earned money
And buy Ameican. I wish I could own a gibson but I don't
Have the cash but I will save and save and it may take
Me five years but it will be made in America by a real American
And not some commy country ripping of the Americans left
And right. Right down to the baby bottle full of lead you
Let your son or daughter drink out of. One day my ship
Will come in and I will have a Gibson and when I do, it will
Be made in America to keep us strong. Ps: I drive a Ford,
With Ameican metal. My Ameican flag is up 365'days a year
Nope not a red neck. Long haired rocker that buys Ameican
My amps are American too. Good luck Gibson.
Gibson themselves are having
Gibson themselves are having their Epiphones made in China. How American is that? As a result, they are giving their expertise, tooling, engineering, etc to a future competitor for the almighty dollar. They are going to China themselves to make more money. Who is the hipocrit??????
BS all of you that are
BS all of you that are saying the quality on the copies and epiphones are the same as the real gibsons are full of bs. It is easy to type that, and if you really think that then you are just a fool. buy what u want, play what you want, think what you want , but dont spread your bs around me.
American products
Given an equivalent choice, I'll buy American, but I'll not by shoddy and/or overpriced American products just because they're American. MOST guitars are made in China now-- if I have to pay $2500 more for a Gibson, and the quality of a $500 Chinese-made guitar is just as good, SCREW Gibson, they just need to learn how to compete in a world marketplace.
All your paying for with that extra $2500 is the NAME on the headstock, Gibson is resting on their laurels. I like some of the Gibson guitars, but I buy guitars for how they play and how well they're made, and WHAT I CAN AFFORD, not for what name is on the headstock.
woopdy doo for uncle sam !!
woopdy doo for uncle sam !! who flys his flag 365 days a year, and drives a frigging ford !!! im an american too !! but shit still stinks, regardless who makes it, point being, if the guitar plays and sounds good, who cares how much it costs !! -- hey buddy, im a real guitar player too, !!!! ps china makes american flags, and goods for our military !!!!----i drive a CHEVROLET, AND OUR GOVERMENT SUCKS MONKEY BALLS !!! WHO CARES, SHUT UP AND PLAY YOUR GUITAR !!!!
"OUR GOVERNMENT SUCKS MONKEY
"OUR GOVERNMENT SUCKS MONKEY [email protected]#%$" grow up already.
"Our Government Sucks Monkey Balls"
What a retard, try telling that to the families of soldiers, firefighters, police officers and other Government volunteers that have died in the line of duty, you douchebag. I've been through 2 deployments and one of the things that kept my head up was the goal of buying my FIRST NASHVILLE MADE GIBSON LP CUSTOM. If you don't like America, go live somewhere else...
Hey gi jane !!!! gee, you
Hey gi jane !!!! gee, you joined the service, and your calling me a retard !!!! W.T.F. - AMERICA IS GREAT !!!!! it,s the land of the almost free and home of ass kissers-LIKE YOU !!!!----THIS IS FACT... 95% OF YOUR NASHVILLE GIBSON WAS MADE IN CHINA, --- TRY A TEISCO GUITAR FROM JAPAN!!! THEY R.O.C.K. !!!
YOU SHOULD TRY A MARSHALL
YOU SHOULD TRY A MARSHALL BLAH!
yanky doodle dandy
yanks are lazy unproductive leaches and everything they make are crap just like you...yanky doodle dandy and dont tell people what to buy you war monger jerk!
ps ford are shit and they fall apart!!!
The real problem
Yep, were war mongers, just like you're a waste of flesh. Oh, and by the way, my Ford runs on guts from fools like you. Have a nice day shitbag. PS. Yankee Doodle isn't lazy, he's quite busy fighting all the wars that others can't fight for themselves, and you're probably one of them. And if you're from China, keep on doing what you're doing, you are the most pathetic place on Earth, it is not possible for you to come up with an original idea that becomes an icon, like a real Gibson Les Paul, you spend all your time copying everyone elses ideas, and you have the worlds biggest military that doesn't do shit but talk bullshit, hell you don't even help out those 3rd world countries who can't fight or compete in a war for themselves. I won't buy your trash at walmart, and I won't eat at your overpriced shit buffets. If its American, it is gonna be great.
american?
come on dude i love gibsons too i used to have a 71 j200 had to sell it to pay bills. its 2012 theres a recession were getting screwed every which way we can by our countrys im from liverpool uk but married a yank,do you think our governments care about giving us jobs or buying homegrown ,hell no our soldiers are in asia getting killed to save iraqi lives so they can have more asian oil to fill up there lexus (asian cars) .most of the parts that go in your (american truck) are made in china cause there cheaper than the american versions just like the chinese computer your writing on and the chinese tv you watch do i need to go on ? sure paul mccartney and slash can buy 5 grand gibsons but there not normal working men like you and me and gibson stopped being for the working man decades ago when that j45 that used to cost 45 bucks (hence the name) started costing 2000 dollars why? when they can be made for 200 ill tell you why so some other american can get richer and richer and buy more lexus cars while you work like an idiot (same as me for peanuts). the american dream died a long time ago in some asian jungle some where or some friggin afghani desert ,but our governments hope that we forget all that and keep on paying through our asses for some long forgotten dream ! rant over god bless america !!!!!!!
Information
Hey dude!
Greetings from Brazil!
Can you add me on messenger? [email protected]
I wanna talk 'bout chinese guitars!
Can you send me your contact there? Or some chinese guitar website?
I'm looking for a G6120RHH!
Can you help me?
my mail is [email protected]
Thanx
You're stupid
You can't cap most of those Gibson guitars at $500, because they are made in America by AMERICAN LUTHIERS who are paid more and build better guitars than their poorly paid Chinese counterparts. Also, the high dollar versions are made of better tone wood, and also include better hardware. If you want a good guitar, it's not something that can be thrown together on an assembly line, it takes time and effort to make each one. like the title says. YOU'RE STUPID.
you're wrong
I don't think you should be accusing people of being stupid. You obviously have not done your homework because Gibson outsources big time. Do you know how much of the guitar has to be made in america for Gibson to say "Made in USA"? 52% has to be made in the US, the rest is made in china, The hardware(excluding the pickups) is made in china. Also the Gibsons are made on assembly lines, the only part that isn't is the neck, which is handmade. Gibson's are extremely overpriced and aren't made by "Luthiers", it seems to me that the place you found this info is a Gibson.com, which is all bull. A average gibson takes 12 hours to make, which is much longer than chinese made copies, but the time makes no difference because the reason it takes longer is that the neck is handmade. Research more next time before calling people idiots.
RIGHT ON NOT TO MENTION THEY
RIGHT ON NOT TO MENTION THEY ONLY HAVE ABOUT FIVE BOARD FEET OF WOOD IN THEM THATS ABOUT 40 DOLLARS WORTH OF WOOD $3500 RIP OFFS
humbug
FYI Gibson USA are not made by craftsmen they are made in an assemble plant, the wood being cut by computer and put together and sanded by low paid uncaring students moonlighting that are college learning to be accountants they have the touch of a rhino! so look on youtube how their factory runs..only the obscenely priced great stuff is made in a speciality section and has nothing to do with the pauls etc
the real deal
hey stupider..i bought a brand spanking new lp black beauty with gold hardware and had to go thru 10 to find a good one..anyway the bastards gold started rubbing off after 2 weeks!!!..this has never happened ever ever ever with even the cheapest ibanes or chinese guitar ever...so go back to the gibson bullshit board room and get back to your job robbing musicians that have been duped into the legend..the only good thing good about gibson is the shapes they designed..big deal
REAL OR NOT!!!
I have a 1977 SG std and a 1964 SG Jr, have had countless real Les Pauls, and I even have a JIMMY PAGE eds 1275 VOS along with the angus young series hand signed by angus and malcomb. I have even owned and played the older epiphone LP's. I am a GIBSON man hands down. I just bought what I was told was a GIBSON SG CUSTOM COPY. Hi flammed trasnparent green maple finish with gold hardware. BEFOREW I WAS TOLD it was a copy, I just looked at it settin in the stand looking brand new and perfect shape for 375.00 I thought?? WTF?? Remember I am a Gibson nut for over 25 yrs worth of playing and buying. Im waling around this thing looking and finally I asked the dude, whats wrong with this guitar? He said nothing its a copy,, and I laughed!! I said are you serious?? He said yeah its really a copy. I honestly could not tell by looking at it that it was a fake.
THEN I PICKED UP UP AND WRAPED MY HANDS AROUND IT!!! thats all it took was to wrap my hand around the neck, it was cheap feeling, maybe casue I was just told it was a copy? but regardless I pluged it in and fired it up and the seller(kid) was very honest and accurate he said the pick ups are weak and they were and the fake bigsby was apparently just for looks like the original bigsby !!! lol!! However It came home with me and its hanging on my wall right here in my office, and only I now and my gf knows its a copy none of my buddys can tell and I aint letting the cat out of the bag!! It would suck for someone tro buy one of these for much more and really expecting to get a real Gibson, but thats America thas what we do!! And I agree with the $500.00 max price for a real Gibson, and it would resolve the copy trade mark issues and they would be selling 10x the amount of wood insead of acting like its gold they would be able to gv more jobs back in TN and do right, I wont go there but Over all I got my moneys worth even if its a wall hanger!!!! BARGEMAN INDIANA.
gibson isnt greedy
What you dont seem to get is that in china the labour costs nothing, wheras in the US you have to pay reasonable wages . You will probably find that the price difference between the cost of manufacturing an american compared to a chinese gibson is relative to what you pay , nothing to do with greed. Good thing that gibson try to make there stuff accessable to us low income dopes by manufacturing chinese epiphones eh ...
Necks
Hi Guys,
Ed Romand R.I.P hit the nail on the head with Gibson Neck breaks he I quote said "I have repaired around 15,000 Gibson necks which always break at the same place, I have never repaired a China Les Paul Neck" what does this tell you, Gibson are great value and quality I don't think so.
Also beware of a guy called Mickel Turner (false name, no doubt - uses a hotmail address) whom is trying to flog a Gibson ES-335 Eric Clapton. He is present on several local internet auction houses in Australia and overseas. He uses false UPS documentation to support shipping. He claims the guitar is No66 of 250, but it is all bull**** - just a con. He will request funds be transferred by MoneyGram or other dodgy means. Please be careful as he is very convincing.
holy...I think I found the guitar you are talking about and I think someone is trying to sell it again...it still looks like a con!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-Eric-Clapton-ES-335-Crossroads-Electric-Guitar_
W0QQitemZ230118700734QQihZ013QQcategoryZ38085QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
someone report this please, as i don't know how to!
One thing most of us in the GuitarSite forums have found Chris is that eBay do very little about fake auctions. There are numerous threads posted about the problem. 'tis unfortunate :(
Ebay and fakes
ebay don't bother as they get fees from the sale and paypal fees as well, so why should they care they have got their cash they will say st**f you mate we are ok,
Regards
Ray
ebay and Chinese Fake Gibsons
Good old ebay do not give a F**K and never did, they are only concerned with taking your money and as they now also own Paypal, they make a condition of sale that you Must accept Paypal as a form of payment or they kick you off ebay. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????,
Regards
Larry.
I just bought a Gibson Les Paul Standard. One way to make this a little safer is to take the Gibson product code and serial number and call the Gibson toll free number right in the store and check them out. I did it and the guitar was exactly what they said it was. If the store balks when you ask them to do this-go somewhere else!
gibson Product code
How do you find the Gibson product code to register the warranty?
Gibson Customer Services
You are joking me . Try contacting Gibson via a phone and you will never get through and you will be put on hold (if you ever get answered) and as for giving out information to you, they just won't tell you anything I have tried and they gave me no information at all, they just want your "Bucks" then offer no backup, at all.
You are taking a very big risk buying a secondhand Gibson as there are guys making copies of these in their garages that are unmistakeable from the real thing so "caveat Avor" Buyer Beware,
At least when you buy a Chinese Les Paul you know what you are getting ???????????????
Regards
Larry.
you have good patensial of this website thank for helping
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