Epiphone fake?

[Andrey]

Hello . Need a help.Do you think this is genuine Epiphone or fake? Thank you

[ksdaddy]

I have no idea why anyone would consider spending one second of their life to create a fake of a Chinese guitar. 

[RobinTheHood]

On 1/12/2020 at 12:40 PM, ksdaddy said:

I have no idea why anyone would consider spending one second of their life to create a fake of a Chinese guitar. 

Thats a really weird thing to say for someone whose been here since 2007. 

China has been counterfeiting Epiphone guitars for a long time. It really ramped up with the move to Qingdao,  china. Before that, they were few and far between. It became so much of a problem that both Epiphone and gibson have addressed this issue serveral times over the last 10 years.  The Les Paul is the most counterfeited Epiphone, with the slash and zakk models being at the top of the list. However, many other models have been counterfeited as well. 

That being said, the stamped serial on this guitar is quite suspect. There were some models that had stamping like this, mainly the 59/60 standards and the Tribute models. I suppose it's possible that others did too, but they were all F-serials thatch am aware of. I could be mistaken though. This is a typical Qingdao serial format rather than the F type. 

I really don't know for certain, but you can send pics to Epiphone and they should be able to verify. You can also enter the serial number into google and check to see if this number is a known fake. Many times they will use the same serial on multiple guitars. There are other forums that focus on Epiphone guitars with dedicated threads to identify fakes. MyLesPaul and EpiphonetTalk have such threads. It might be a good idea to pop in over there and see what they say.

Edited January 13, 2020 by RobinTheHood

[JimR56]

16 hours ago, RobinTheHood said:

There are other forums that focus on Epiphone guitars with dedicated threads to identify fakes. MyLesPaul and EpiphonetTalk have such threads. It might be a good idea to pop in over there and see what they say.

There's an active Epiphone forum right here at Gibson (and I wish more Epiphone topics like this one would be posted there instead of here):  https://forum.gibson.com/forum/90-epiphone-electrics/

[RobinTheHood]

5 hours ago, JimR56 said:

There's an active Epiphone forum right here at Gibson (and I wish more Epiphone topics like this one would be posted there instead of here):  https://forum.gibson.com/forum/90-epiphone-electrics/

Yes, but there are no dedicated counterfeit threads or people dedicated to verifying Epiphone guitars. Too many wrong or non-answers here, like above. All of the people that were intimately familiar with sussing out fakes have moved to the forums I've mentioned.  Ten years ago, this place was banging.  People have moved on and I'm just trying to point him in the direction that will answer his question most accurately.

[mihcmac]

On 1/12/2020 at 6:24 AM, Andrey said:

Hello . Need a help.Do you think this is genuine Epiphone or fake? Thank you

 

 

 

The China fakes do not bother marking components with Epiphone. Grover tuners are normal, the rectangular push/pull pots for coil tapping look correct.

 Also if you take off the Bridge and Stopbar, Epiphone is always printed on the bottom, China's do not.

Enjoy your Les Paul, it looks real to me..  🙂

[Sgt. Pepper]

So you are telling me you now think people are making fakes of guitars that cost $599. How much is a fake Epi? $99?

Edited February 1, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[mihcmac]

On 1/31/2020 at 2:19 AM, Sgt. Pepper said:

So you are telling me you now think people are making faking of guitars that cost $599. How much is a fake Epi? $99?

The Japan or USA built Epiphone Elite series that is usually valued between $1000 to about $3000, depending on model like Casinos, were frequently copied.

Andrey's Les Paul, may be a Standard model that came with Grover Tuners  usually sold new for around $599 to $699 and should retain about 65% of that value depending on exact model. My 56 Les Paul Standard built at the Qingdao factory also has a stamped SN.

My modded China Tele that used to say Fender Telecaster on the headstock, none of the original components were up to Fender standards. The Indonesian built Fender JA-90 Telecaster, that mine below was copy of, sells for about $900.

 But the wood is what makes it very desirable..

Edited February 1, 2020 by mihcmac