dbrian66 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 So I have a serious question to ask. Is it wrong to buy a Chinese Gibson for yourself as long as you never plan on selling it? I guess another question would be, is it even legal to buy a Chinese Gibson. The reason I ask is I won about 200.00 in my fantasy football league. Of course I want to buy a guitar. I have nothing with P90's so I started looking at Epi Les Paul Specials. You can get them all day long on EBay for less than 2 bills. For kicks I searched the Chinese guitars and found a gold top les paul w/p90's for about the same price. I figure the pickups and electronics are the same but the Chinese guitar has a set neck, binding, maple cap, etc... So I'm not sure what to do. If it wasn't for the Chinese one having a fake Gibson logo it would be a no brainer. Give me your opinions and let me know if my apprehension is warranted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I HATE the thought of fake or CHINESE GIBSONs. In MY OPINION, all buying one does is support people who are liars/criminals. Doesn't really matter to me if it will end up a player or for re-sale, it's wrong. If an epiphone is what your budget allows, get one and let it rock. Nothing wrong with them, they make good guitars. Even another brand........lots of good brands out there that make LP style guitars and are proud enough to put their own name on them, not someone else's. NHTom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Congrats on your tipping! hypothetically, if they were the only 2 choices I'g buy the Epi. Best case scenario - you really gel with it and rock out Worst case scenario - you flip it and get most if not all your money back with a Chibson the chances of getting an unplayable (without $$$), unsellable (you'd hope) PoS would have to be high - though it might look pretty. some nice pedals for $200.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Stay away from a Chinese fake LP, for $200 the quality has to be crap. Your signature says you already have a LP studio, a Bradley LP copy, an SG and a custom Strat - you don't need a fake LP just because it has P90s. They are probably not real anyway and won't sound like you want them to. Spend the dough on a new pedal or something and rock what you already have. Or if you absolutely have to have a LP with P90s, then trade a few of the guitars that you are not playing much, and get a real one. I think you would just be wasting $200 and then you'd want to sell it and the bad loop continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sg50 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 A Chibson will have pickups that look like P90s from the covers, but I wouldn't expect it to sound right. Epi is the safe bet. You can put your $200 into a used Epi and it'll be worth $200 in a year from now. I can't say the same for a Chibby. Of course, if you intend to get a Chibby and replace everything on it, then you might get close, but it'll cost way more than an Epi and will only ever be worth what a Chibson is worth. It's just not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrian66 Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 I guess my gut feeling about the Chinese guitar being wrong is legit. The resale value I never really though of because I wouldn't sell a fake, but you guys are right. I could sell the Epi if I didn't bond with it. Thanks for your input. I guess I'm going Epi shopping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbrian66 Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Stay away from a Chinese fake LP, for $200 the quality has to be crap. Your signature says you already have a LP studio, a Bradley LP copy, an SG and a custom Strat - you don't need a fake LP just because it has P90s. They are probably not real anyway and won't sound like you want them to. Spend the dough on a new pedal or something and rock what you already have. Or if you absolutely have to have a LP with P90s, then trade a few of the guitars that you are not playing much, and get a real one. I think you would just be wasting $200 and then you'd want to sell it and the bad loop continues. I should get rid of some of my guitars and then buy something real nice, but I have only ever sold one guitar and it was my first. Regret not having it even if it was junk. So I just keep accumulating more guitars! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I feel the need to post this video again now :) Its worth watching for the end bit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ_H2ZmKP8E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Take everyone's advice here mate and stay away from anything Chinese, they're sh!te. Will give you no end of trouble. Buy the Epi, there's nothing wrong with them. Or put the dough away, keep saving more and get a real Gibby. For the record, I have an Epi Goldtop that I put real Gibby P90's in, and it roars. Great guitar. By the way....the hooters on that sheila in the vid? They're fake! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Leaving the ethical dilemma aside... One of my close friends (who was just about to start to learn how to play) bought a Chinese Les Paul "Suprome". Visually it was a thing of great beauty. Lovely finish; lovely (tasteful) 'burst; lovely inlays; lovely binding and so on. In every other respect it was utter crap. The p'ups were pathetic and the electrics, for some reason, didn't work properly. The highly figured top was a photograph - 'Photo-Flame' - stuck to the plywood body. The worst thing, though, was the neck. The fingerboard could have been equally at home as part of an orange-box and the 'board / fret profile was so uneven it made the guitar unplayable above the third fret. It was so bad even he had to laugh. I'm sure a luthier could have sorted out the fret-work and a p'up/pot/cap/switch swap could have sorted out the sound - sort-of... By that time he would have had to sink a further £300+ ($450) into the project and at the end of the day he would have a fully-functioning -but still crap - guitar. Over to you.......... P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. C.O. Jones Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 In my opinion a chibson isn't worth the price of the lighter fluid I would use to burn it. Wait it's not worthy for a viking funeral. Sledgehammer and into the trash. Go with Epi, or save a bit more. Greetz Marcos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 there are plenty of perfectly good second hand MIK imports that can be had for around 200 bucks on The Bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 The highly figured top was a photograph - 'Photo-Flame' - stuck to the plywood body. Photo-Flame? Awh man, I've heard some horror stories before but that takes the award for cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReGuitar Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 I guess my gut feeling about the Chinese guitar being wrong is legit. The resale value I never really though of because I wouldn't sell a fake, but you guys are right. I could sell the Epi if I didn't bond with it. Thanks for your input. I guess I'm going Epi shopping! Counterfeit makers and sellers do exist because there's demand. You made the right decision. Good luck and don't forget posting pics. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 So I have a serious question to ask. Is it wrong to buy a Chinese Gibson for yourself as long as you never plan on selling it? Yes, it is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Photo-Flame? Awh man, I've heard some horror stories before but that takes the award for cheap! You can thank Fender for birthing that little gem in the mid 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Fender started that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Fender started that? I think it was actually Fender Japan. (I could be wrong). A lot of Ibanezes had that. Maybe still do? Foto-flame I don't think is bad in itself, but rather, you have to consider the actual wood that is Foto-flamed. As was stated, the Chinese stuff can have some real cheap wood. Where it gets cheesy though, visually, is when the "picture" of the grain patterns don't match with the wood underneath. And a lot of the Foto-flamed Strats from the 90's had the pic going around the body bevels that made it look more obvious than "classy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Fender started that? Yes! absolutely! The FotoFlame series was popular in the mid 90s as I recall. and yea I also agree with stein as they were all imported from Japan if my memory is still working. and yea, I always thought the idea was quite tacky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Yes! absolutely! The FotoFlame series was popular in the mid 90s as I recall. and yea I also agree with stein as they were all imported from Japan if my memory is still working. and yea, I always thought the idea was quite tacky Yea.."popular" might be an over-statement. The way I remember it, is that they were "cool" for a breif time only because no one knew you could "Foto-flame" something, and assumed it was actually figured wood. But once the cat was out of the bag, they didn't have appeal anymore. They didn't last long. As for where it came from, I question that. What I mean, or I think also what Searcy means, is where the "invention" came from. I can't recall if it was the guys at Fender USA that came up with it and the company used it on imports, or if it was the company who makes them in Japan that invented it. I'm leaning toward the folks in Japan- that is, the actual Japanese company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drog Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 You may as well toss your money out the window buying a "chibson". Buy an Epiphone or any of the several other legit branded guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 You can thank Fender for birthing that little gem in the mid 90's. And then the good folks at Martin have been applying photo-imaged spruce, rosewood, mahogany, & koa to X-Series instruments for many years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Even in the '70s "lawsuit" days, the great and sometimes not-so-great copies carried a trade name other than "Gibson." In some cases those instruments' made their names and decent to excellent quality well-known yet today. Ibanez is a perfect example. But counterfeiting is a lot different from copying designs. Heck, in ways I haven't seen or heard of much revolutionary in guitars since Ovations and AE stuff. Different combinations of concepts perhaps, but nothing really revolutionary until some stuff like FirebirdX. Even that was largely repackaging a formula that dates back to putting on a volume and tone control on a magnetic "pickup." But counterfeiting? Hey, don't forget that it ain't just "Chibsons," it's also been "Epichins." For the money, an Epi is gonna be about as good as it gets. And the real competition for Gib-Epi, regardless of what I might consider quality or value or my preference in build? It's from other folks who put their own brand on their product. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Hayden Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I might be the onty one here that feels this way but buy American, they do have resale value Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingfrets Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Epiphone makes some really nice P90 equipped guitars. Over the years, I've had one of their SG Juniors, one of their double-cut Les Paul Juniors and I've still got an Epi Les Paul, but I replaced the P90s with a pair I built (not that there was anything wrong with the stock set - just personal preference & I wanted to see if I could do it)... At the time that pic was taken, I hadn't installed the pickguard or control cavity covers yet, but anyway,this is what you can expect from the stock Epiphone P90... And if you want a little "twist" on the stock sound, there's this (very easy) mod. Actually used this on the neck pickup of my Epi Les Paul... IMO, absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in the Epiphone or their P90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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