bhak1

That's a really good point. Damn it's frustrating and sad on so many levels to not just be able to call him up with all of my guitar questions as I did for years. If he's out there somewhere and can see this I hope he's having a good laugh. The more I think about it he must have known. Plus he was always a self described "Ric and Tele guy" that had a Mexican Strat and these in his collection only "because you have to" in his own words. Do you guys think the Studio and Special look legit?

Yeah I hear you about the serial numbers, just still very surprised about that red custom as I don't think he even knew it was fake. Or maybe he did and just kept it to himself. You don't think the honeyburst looks funny though? My mom tells me that she even thinks he told her that that one was a fake but it's been years and she's not 100%. The red one is the one that everyone says was one of his favs.

So part of the complication here is the guitars are out of state and his girl friend has since moved out of the his place, the pictures And serial numbers are what she took/wrote down before she left. Interestingly the Gibson serial numbers all check out on the online databases but some of the serial numbers she gave me for the Rics, Fenders and Gretches aren’t matching up well. My mom is going out there this week so I can have her take more pictures or video chat me while she’s there. I hope to be able to check the serials on the actual guitars. Given the feedback I’m getting from you guys, I’m also willing to be a little less vague than I was initially when I wanted to avoid any bias; the red and sort of honey burst ones are the two that guys on the LP forum said we’re “Chibsons.” The honey colored one is the one that I am inclined to believe could be a fake while the red custom is the one that we all thought he had bought new and has had for a while. On the other forum they seemed to think the studio was real and I assume the Chinese aren’t bothering with cranking out fake DC specials, but correct me if I’m wrong. I did call Gibson yesterday before posting this. They said the serial on the red custom wasn’t coming back but they suggested I email them pics. I haven’t heard back from them yet.

Hello, I'm looking for some help regarding 4 Gibsons that my recently deceased Uncle left behind. His significant other wants to sell the guitars and being the only other guitar player in the family it's fallen on me to figure out what they are and help. I tried a Les Paul fan website a few days ago and was told that 2 of them are Chinese fakes making the selling of them something I'm not comfortable with. While we believe this is totally possible with the one guitar, with the other one it's surprising because by all accounts he bought it new and it and was highly prized by him. He played for over 50 years and owned over 30 guitars at the time of his passing, mostly Rickenbackers but several Fenders and Gretches as well in addition to these 4 Gibsons. I'm posting the photos of all 4 below, I have serial numbers that I can provide if that's helpful. Any help regarding the model and whether or not it looks real would be really helpful