Barcham Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Where did you buy this? From an authorized Epiphone dealer. OR, on E-bay, Craigslist, or some other site? IF you want to be sure your guitar is "legit," you need to buy from a legit Epi dealer, first and foremost. Otherwise, "youse pays yo money, and youse takes yo chances!" CB The serial number would date the guitar to 2008 so I doubt it comes from an authorized dealer if he purchased it recently. Not to mention that it is not unheard of for shops that take in trades to be fooled by a fake as well. There have been instances in the past of people getting a fake from the used rack at Guitar Center. While it is quite rare, it does happen. Anyone in the market for a used guitar should take some time to educate themselves on what is out there and how not to spend your hard earned money on a counterfeit. If the price is too good, there is usually a reason for that. There is a great fake thread over at the My Les Paul forum that we put a lot of effort into and reading the first few pages and then browsing the rest of the thread is a great way to inform yourself on what to look for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilsf73 Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Where did you buy this? From an authorized Epiphone dealer. OR, on E-bay, Craigslist, or some other site? IF you want to be sure your guitar is "legit," you need to buy from a legit Epi dealer, first and foremost. Otherwise, "youse pays yo money, and youse takes yo chances!" CB I bought it from a friend of mine for £200GBP and traded in my old guitar. He bought it from a reputable Epi dealer who has since stopped doing Epiphone/Gibson and bought out a few epis from there stock. I've went to the same dealer for years and bought Epi's in the past from them and have no reason to doubt them or my friend as recepits have been produced. I measured the guitar last night and measured it wrong it is in fact 24.75 and not 25.5 as previously thought. I'm just waiting on a reply from Epiphone to see what they think. I the mean time im going to take it to another dealer and compare it to another Epiphone side by side just to see the differences if any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomse Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Its a Epiphone ..................................................................................................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Its a Epiphone ..................................................................................................... No, it is not an Epiphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomse Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 No, it is not an Epiphone. So what is it the people that build the guitars for epiphone go home at night and build them and sell them . I am Glad i buy mine new from a good dealer .But who really knows what you are getting anymore . Take all the time to build a $350 guitar they got to be nuts . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcham Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 The guitar is a fake. There is absolutely no doubt. Zero. Zilch. It may not be what some one wants to hear, but that's life. Return it to the person you bought it from and get your money and your other guitar back. Taking it to another Epi dealer is useless unless they have another Epi from the same year and factory. You want something to compare it to? Here ya go... this is what the serial number should look like and what the knob position should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 So what is it the people that build the guitars for epiphone go home at night and build them and sell them . I am Glad i buy mine new from a good dealer .But who really knows what you are getting anymore . Take all the time to build a $350 guitar they got to be nuts . The closest this guiar could possibly be to an Epiphone would be a factory reject that made it out the back door.But considering the scale size, I find that unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vomer Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 If you have Barcham, Robin, and dare I say it, myself, telling you it's a fake, then you can be pretty sure it's a fake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stahlbiest Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'm not convinced it's a fake. The control layout on Epiphones isn't very consistent, just look at pictures in the wiki, and the scale lenght was just wrong measure. What makes me suspicious is this: Why would someone fail in such obvious ways attempting to fake a Les Paul, but on the other hand get's so many details right? The "Epiphone" and "Les Paul Model" logos look right, the cavity covers have the right shape and position, bridge, pickup selector and TRC seem to be original parts, even the overall shape of the body and the carved top seem to be right. Except for the serial number, the unusual paintjob und the wrong bridge pickup position, everything looks as original as any other Epiphone Les Paul I've seen. To me it looks like some sort of prototype for a special edition or something similar the former distributor (in GB it was Rosetti) ordered. Former distributor is the keyword here: Maybe they restamped the guitar with a different serial number to avoid warranty issues... but I'm just guessing. Anyways: @neilsf73 If Epiphone Europe tells you they know nothing about your guitar, it's probably because they don't, Gibson/Epiphone Europe as a distributor was established in 2008 and they prolly lack information about what the former distributors did. Ask Rosetti, they might know something or have some information in their archives. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barcham Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 The guitar is fake, there is no doubt. Build quality and consistency of the guitars coming out of the Gibson owned factory in Qingdao, China have been very high since it opened over ten years ago. I absolutely hate referring anyone to go there anymore but take a look at the Fake Epiphone thread on the MyLesPaul board and you will see more examples of fake Epiphones than you could possibly imagine. Anyway you look at it, this guitar is not a genuine Epiphone product. There is nothing about it that fits with a genuine Gingdao made Epiphone Les Paul. There is really little point in inexperienced people commenting on a subject that they know nothing at all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 That, and an LP Custom turned up with the same serial number on page 115 of the MPL Counterfiet thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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