Is COA important to you?

[Olive]

7 hours ago, Eracer_Team said:

@Olive guess my post above doesn’t exactly say no not important but it certainly is implied 

COA really doesn’t provide “providence “ for guitar authenticity 

to a collector like Bonamassa or Segal “ case candy” adds value to historic guitars  but not a deal stopper for them as long as one of the nearly “4,000” 1959 Les Paul sunburst they’re buying is real ( that’s a joke as there are less than 1800 LPs made from 57 to 61)

i don’t think anyone on this forum (or any others) will pay more for a guitar cause it has the guitar center price hang tag and a few sticky labels and a QA check sheet 

but for the ‘modern day ‘ guitar now the  quantity built daily will add little value in something like 30yrs

@Eracer_TeamI agree with you on all points. On the other side, would people pay less for a 4K$ guitar without COA or even not buying it at all?  I search and read maybe 40 to 50 threads on the forum with the «COA» in reference  as sugessted by @Larsongs and I found that some will and some will not.

So after all, maybe the best answer is : Nice to have !

Edited January 19, 2023 by Olive

[Eracer_Team]

@Olive actually most guitars are bought without COA’s  

so if someone is stuck on not buying a real Gibson guitar that doesn’t have a COA (esp when it would have been issued one) … we’ll they have the problem not the guitar 

[CROWB8]

Me thinks, the older and rarer a guit is, from collector point of view, it will be like collecting old cars. The more paper work, the more history, more value. New guits, eh. But, new guits become old guits so starting the paper trail from the get go, for some, is important. To the run of the mill player, I for one, am simply interested in one thats real and fits *me*. Some of those that are old, bring back memories.

Having said that, I wish collectors did'nt "collect". Back in the day, '60s, '70s, there were just older guits. Ppl could aquire them. But, then thats the way with everything. At some point collectors see profit or statis.

Dunno if I made sense. Arg......

Edited January 21, 2023 by CROWB8

[Sgt. Pepper]

7 hours ago, CROWB8 said:

Me thinks, the older and rarer a guit is, from collector point of view, it will be like collecting old cars. The more paper work, the more history, more value. New guits, eh. But, new guits become old guits so starting the paper trail from the get go, for some, is important. To the run of the mill player, I for one, am simply interested in one thats real and fits *me*. Some of those that are old, bring back memories.

Having said that, I wish collectors did'nt "collect". Back in the day, '60s, '70s, there were just older guits. Ppl could aquire them. But, then thats the way with everything. At some point collectors see profit or statis.

Dunno if I made sense. Arg......

Question - when did Gibson start issuing COA's? I'm damn sure that a real, not reissue 1942 Banner J-45 that all the guys want did not come with one. And what about the so called Holy Grail LP's from the late 50's? Did they come with one? I doubt it, but could be wrong.

I have used 2 Martin's  and one that was bought new, and the guys that bought them did not take advantage of the warranty, so as far as Martin is concerned I'm the original owner, cause I registered them, and have the cards for them. Now Martin sends out an email. For whatever thats worth.

Its like the thread with the specs sheet. If a COA and specs are important to you, then its important to you. What is important to me is knowing my guitar is not a fake, after that does it come with a case. And of course are they any issues with it.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[CROWB8]

4 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Question - when did Gibson start issuing COA's? I'm damn sure that a real, not reissue 1942 Banner J-45 that all the guys want did not come with one. And what about the so called Holy Grail LP's from the late 50's? Did they come with one? I doubt it, but could be wrong.

I have used 2 Martin's  and one that was bought new, and the guys that bought them did not take advantage of the warranty, so as far as Martin is concerned I'm the original owner, cause I registered them, and have the cards for them. Now Martin sends out an email. For whatever thats worth.

Its like the thread with the specs sheet. If a COA and specs are important to you, then its important to you. What is important to me is knowing my guitar is not a fake, after that does it come with a case. And of course are they any issues with it.

"Question - when did Gibson start issuing COA's?"

At the risk of saying something you might already know,

From what I've read, on electrics, COAs as we know them now started around 2003. But it wasnt clear as to which products had them. Currently, seems the "mods" coming out of the "Garage" also have them. As for all others, not quite sure. Me thinks all coming out of the CS also have them. The COA that came with the '21 LPCBB 70th that I returned had one. But it didnt list specs. It was as discribed. "C"ert "O"f "A"uthenticity.

Couldnt find anything directly from gibby regarding COAs at all. But that might be due to me not knowing/using the *right search parameters.

Havent looked into acoustics or any other gibby product. And the research I did was not on any other form of documentation. So thats all the info I can tell ya sarge. There was chat on various sites bout some *sort of COA's on older instruments. Not even sure if what was discused would even be called a COA as we know it now. In 75, the 20th ('54) Anniversary LPCBB that I purchased new did not have one. Didnt have anything. Just a case. Not even candy.

Edited January 21, 2023 by CROWB8

[CROWB8]

6 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

......What is important to me is knowing my guitar is not a fake, after that does it come with a case. And of course are they any issues with it.

Exackerly.

[Coachmoe]

Little late to this, but here is some info.

Gibson started using a few various forms of COA's around 1997/98. I have seen pics of them. Not all Historics got them however.

The ones that may people have seen, the large  sunburst  one started around late 2001 early 2002. I have a Historic Firebird 1 from 2002 that has one. That style stayed around until 2007. Early 2007's had the large sunburst one and roughly mid year ,they switched over to the smaller  5" x 6 1/2" still in use today.

The early large ones had the model and serial number stamped in ink although I have seen some that were hand written.

The current ones, since 2007, they are hand written I have a 2007 R7 hand written and a 2023 58 Junior DC that is hand written.

In reality, case candy and a COA is important only if the owner / seller / buyer feels it is important.

Many don't care. I am an OCD kinda guy and I want my Historics to have all the goodies they came with. I am fortunate, my used 04 R9 had everything. So did my 23 Junior but I bought that new. The other four Historics had bits and pieces and I have slowly added pieces parts so that now all of my Historic / Custom Shop models have all that documentation. Now if I could just find a 2002 Gibson Custom Firebird case...

[kidblast]

I have 6 Gibson's,  5 bought new.  none came with a COA

just the usual warranty and final inspection cards.

For me? I think it's more important to be able to spot a fake, than have someone show me a document that can be as phony as a $3 bill

 

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

40 minutes ago, kidblast said:

I have 6 Gibson's,  5 bought new.  none came with a COA

just the usual warranty and final inspection cards.

For me? I think it's more important to be able to spot a fake, than have someone show me a document that can be as phony as a $3 bill

 

 

But . . . but  . . . your  damn right.

Does anyone ever eat their case candy?

Edited November 2, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[kidblast]

16 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

But . . . but  . . . your  damn right.

Does anyone ever eat their case candy?

ah -- something to ponder,  will these manufactures have to start placing warnings on that stuff like on pizza boxes?? 

Man! are we getting that dumb?

Thankfully so far only Sweetwater offers edibles.

[Sgt. Pepper]

22 minutes ago, kidblast said:

ah -- something to ponder,  will these manufactures have to start placing warnings on that stuff like on pizza boxes?? 

Man! are we getting that dumb?

Thankfully so far only Sweetwater offers edibles.

Yeah but they are kid friendly edibles.

[CROWB8]

2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Yeah but they are kid friendly edibles.

I'm thinkin of going to edibles as my lungs are having a hard time with pipes and vapes.🙃

[Sgt. Pepper]

1 hour ago, CROWB8 said:

I'm thinkin of going to edibles as my lungs are having a hard time with pipes and vapes.🙃

Yeah after toking for a while you need a break. I have a high tolerance and edible do not affect me unless I eat about 80mg's.

[kidblast]

21 hours ago, CROWB8 said:

I'm thinkin of going to edibles as my lungs are having a hard time with pipes and vapes.🙃

they are a good alternative, but you have to find and know your tolerance level.

I must be a lightweight with those b/c I find that a very little amount works ok for me.

they sneak up on me too.  takes about 45 to 60 minutes to kick in and then BANG!  "oh, there it is!"

I stay away from the vapes, I just don't trust "the science" there..

it's still crap I'm inhaling...  

Edited November 4, 2023 by kidblast

[Hype]

As a collectors piece, yup.

If it’s a player grade guitar and it’s already used and worn in not so much (but it’s still a nice to have). 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Hype

[Sgt. Pepper]

On 11/4/2023 at 7:38 AM, kidblast said:

they are a good alternative, but you have to find and know your tolerance level.

I must be a lightweight with those b/c I find that a very little amount works ok for me.

they sneak up on me too.  takes about 45 to 60 minutes to kick in and then BANG!  "oh, there it is!"

I stay away from the vapes, I just don't trust "the science" there..

it's still crap I'm inhaling...  

Yeah, but I still think there are 0 - Zero, confirmed deaths due to marijuana. Cigarettes have been known to kill for decades. 

[kidblast]

1 hour ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Yeah, but I still think there are 0 - Zero, confirmed deaths due to marijuana. Cigarettes have been known to kill for decades. 

 

Most smokers smoke many cigarettes in a 24 hour span.  No one (well other than willie nelson maybe) smokes that many Js in a day.  -- But he kind of defies the since given his age and all

[Sgt. Pepper]

3 minutes ago, kidblast said:

 

Most smokers smoke many cigarettes in a 24 hour span.  No one (well other than willie nelson maybe) smokes that many Js in a day.  -- But he kind of defies the since given his age and all

Bob Marley did. He died of Melanoma. The doctors thought it was just a legion on his toe.

[Ceptorman]

31 minutes ago, kidblast said:

 

Most smokers smoke many cigarettes in a 24 hour span.  No one (well other than willie nelson maybe) smokes that many Js in a day.  -- But he kind of defies the since given his age and all

I'll bet Snoop would give Willy a run for his money.

[kidblast]

58 minutes ago, Ceptorman said:

I'll bet Snoop would give Willy a run for his money.

haha!  I think it'd be a hoot to have someone doing a video of these taking part in a "smoke off"...

Everyone gets high!!  smoking or not.

1 hour ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Bob Marley did. He died of Melanoma. The doctors thought it was just a legion on his toe.

he was another one that could hang in there with the "best" of em WRT imbibing. 

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

36 minutes ago, kidblast said:

haha!  I think it'd be a hoot to have someone doing a video of these taking part in a "smoke off"...

Everyone gets high!!  smoking or not.

he was another one that could hang in there with the "best" of em WRT imbibing. 

 

Not even Willy or Snoop can out smoke a Rastafarian.

Edited November 13, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper

[Eracer_Team]

No matter how stoned you get Gibson, they ain’t producing a second COA for you

[Wmachine]

Since we're on the subject, I bought an ES-175 from CME at the end of their great Gibson Memphis warehouse blowout sale.  Turns out it was misidentified by Gibson at the factory.  All the box labeling, paperwork and the COA misidentified the model.  The s/n was correct, though.  It was clearly a '54 reissue, but was identified as a '59 reissue.  I provided Gibson proof that the COA was wrong, but though they did admit it was wrong, they would not give me a corrected one.  They used the excuse that since those warehouse guitars were sold without Gibson Warranty, they wouldn't do it.  Sounded more like BS than anything else.  But really didn't matter to me, I printed out the long series of emails in which they admitted what the correct model is.  Put that along with the box labels with guitar for any future reference.  The guitar is absolutely amazing and was a steal of a deal.

[sbpark]

As the seller if you have the COA and all the case candy it obviously makes the guitar more desirable to most or many buyers (especially in current times where people seem to care more about resale of a guitar they haven't even bought yet and the fact that so many constantly flip guitars and never seem to be satisfied) and could arguably command a slightly higher price, depending on the buyer. As far as faking a COA if you have a printer and it's as easy as that, I dont think it's that easy. Obviously it's much easier to fake a COA though compared to faking an entire guitar. 

The last two Gibsons came with all the original case candy and documentation. I highly doubt someone would go to all the trouble to fake EVERYTHING that came with the guitar when it was new. Also people, know what you're buying and educate yourself on how to spot fakes. Once you're able to know what you're looking at and looking for it becomes pretty easy.

Edited November 14, 2023 by sbpark