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Real or fake? epiphone black beauty


jeffrey92

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@alfsboy...Good point.

 

I just checked my bookmarks. How about this one: http://www.musoland.com.cn/main.asp

Now I'm not sure of what to think.

That's one hell of a backdoor...

Those guitars look mighty nice...

 

If the eBay feedback was good' date=' I'd consider buying one of those Les Pauls for $200... but when I click to go to the eBay store, or the eBay feedback, I get redirected to eachnet.com.

 

[EDIT'] Looking at that website, and then looking at the eBay listing... there are some "similar" pictures. "Similar" meaning "exactly the same."

 

Maybe someone else noticed that and I'm just blind today, but I found it odd.

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I never bothered to look. I bookmarked it as a curiosity. Like someone said before, just for laughs. I'd love to have a cheap LP, looking, playing and sounding like the real thing. But as it is, it all just too flaky looking. No reliable references, no buzz in the forums or newsgroups. I'd stay away....far.

 

If you have $200 in pocketchange to spare, go ahead. Take a gamble. I can't.

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Hey guys, I just won the auction for an Epi Les Paul Black Beauty on Ebay, that looks to be identical to the one in the OP, so came here looking for info, before I actually hand any money over for it.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250217952867

 

The seller has a high feedback score and I've gone through all his negative and neutral feedback, not one person was unhappy with the guitar, unless it was because it was damaged in transit, or more damaged than they had thought, but no accusations of fakery or anything.

 

I dunno, the pictures aren't too clear and I wouldn't really be able to tell anyways I guess, can anyone here share some of their experience about whether this guitar is a genuine epiphone factory second, or a fake?

 

Looking at the pictures of Les Paul Black Beauties from genuine retailers, they seem to have the truss rod cover (I think thats what it is, I dont know) saying Gibson on them? And the tuners are different shaped, not round along the edge. That's just old pictures right?

Here is an example of what i'm talking about, a nice large picture: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/9552/a/r/e/base

 

The one on the epiphone.com site shows the rounded tuners, like the chinese 'real' epi's, like I've bought. I'm assuming these are grovers, that the ones in the pictures on ebay show? (but the 'old' black beauty's don't have?)

 

Also the picture on epiphone.com has volume knobs (are these pots?) which are a gold/bronze colour though, as they are on the picture from my local official gibson dealer: http://www.coda-music.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_33&products_id=158

 

But on these chinese ebay/musoland epi's they are black, as they are on the 'old' black beauty pictures

 

It seems like a pretty stupid oversight for a chinese manufacturer of fakes who goes through all the trouble to make such an efficient copy, to not notice that they should be gold/bronze and not black..

 

It looks like these ebay/musoland chinese real fake epi's are a mix and match of both? Does anyone actually own an Epiphone black beauty bought from an authorised dealer that can provide reference pics?

 

Are the factories that manufacture the guitars exclusive to Gibson/Epi? Because it could be possible that they're not even back door 2nd's, but just 'genuine' copies, manufactured in the same factory by a chinese 3rd party (or even chinese epiphone themselves), the only difference being no/low quality control, and low profit margins, but otherwise identical.

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Jeff & 7th son,

 

Listen to Rotcanx. He's a good spud.

 

If this were a Gibby Black Beauty then it would be easier to validate.

 

As far as reference pics of Epiphones for checking things like truss rod covers and tuner knob types, it's not going to validate anything. Epiphone is not concerned about keeping that kind of detail consistent from batch to batch or plant to plant or year to year.

They have never been consistent with truss rod covers. Over the years Epi's legitemate production truss rod covers have been engraved with different versions of "Epiphone" or "Gibson" or the model type or just plain blank.

It's the same with tuners. Epi's have been made in lots of different factories in many different countries. Their supply chain for parts that they don't make in house has varied widely through the years.

There is a thread on this forum about the different Epiphone headstocks which is another example of the same thing.

 

If you are concerned that the guitar is not legit, take it to an authorized Epiphone dealer and let them check it over.

It's true that stickers can be faked but there would be some other evidence of forgery somewhere.

Buying a guitar on the internet is always a little risky but the other option is to pay retail for your peace of mind.

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2 days ago I sent support@gibson.com all the pics I posted here and they replied and said that it 'appears to be authentic'. I asked what signifies my copy as authentic and not a musoland copy and they haven't gotten back to me back but I'm guessing they will soon.

 

Ya, I agree that the Epiphone does not keep the same kind of standards that are kept on the Gibsons. As far as truss rod covers and tone knobs, I think the ones on those sites are from previous years and that it may vary from factory to factory, or even inside the factory.

 

The body of mine feels nice and solid, and so it would seem that the only way to tell would be to check out the wiring and such, all of which I sent pictures of to Gibson and they said it was authentic. The only thing that worries me is that one of the reps said to give me a pic of the back of the headstock and of the s/n which imo is probably pretty easy to fake. However, on the musoland website, they don't use the EExxxxxxxxx like what I have they use Ixxxxxxx (dunno exact # of x's lol)

 

Hey, if its good enough to fool Epiphone, and good enough to fool anyone else, I'd say so what. With the money I save by buying this (I'm thinking these are backdoors... the real deal, but not "authorized", and they gotta be sold for less to be sold at all) I can get new pickups take it in for a modification or two. And if I ever find out it is fake, I can get reembursed and get the seller in trouble.

 

I'm thinking someone would have caught on eventually. Even so, it is a nice looking guitar so there's no harm I guess.

 

and if ebay sellers were selling musoland copies, I would think they wouldn't be selling them for such high profit margins... but maybe. I've heard that musoland copies aren't too bad anyways

 

 

Here's another reason why I don't think these are musoland fakes:

http://www.musoland.com.cn/more_pic.asp?ProdId=0835

http://www.musoland.com.cn/more_pic.asp?ProdId=1003

 

the first link is the copies and the 2nd is the genuine. And the genuine sells for more. I mean, musoland could just be trying to lead people on but its pretty unlikely, and Gibson really pursues impersonations like these. The only thing I'm wondering now is why not buy the genuine from musoland as opposed to the genuine on ebay?

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  • 1 month later...

Jeffrey92, I bought one like you on ebay and everything like you said I totally agree with. It's solid, except for a slightly dissapointing pickups and a loose strap button. Mine looks just like yours in the pictures, and it has a EE serial number which I checked on: http://www.guitardaterproject.org/ says it's a Chinese Epi from 2007 (old stock?) which could explain the price.

 

Fill us in on what Gibson says, and do you have a close up of your headstock? The inlay details are what I'm interested in.

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I guess it all comes down to what really makes a guitar a guitar? I guess the thing I'm worried about is the electronics. The body seems pretty sturdy and it doesn't seem cheap.

 

The electronics and hardware are the only easy part' date=' being things you can change or fix very easily and cheap. IMO the woods, body and neck are the most important part of what makes the difference between crap and a good guitar.

Even if you had an Epiphone body with cheap fake pickups, that would be okay since the standard pickups are pretty boring and $10-$20 each on eBay anyway.

 

The only thing that worries me is that one of the reps said to give me a pic of the back of the headstock and of the s/n which imo is probably pretty easy to fake. However, on the musoland website, they don't use the EExxxxxxxxx like what I have they use Ixxxxxxx (dunno exact # of x's lol)

Hey, if its good enough to fool Epiphone, and good enough to fool anyone else, I'd say so what.

 

The images of the guitars on most fake guitar dealer's pages are not images of the actual items they are selling. Don't count on anything you see on their pages.

 

Even if a good fake fools most of the people, it's still crap and overpriced if it's made of banana boxes. Your BB looks like a real deal though.

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