Does this J-200 look real? Or Chinese fake??

[onewilyfool]

I've never seen a burst like this???

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/msg/4453948851.html

[tvguit]

Fake...

[gottabetweed]

So very not real

[DRC]

The burst doesn't look right at all, front or back. It's too delineated and sharp-edged and I've not seen it come to a sharp point on the back like that. All the true Gibson bursts I've seen have a nice, smooth feathered edge that blends into the rest of the body. Same with the back of the neck. Nothing about the headstock shape looks right. Interesting the seller isn't showing the inside label. This appears to be a very poor Asian copy to me.

 

DC

[cunningham26]

That headstock ew.

[onewilyfool]

Does Gibson have a fraud unit?

[aerohead]

1399348641[/url]' post='1517157']

Does Gibson have a fraud unit?

 

They sell and advertise guitars like this everyday on chinesEbay like sites. I'm sure Gibson knows about it but it hasn't stopped them yet. You can buy that same guitar for 25% of the price he is asking for it brand new. I'm pretty sure reselling these guitars within the U.S. border is against the law.

[BigKahune]

.

http://www2.gibson.com/Support/Report-Counterfeits.aspx

 

.

[ponty]

Love the Clown burst finish. Fake all over.

[modoc_333]

This is an Epiphone with some changes.

[CMuncy]

Dang that's ugly.....even the bridge is set crooked.

[Pittgibson45]

This is an Epiphone with some changes.

 

I thought the same thing when I first saw it.

[iwalktheline]

This is an Epiphone with some changes.

 

 

I thought the same, it looks exactly like my ej-200, without the fake Gibson headstock.

[drathbun]

I didn't think Epiphone did this poor a job with the bursts. That's fugly!

[Red 333]

This is an Epiphone with some changes.

 

Wrong bridge and body shape for an Epiphone, but obvious fake just the same.

 

Red 333

[Hype]

I've never seen a burst like this???

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/msg/4453948851.html

 

So fake! It's a modified EJ-200....

[modoc_333]

Wrong bridge and body shape for an Epiphone, but obvious fake just the same.

 

Red 333

 

 

the bridge is one of the changes i mentioned. and i think the body looks wrong because of the camera angle. guitars are really hard to accurately shoot! :)

[Red 333]

the bridge is one of the changes i mentioned. and i think the body looks wrong because of the camera angle. guitars are really hard to accurately shoot! :)

 

I still don't think its an Epi. The faker would have to refinish the top of the guitar to exchange the Eip bridge (which is solid) for the bridge style shown (which is open), in order for the top of the guitar to be seen as undamaged through the outline of the mustache shape. This area would be damaged when the solid bridge was removed, as unlike Gibsons, the finish is not scraped off when an Epi bridge is installed. Lot of work.

 

Beisdes that, Epiphone USUALLY has red in the burst, and the burst fades more from amber to black.

 

Also, look at the shape of the crown inlays on the fretboard. They are practically solid. Epiphones usually have very deep slots between the crown's horns.

 

I say "usually" a lot because the EJ 200 was made in many factories over the years, so there are variations (for instance, some buit in the 90's had french heels), but the guitar in question doesn't do an Epi justice. It wouldn't pass for a fake Epi on the Epiphone forum!

 

Red 333

[zombywoof]

I love the tear drop pick look of the finish on the back and slant of the logo.

[62burst]

Slow day on the forum lately, so why not. The teardrop burst on the back is an Epi thing, but the rest is not even much of an EpiPhony. All of the permutations in Gibson's headstock logos, bridge detail, sunbursts, and pickguard landscaping have, unfortunately, left them wide open to the knockoff market.

 

Gibson sunbursts have varied so much over the years, there are many burstophiles who can almost peg the year of the guitar by the burst. Forum member tpbiii (Tom) got his feathers ruffled when JT (John Thomas) suggested that one of the vintage boxes posted up in one of his hoard shots had a questionable sunburst. The finish was more than likely original, and, to paraphrase modoc, they don't always photograph accurately. Here's a photo of a 1939 SJ-200 photo taken from a calendar:

 

 

 

Something that would be more specific to the guitar's construction would be the heel cap on the guitar of interest (here, an Epi EJ-200, and below it, the Craigslist guitar):

 

vs

 

 

Right.