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Fake or Not?


.jay.

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Hello everyone, yesterday I picked up two Gibson acoustic guitars from a seller on craigslist, and I was looking for some insight on whether they were authentic Gibson's or not. The first is a J45 Rosewood that I was given paperwork with as well as a copy of the original receipt (feel very good about this one). The second is a mystery... The tag on the inside of the sound hole says "J45" with the serial number matching the head stock, but the guitar looks like a EC30 Blues King, or a J-185. Please let me know what you think, they both play very nice and sound good so I'm happy with them just really hoping they are the real thing. And I also got hard shell cases with them that say Gibson as well.

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Hard to say from the photos.

The best way usually to spot a fake is to remove the trus rod covers,  if you see something that looks like a 5/16 nut, you're good. 

if it looks like an Allen wrench is needed, you've got counterfeits.   No USA Gibson made (ever) will use an Allen Wrench for adjusting the truss rod.

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1 hour ago, .jay. said:

Ok I will check and post pictures, thank you. Just curious as to why the tag would state J45 when it is in no way shape or form a J45. Could a mix up like this have happened in the factory?

I didn't notice the photos where the label of J45 on what looked to be a Jumbo cutaway (looks like a J185 so yea no way that's a J45 of any kind)  That's a red flag. 

 I don't for sure but I would think it's unlikely that someone putting a label on there would put the wrong label on it.  

I should mention also another red flag is the wood grain on the back of the guitar,  Commonly those are maple back and sides, and would have  highly flamed, or "figured" back.  That really doesn't match up to what I'm used to seeing.  (like this example here)

Do you mind posting what you paid for these?  That would tell us a lot...  understand if you don't want to

 

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I checked the truss rods, no Allen heads to be found and they do look like 5/16" nuts the forum will not let me post more pictures but would have no problem sending them to you if you really wanna see them. The serial numbers on the stickers match the headstock serial numbers and both numbers come back as Bozeman, Montana made guitars. The original owner of these guitars was killed in a car accident, and I bought them from his brother in law who doesn't play acoustic guitar and wanted them to go to a good home. I was given copy's of the receipt for the J45 Rosewood, as well as Gibson owners manual pamphlet and warranty pamphlet, and a pre-packaging checklist. The mystery model had no paperwork or anything, but he did give me a packet on the electronics. He also told me if I was unhappy with them or if they were found to be fake, to let him know and he would give me my money back. I paid $800 for the pair with hardshell cases. I have an appointment to bring them to guitar center and get them looked at, just trying to learn as much as possible before hand.

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Also the jumbo cut away or j185 does look like that in person, I took the pictures at night with the flash on (phone camera isn't to great lol). I guess I'll just have to wait to see what the repair techs/people at guitar center have to say. My main concern is with the J45, the other guitar is just a bonus.

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Only one guitar is a J-45 the other a J-185 with a cutaway (obviously) can't tell is there is electronics in it. The label is the only red flag. Maybe the label guy came back from lunch to stoned and though he was on the J-45 line. There is also the number 6230 written in the cutaway one. That could be someone's doing. Gibson would not let that out like that. 

Have a pro look at it.

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Thank you guys so much, I brought both of the guitars to guitar center to have them checked out, and set up. The repair tech told me that the neck angles were very good (I guess that can be an issue if guitars have sat for a while and these were in storage for 2 years after the previous owner passed away) and also I guess the bridges have been reglued. He played both of them and checked them out, and said they were the real deal, and that the sticker mislabel could have been a reissued sticker from Gibson (which is why the serial number matches the headstock). I'm thinking the previous owner probably contacted them and got a new sticker for the wrong guitar? Who knows. I plan on keeping them, so maybe I will take them to one of the Gibson repair shops and they will be able to tell me more. The repair tech told me he hated me after I told him what I paid for them 😂 and if I was going to resell them I could get anywhere from $800-$1300 each.

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that's great news Jay..  once you were able to confirm the hex bolt it seemed that things were okay..  none of the fakes have yet to show up with anything other than an allen wrench.  Hopefully,, these nasty little factories putting these counterfeits  out to the market  don't wise up and start doing that.

Neck resets  are not uncommon, but that's typically something that takes many years to come into play.

Take a look at the Acoustic forum here, there's a lot of knowledge hanging around in that forum, so if you have any more questions, that would be a good place to ask.

Enjoy playing those.  

 

 

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