is this a fake les paul?

[capmaster]

Fake as a hooker's titters.

Not looking for an argument here, just offering some sound advice to the original poster.

Imagine how many pages we would be up to if the original poster had recently begun dating a new girlfriend, and posted just a few photos of her breasts, and asked us all, "are these fake"?

 

Believe it or not, I'm just as big a skeptic in that arena as well.

Sparky is groovy, and I want him to father my children. He should be promoted to the status of forum moderator.

Rather, you should be celebrating my maverick spirit, praising me, and hanging posters of me on your bedroom walls!

Dream on, Sparky.

[rct]

Rather, you should be celebrating my maverick spirit, praising me, and hanging posters of me on your bedroom walls!

 

When I was in Summerwind we had a poster of Chicago, really big one, big live shot of them, and after Terry Kath met his demise Billy took it out back and actually shot a hole in Kaths head and put the poster back up.

 

Good times.

 

rct

[bluesguitar65]

I think the guitar in the background is fake.

 

[capmaster]

I think the guitar in the background is fake.

 

To my guess the lady's hair has been, errrm, refinished.

['Scales]

Another genuine c'94 Classic to my eyes.

[jdgm]

I think the guitar in the background is fake.

 

I think it's a Yamaha.

 

Nice kitties.

[Karloff]

I think it's a Yamaha.

 

Nice kitties.

 

Lol. Brilliant.

[Mr. Natural]

I think the guitar in the background is fake.

 

 

What guitar? What background?

[stein]

We disagree on many points, and chiefly that of the notion that I am no good at spotting fake guitars, but I appreciate your civility.

 

Perhaps we can just agree to disagree, and then we can all agree to finally let this thread die now.

It has lost it's entertainment value to the others, and unless somebody wants or needs for there to be some sort of drama or high entertainment shenanigans (and I'm a very inventive writer, trust me, I can go down that road further), this needs to end.

 

 

OKAY, CHANGE OF SUBJECT:

 

I am a long time web forum moderator, and I understand the need for good order and discipline on a website.

Spammers need to be identified and weeded-out.

Abrasive, profane posters occasionally need to be suspended for brief periods of time, especially when they refuse to obey the house rules.

Ugly disagreements need to be reeled-in and contained, etc.

 

It seems to me that what this Gibson Guitar Board mainly seeks to maintain is an aura of credibility, professionalism, and even prestige befitting the good Gibson company name.

 

If indeed some of you feel that my advice to the visiting posters is somehow lacking, or that I am in the habit of handing out bad advice, I truly and with all humility recommend one of a few courses of action for you to consider.

 

* Identify and badge senior, insider posters with sterling technical credentials, and only allow THEM to pass out advice to visitors.

 

* Restrict my posting privileges to harmless comments like, "Gee, that's a pretty SG," or "I sure do love puppies and kitties".

 

* Subject my posts to a Moderator or Admin review before they become viewable by the public at large. (This is actually work-intensive for the Mods and Admins, so I don't feel this is a very practicable course of action.)

 

Or, simply,

*

* Ban me outright, for the good of the web forum.

 

I don't really have much ego regarding my posting here, or on too many other web forums for that matter.

One or two that I owned and maintained, yes.

One of the two guitar web forums where I currently moderate also yes, but only because I have been contributing there for so many years, and have a devoted following there.

 

But here?

I doubt I have even been on here all that long.

In the end, if it is best for forum.gibson.com to get rid of an opinionated cynic like me, then what is best for the forum is what matters most.

You guys pay the bills and keep the plants watered, I only wander in every now and then.

 

Standing by for your thoughtful consideration of this proposal and/or these measures for the good of the boards.

 

Peace and much love,

John Sparkman

Harvest, Alabama

:)

Disagree with all of it.

 

There is no reason why you should require any discipline, or be banned, or even moderated here.

 

No one suggested that, no one I can think of believes that, and it hasn't even come up except for you bringing it up.

 

You have done nothing wrong here. Don't mistake that for "being" wrong about something.

 

If I thought this was actually damaging to you in some way, I would stop. Just that my gut tells me you are enjoying this as much as I am.

 

ONE THING I HOPE WE CAN AGREE ON: I hope we BOTH know that being able to correctly identify a Gibson (or any other guitar) is not an indication of a person's worth, their character, their ability as a musician, or any other meaningful measure. I can list a lot of other things that are more worthy of bragging about that one's knowledge of guitars and amps.

 

And now back to out regular scheduled programming of how wrong you are.

[BigKahune]

 

 

Wait . . . . . I forgot what we were talking about. . .

 

 

.

[capmaster]

Another genuine c'94 Classic to my eyes.

The guitar, or the lady?

[Karloff]

Disagree with all of it.

 

There is no reason why you should require any discipline, or be banned, or even moderated here.

 

No one suggested that, no one I can think of believes that, and it hasn't even come up except for you bringing it up.

 

You have done nothing wrong here. Don't mistake that for "being" wrong about something.

 

If I thought this was actually damaging to you in some way, I would stop. Just that my gut tells me you are enjoying this as much as I am.

 

ONE THING I HOPE WE CAN AGREE ON: I hope we BOTH know that being able to correctly identify a Gibson (or any other guitar) is not an indication of a person's worth, their character, their ability as a musician, or any other meaningful measure. I can list a lot of other things that are more worthy of bragging about that one's knowledge of guitars and amps.

 

And now back to out regular scheduled programming of how wrong you are.

 

He's just saying all of it for fun. Rattling the stick on the fence to keep the dogs barking. As long as there are posts he will "allow me to retort good sir".

Either out of a need to have the last word or for the fun of running along the fence with the stick making the neighbors dog bark.

As long as we let him have the final post, all this will end. M !! We need you ...

['Scales]

The guitar, or the lady?

 

The lady Cap.

I know nothing of guitars.

[sparquelito]

Disagree with all of it.

 

There is no reason why you should require any discipline, or be banned, or even moderated here.

 

No one suggested that, no one I can think of believes that, and it hasn't even come up except for you bringing it up.

 

You have done nothing wrong here. Don't mistake that for "being" wrong about something.

 

If I thought this was actually damaging to you in some way, I would stop. Just that my gut tells me you are enjoying this as much as I am.

 

ONE THING I HOPE WE CAN AGREE ON: I hope we BOTH know that being able to correctly identify a Gibson (or any other guitar) is not an indication of a person's worth, their character, their ability as a musician, or any other meaningful measure. I can list a lot of other things that are more worthy of bragging about that one's knowledge of guitars and amps.

 

And now back to out regular scheduled programming of how wrong you are.

 

 

Thank you, Stein.

You are a true gentleman.

 

And except for the bit where you believe I am wrong, that was quite possibly the loveliest and most genial post I have been blessed with to date.

 

Just to clarify though, when I described the disciplining, suspending, reeling-in, and weeding out of spammers, I wasn't talking about me, necessarily.

I was just describing the routine and regular bits of business required of the Moderators and Admins on ANY good web forum.

And as a fellow well-versed in web forum maintenance, I can say sadly that I have had to perform all those functions at one time or another.

 

 

As to the restricting and Admin-Review stuff (and even the banning) of myself, I was very much serious.

If the Gibson Forum suffers in the least from having a jaded, opinionated cynic like me around, dispensing heretical and objectionable advice left and right, then your website Admins should seriously consider it.

 

There would be no hard feelings, really.

 

 

I will offer this one compromise though, if it will keep me from being censured and/or banned (because I do have great affection for all of you great fellows, and I would miss you all terribly if I were to be kicked to the curb like somebody's crazy ex-girlfriend);

 

I WILL (in the future), before I offer any advice to new posters on guitar valuations, condition, year of manufacture, and whether or not the guitar is fake,

pause just second and ponder

what a complete and utter pain-in-the-a$$ this experience has been,

and I will filter my response through that lens of Political Correctness.

 

I will be the new kinder, gentler Sparquelito.

Ever concerned about damaging reputations, and gently walking a mile in the other fellow's shoes, I will be just the very model of polite deference.

 

I'll be so God@%mned squeaky-clean you will swear that Pat freakin' BOONE just walked in the room!

 

I think this is fair.

I won't change how I think, and I cannot change my jaded and suspicious nature when it comes to fake guitars (like the one offered up at the very beginning of this thread) but if it will help Forum.Gibson.com be a better and more sensitive web forum, I am willing to alter my posting behaviors, just for you.

 

Do we have a deal?

 

:mellow:

 

[stein]

 

 

 

 

 

I WILL (in the future), before I offer any advice to new posters on guitar valuations, condition, year of manufacture, and whether or not the guitar is fake,

pause just second and ponder

what a complete and utter pain-in-the-a$$ this experience has been,

and I will filter my response through that lens of Political Correctness.

 

I will be the new kinder, gentler Sparquelito.

Ever concerned about damaging reputations, and gently walking a mile in the other fellow's shoes, I will be just the very model of polite deference.

 

I'll be so God@%mned squeaky-clean you will swear that Pat freakin' BOONE just walked in the room!

 

I think this is fair.

I won't change how I think, and I cannot change my jaded and suspicious nature when it comes to fake guitars (like the one offered up at the very beginning of this thread) but if it will help Forum.Gibson.com be a better and more sensitive web forum, I am willing to alter my posting behaviors, just for you.

 

Do we have a deal?

 

 

I don't like that deal.

 

It's OK, and acceptable, to be wrong. If some of us weren't wrong some of the time, there wouldn't be anything to argue about or go back and forth on.

 

Being a jerk, unkind, a menace, making folks mad, that would suck. Just being wrong about facts and/or judgments doesn't make a forum a bad place. You haven't done any of that. I fail to see where this would be a better place without you, or a better place if you changed.

 

I WOULD offer this though: in the future, and starting NOW, perhaps a disclaimer when you offer info. Many do it, as do I, even though not always.

 

I also offer this: on the few occasions I have been wrong on this forum, it's very funny to me. It definitely isn't something that bothers me. In real life, I am wrong WAY more and often laugh at the stupid things I do, which again, is often. Although sometimes, my mistakes have the potential to cause failure and freak me out, I have the Boss upstairs constantly looking out for me.

 

Last thing we want. is a "politically correct" Sparky.

 

No deal.

[quapman]

I won't change how I think, and I cannot change my jaded and suspicious nature when it comes to fake guitars (like the one offered up at the very beginning of this thread) but if it will help Forum.Gibson.com be a better and more sensitive web forum, I am willing to alter my posting behaviors, just for you.

Do we have a deal?

 

 

No way man!!! Don't cave Stein. He's baiting you bro. He ain't changin nothing.

He's admitted he ain't chanin nothin. All he's sayin is he wont argue with you in the future about his wrongness.

Yes, unlike "bigly" wrongness is a word. I bet he votes for Trump. I bet Trump also thinks it's fake.

Don't bite Stein. Fight to the death. You can do it Bro. Don't cave.

Don't let silliness and ego prevail. We need you man. Don't say uncle. Fight this to the death!

Hang in there. Debate the crap outa him. He's wrong, you know it, we all know it.

Fight for us Bro.

 

 

 

This is boring now.

 

Ya man! This was boring by the end of the first page.

People buy fakes. I'm not one of them. Sucks to be them. Don't care.

People also buy crappy cars. I don't care about them either.

 

 

My gut feeling?.....

then I proceed on the notion that it's fake.

 

 

Sparky,, "my gut feeling",, blah blah blah,, "then I proceed on the notion that it's a fake."

As much as you think that is scientific? It ain't Bro. Let it die.

You're not making sense.

Both you gents are making reasonable arguments to back your beliefs.

But daaaaim! It's boring as hell.

But hey,, if you guys are having fun who the hell am I to interject?

What ever floats yer boats.

Have fun. Maybe I'll tune in to see how it plays out. But I doubt it.

 

Care factor = 0.

I'm with Farns. This stopped being entertaining a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong

time ago.

['Scales]

Come now Quap, there have been some interesting bits, certainly as a psychological study if nothing else, and some pretty girls...

 

Certainly (to me) more interesting than those 'name game' threads, or the 'How were bowel movements today?' (Pics or it didn't happen..) type threads some of which are into the thousands of posts - and good for them...there folks who love em and its all just the interweb after all.

[quapman]

Come now Quap, there have been some interesting bits,

 

 

There may have been Bro. But truth be told I'm a lazy bastard.

I cannot or care not to read those really long posts.

I admittedly skim past all of it.

So you are correct. I may have missed the interesting stuff.

My bad!

[quapman]

At any rate.

Rather than talk about guitars.

I'm going off to play one.

Got a rehearsal for a drummer comin up on Monday eve and I gotta get my parts ready.

I would hate to suck worse than the guy rehearsing. lol

Have fun dudes.

 

It's the weekend and I had a couple wines. It may already be too late to practice.

If I'm too drunk then I'll just slap on a backing track and pretend I know what I'm doing.

lol.

Cheers!!

[Karloff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNkjDuSVXiE

[sparquelito]

Quote quapman:

Care factor = 0.

I'm with Farns. This stopped being entertaining a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong

time ago.

 

And yet you kept coming back time after time.

So clearly there was at least a smidge of entertainment value, right?

 

Sort of watching a train wreck, only in slow motion.

:)

 

 

 

 

 

I WOULD offer this though: in the future, and starting NOW, perhaps a disclaimer when you offer info. Many do it, as do I, even though not always.

 

 

A disclaimer, perhaps yes.

 

And I could always cite sources.

 

Example:

 

"Good morning GuitarMadMan, after examining your new purchase, it does appear that you have a model known as the Gibson Heritage Limited Prestige Les Paul (built in 1994), and not the Gibson Custom Shop Anniversary Les Paul from 1995. And it looks like the previous owner replaced the original 490R and 490T humbucking pickups with after-market jobbies, most likely Seymour Duncans. (I can't tell for sure, based upon the fuzziness of your photograph.) Anyway, a great guitar, and you did really well on that purchase, sir!"

 

"Sources:

Gibson.com spec sheets, link is wwww.gibson.com/specs/39087/Heritage

Web article on Mad Axe Forums, link is wwww.madaxe.com/articles/239874/asp

Blue Book of Guitar Values, 15th Edition"

 

"DISCLAIMER: The above opinion is that of Sparquelito alone, and is not necessarily shared by the owners of wwww.forum.gibson.com, it's management, or the general membership at large. Each forum visitor should always double-check such opinions with diligent, personal online research and a healthy dose of reasonable skepticism."

 

Fair enough?

[vangoghsear]

Actually, Sparky's idea of qualifying certain members as experts is not bad.

 

I am a member of an engineering forum where I have been vetted as an expert. In some areas of the forum I and other vetted experts can answer questions posted by anyone who wants to ask. Occasionally a non-vetted member will answer and the moderators remove their responses, right or wrong, but non-vetted members are free to ask questions within the threads. This only impacts the expert forums, there are similar areas of the forum where anyone can ask or answer or discuss the topics.

 

A section here "Ask the experts" with vetted experts could make this a go-to spot for answers to guitar questions on the internet. Once vetted, the "experts" keep each other straight, they don't always agree, but offer their knowledge on the subjects they can, such as the logo question here.

 

Requires a bit of watch-dogging by the moderators to keep non-experts from answering questions and requires a means of determining who to give expert status to. At the engineering forum, I had to give some verifiable resume data. Also, the forum still has warnings about use of answers given at the user's own risk.

[glp2012]

In the whole scheme of things, this is really not important. Rather that "qualify" people as experts, let us all subscribe to the latin maxim "Caveat emptor."

 

I have officially turned off the lights.

[Big Bill]

I think the guitar in the background is fake.

 

 

Am I the first to rub one out on this thread? To continue on at this point is to contribute to my jollies. Big Bill spanking it to the this should be a thread killer.