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IM AFFRAID OF FAKE SECOND-HAND GUITARS!


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If this GT is real one so why not?? Where could i get GT now if i dont like slash ?? :))))

Its not only about these three guits. Theres a lot good quality second-hand stuff out there.

BY the way. Most of second hand ' date=' epiphone guitars 500+ , is going for about 300 european money. It makes a difference innit?

[/quote']

 

Did you see my post about the GT??? I posted a pix of my old GT Classic's headstock so you could compare. Does the TRC say Les Paul Classic??? It looks like a LP Classic GT, 2003 is right time frame, it looks good from here. What does the TRC say on the one you're considering??? I doubt you'll find a new one, so if that's what you're looking for and you like it, go for it. Just stay away from the White LP Custom.

 

Good Luck

 

LP%20goldtop%20head.jpg

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Jerry I am wondering about the bridge tone knob on that gold-top - as I understand it, on a Les Paul the vol-tone pairs should run in straight lines parallel to the neck, and that's true for the neck pickup controls. However the bridge tone knob looks like it's off-line in the photo. Do you agree, or is it a camera angle thing?

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Jerry I am wondering about the bridge tone knob on that gold-top - as I understand it' date=' on a Les Paul the vol-tone pairs should run in straight lines parallel to the neck, and that's true for the neck pickup controls. However the bridge tone knob looks like it's off-line in the photo. Do you agree, or is it a camera angle thing?[/quote']

 

I just looked at the photo of my old GT (pups were changed), the bridge pickup controls do appear to be slightly askew:

 

LP%20goldtop%20full.jpg

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Guys!

 

Thank you!!

 

l_fd674527beb349e1a803cb5bba6424a1.jpg

 

 

A couple of other things that should have been a straight-out clue regarding

the authenticity... I just verified it on my EPI Studio' date=' and by looking at my MF catalogs

to compare and validate. This info alone may help determine the real/not real

question...

 

[b']1. A straightedge placed directly over the centers of the neck vol and tone

knobs will run up and thru the CENTER of the pickguard screw.[/b]

 

Knobsscrew.jpg

 

 

2. On REAL EPIs the pickguard screw is closer to the center of the pickguard than

on ain't reals. (see your White LP pic above).

 

Gaurd.jpg

 

 

I'm "calling away" (Navy term) your potential White Custom purchase as a

FAKE. A good one, but not good enough, especially with the serial number

issue with the "EE" (QingDao Plant, supposedly) being bigger than the rest of the

number.

Perhaps the seller will accept an offer of, oh, 15 or 20 pence?

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Here's the Head Stock of a LES PAUL I bought in Westminister CA the other day...Does ANYBODY know what factory or whatever it was made at? It has EMG 81 & EMG 85 Pickups, so there is NO WAY I can get POT CODES...it has NO SERIAL NUMBER on Head, (Which I think was common for EARLY JAPAN BUILT, ) it is GREAT SOUNDING, GREAT PLAYING, (I Put a GFS ROLLER BRIDGE in,) but someone Messed Up the Frets....my Guitar Fixer Feller , who is Realted to Joe Walsh, (DOC FRET, Ed Miller, San Clenenti, CA) EVENED THE EDGES so MY LITTLE E STRING DOSE NOT GET HUNG after some WILD BENDS....but it needs a RE-FRET. I LOVE it...the ENERGY FEEDS MY PLAYING, I use a BOSS MICRO-CUBE as my Control Center & Driver, into a FENDER PRO-JR with EMINENCE Patroit "Lil' Buddy" Hemp-Cone 10" Speaker, and OTHER Mods, with ALL my Guitars, I play a WHOLE BUNCH of stuff, ....But I digress...

 

HELP ON THIS EPIPHONE, is the Reason...RECOGNIZITION?

 

 

30wwewx.jpg

 

 

2cxsqj5.jpg

 

 

2ynpbus.jpg

 

 

 

 

2rput01.jpg

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Here's the Head Stock of a LES PAUL I bought in Westminister CA

the other day...Does ANYBODY know what factory or whatever it was made at?

there is NO WAY I can get POT CODES...it has NO SERIAL NUMBER on Head' date='

 

HELP ON THIS EPIPHONE, is the Reason...RECOGNIZITION?

quote']

 

Wow, mighty LARGE post you have there.

I cut it down to answer.

 

"This is a very early Korean built Les paul with the narrowed Gibson open book head stock.

The serial numbers back than were nothing but a sticker and most haven't survived.

Don't quote me but an 89 model sounds about right if I'm not mistaken for the years of that headstock.

I've seen one in a shop that was beat to hell with the serial number still attached and

they wanted 400 bucks for it. This is by no means a bad guitar and the old headstock

shape has made them somewhat desirable."

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Here's the Head Stock of a LES PAUL I bought in Westminister CA

the other day...Does ANYBODY know what factory or whatever it was made at?

there is NO WAY I can get POT CODES...it has NO SERIAL NUMBER on Head' date='

 

HELP ON THIS EPIPHONE, is the Reason...RECOGNIZITION?

quote']

 

Thanks for that DATA....I was close, guessing JAPAN was wrong..but I was not far off on all. It Plays REALLY GOOD. I find OLDER GUITARS soak up the "Energy" of whatever player did...especially if the Guitar was "LOVED." I bought a 1950' or 'early 1960's Gibson B-25 on LANCASTER STREET in Ft. Worth, just walked down Touching Them Old Cowboy Beat Up Boxes....i TOUCHED the little B25, & it was like Pissing on a Electric Fence! I BOUGHT IT on the Spot! This was around 1991.

 

Wow, mighty LARGE post you have there.

I cut it down to answer.

 

"This is a very early Korean built Les paul with the narrowed Gibson open book head stock.

The serial numbers back than were nothing but a sticker and most haven't survived.

Don't quote me but an 89 model sounds about right if I'm not mistaken for the years of that headstock.

I've seen one in a shop that was beat to hell with the serial number still attached and

they wanted 400 bucks for it. This is by no means a bad guitar and the old headstock

shape has made them somewhat desirable."

 

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OK, getting back to the original topic....

 

I checked out a guitar last night that is currently listed on the Inland Empire craigslist.

 

It's listed as an "Epiphone Les Paul Slash Goldtop".

 

3n33ke3o55Oa5Pd5Rca1i9235677e83731a51.jpg

 

3k33pd3o75O55T55R3a1ie10e6239297c1d10.jpg

 

3m03o83l45Tc5Pd5Rea1i3bf60c23118f1d89.jpg

 

He wanted $600 (US) for it, and after researching I figured it might be a good buy if genuine.

 

The first thing that bothered me was no Certificate of Authenticity.

However, I could see some lameass maybe selling that on Ebay at some point, since it would actually be signed by Slash. In fact, it seems like I recall seeing something like that on Ebay some time back (2008-2009).

So, I figured that for $400 less than GC price would be OK, if the guitar rocked.

 

The other thing that I noticed in the pics was that the "Epiphone" and the Slash signature on the case are in white, whereas the pics on the Epi site are in Gold...

I just now went back and checked real pics again, and the case is obviously NOT right! The real Slash case is obviously a smooth one similar to the one that my Ultra II came with.

 

The other thing that I wondered about was the lack of a pickguard. The Epi Slash has one, whereas the Gibson does not.

 

I went to check it out, cash in pocket, anyway.

 

The first things I checked was just basic condition, and to see if it had pickguard holes, which it did not.

Hmmm, well the finish looked good on the top, a little better than my Epi 56 goldtop... so maybe it was OK after all...

 

Then I noticed that the back was painted black! All of the Epi Slash GT pics I'd seen had a natural back, with figured mahogany. Why would they paint it black?!

 

Pickups still had plastic on them... hmmm this thing hasn't been played much or at all?

 

I had already told the guy that I'd have to pass on this, due to the black back, since part of the allure was the nice mahogany. But, why not plug it in and hear it anyway?

 

This guy said he bought it on Ebay for his son, but his son wanted a Zack Wylde instead.

So he said sure plug it in anyway.

 

Plugged into his son's Line 6 Spider IV. Sounded like crap. Tried Blues setting instead of Crunch... sounded like crap.

I have a Spider III and can play various guitars through the Crunch setting and they all sound good. This one sounded like crap no matter what.... ?!

 

I was really suspicious about this thing by this point, but wasn't aware of the Epi fakes issue (just looked at this forum this morning), although I figured the Slash GT would be a good target.

I then finally looked closely at the pickups, and read the text on the plastic....

"Designed by Epiphone USA Alnico Classic Plus... blah blah".

 

Well, had to inform the guy at this point that this was apparently a fake.... perhaps with good pickups it would be an OK guitar for someone.... however now I don't even think it's a mahogany guitar, as I noticed it was also way too light, and I was pretty sure that the Epi site said it has a maple top. It is WAY lighter than my Epi LP Customs! So, it's probably some crap wood... hence the black back, and crappy tone!

 

Another thing that I had noticed was that the Slash on the truss cover had a blemish, and the "Limited Edition Custom Shop" logo on the back of the headstock was smudged. Now that I think about it, I don't think it was even under a gloss coat, which I'm sure it is on my '66 Limited.

 

Now that I've read this thread, I see that you can tell in the picture from the ad that the EE in the serial number seems to be larger than the numbers... oh yeah, look at the pots... look familiar?... thanks for more validation guys!

 

Wow, so now I have to be careful if I look at any more used Epis.... fortunately I've collected a few real nice ones over the past 3 years, and they're all real:

 

-Korean (U) LP Custom Plus vintage burst (great action, mint condition) $400

-Gorgeous China (EE) LP Custom (the top is better than most Gibsons I've seen) $375

-Korean (I) '61 LP Custom (SG) Black Beauty (3 pickup) Reissue

(well used, but looks, feels, and sounds like a vintage Gibson!) $200

 

Sorry for the long post, but defenitely on topic!

Glad I did enough research to dodge that bullet!

 

Thanks for the futher info guys!

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OK' date=' getting back to the original topic....

 

I checked out a guitar last night that is currently listed on the Inland Empire craigslist.

 

It's listed as an "Epiphone Les Paul Slash Goldtop".

 

[img']http://images.craigslist.org/3n33ke3o55Oa5Pd5Rca1i9235677e83731a51.jpg[/img]

 

3k33pd3o75O55T55R3a1ie10e6239297c1d10.jpg

 

3m03o83l45Tc5Pd5Rea1i3bf60c23118f1d89.jpg

 

He wanted $600 (US) for it, and after researching I figured it might be a good buy if genuine.

 

The first thing that bothered me was no Certificate of Authenticity.

However, I could see some lameass maybe selling that on Ebay at some point, since it would actually be signed by Slash. In fact, it seems like I recall seeing something like that on Ebay some time back (2008-2009).

So, I figured that for $400 less than GC price would be OK, if the guitar rocked.

 

The other thing that I noticed in the pics was that the "Epiphone" and the Slash signature on the case are in white, whereas the pics on the Epi site are in Gold...

I just now went back and checked real pics again, and the case is obviously NOT right! The real Slash case is obviously a smooth one similar to the one that my Ultra II came with.

 

The other thing that I wondered about was the lack of a pickguard. The Epi Slash has one, whereas the Gibson does not.

 

I went to check it out, cash in pocket, anyway.

 

The first things I checked was just basic condition, and to see if it had pickguard holes, which it did not.

Hmmm, well the finish looked good on the top, a little better than my Epi 56 goldtop... so maybe it was OK after all...

 

Then I noticed that the back was painted black! All of the Epi Slash GT pics I'd seen had a natural back, with figured mahogany. Why would they paint it black?!

 

Pickups still had plastic on them... hmmm this thing hasn't been played much or at all?

 

I had already told the guy that I'd have to pass on this, due to the black back, since part of the allure was the nice mahogany. But, why not plug it in and hear it anyway?

 

This guy said he bought it on Ebay for his son, but his son wanted a Zack Wylde instead.

So he said sure plug it in anyway.

 

Plugged into his son's Line 6 Spider IV. Sounded like crap. Tried Blues setting instead of Crunch... sounded like crap.

I have a Spider III and can play various guitars through the Crunch setting and they all sound good. This one sounded like crap no matter what.... ?!

 

I was really suspicious about this thing by this point, but wasn't aware of the Epi fakes issue (just looked at this forum this morning), although I figured the Slash GT would be a good target.

I then finally looked closely at the pickups, and read the text on the plastic....

"Designed by Epiphone USA Alnico Classic Plus... blah blah".

 

Well, had to inform the guy at this point that this was apparently a fake.... perhaps with good pickups it would be an OK guitar for someone.... however now I don't even think it's a mahogany guitar, as I noticed it was also way too light, and I was pretty sure that the Epi site said it has a maple top. It is WAY lighter than my Epi LP Customs! So, it's probably some crap wood... hence the black back, and crappy tone!

 

Another thing that I had noticed was that the Slash on the truss cover had a blemish, and the "Limited Edition Custom Shop" logo on the back of the headstock was smudged. Now that I think about it, I don't think it was even under a gloss coat, which I'm sure it is on my '66 Limited.

 

Now that I've read this thread, I see that you can tell in the picture from the ad that the EE in the serial number seems to be larger than the numbers... oh yeah, look at the pots... look familiar?... thanks for more validation guys!

 

Wow, so now I have to be careful if I look at any more used Epis.... fortunately I've collected a few real nice ones over the past 3 years, and they're all real:

 

-Korean (U) LP Custom Plus vintage burst (great action, mint condition) $400

-Gorgeous China (EE) LP Custom (the top is better than most Gibsons I've seen) $375

-Korean (I) '61 LP Custom (SG) Black Beauty (3 pickup) Reissue

(well used, but looks, feels, and sounds like a vintage Gibson!) $200

 

Sorry for the long post, but defenitely on topic!

Glad I did enough research to dodge that bullet!

 

Thanks for the futher info guys!

 

 

This was discussed in another thread a few days ago, here's what I posted:

 

 

Fake.

 

1) You're in Norway' date=' that guitar would be inspected by Gibson Europe in the Netherlands, not the USA.

 

2) The EE in the serial number is too big

 

3) The Epiphone logo on the headstock is angled too much

 

4) The Custom Shop lettering is too thick

 

5) There's washers under the tuning peg grommets

 

6) There's no pickguard, or even a hole where one would be

 

7) The tops of the tailpiece studs are rounded, they should be flat

 

8) The bridge is wrong

 

And the most important give away...

 

9) Those are not Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II pickups. These pickups have slugs on both coils, the Duncans have your standard one coil with screws one with slugs configuration.

 

Check out Slash Details. If you click on the red and gold circles, you'll get good quality closeups to compare with your photos.

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Yeah, I only read some stuff about the Slash GT in general, and wasn't really looking for info on fakes until after I looked at the guitar.

I had checked out the Slash GT site enough to know that this guitar was bogus once I saw it in person.

 

Just thought I'd tell the story...

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Hey' date=' now that I look at the other thread's pics, they sure look like they're from the same person, so the guy selling the one I looked at must have gotten scammed by the same jerk that's selling yet another one on Ebay!

[/quote']

 

Looks like an EPIdemic of fake SlashGTs!!! Zakk Wylde's are another one you've got to be careful with.

 

Where are you in the Inland Empire???

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Hmmmm...Puzzled. Is Boxcarro ANGRY with the answer?

Why so LARGE a response? Yelling? Animalfarm tried to HELP' date='

is now confused...[/quote']

 

Oh, gosh....Maybe I should change my "Moniker" to "Mister Magoo!" I was USING TAGS toMake Font Larger I guess it was too large.

 

I was Actually [laugh] ECSTATIC with GLADNESS[biggrin] at Animalfarm's reply!

 

You-all that live in RIVERSIDE & the OTHER FELLER up North Orange County..."Johnnys-Jazz" is "Boxcarro" & I Live in San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675, where I play at the Atmrak Station/ Metrolink Train Station here every Weekend...and at 2Nd. Saturday Arts & Craft Fair, & at the Farmers Market every Wednesday....except on Rainy Days.

 

9gbnmx.jpg

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To the OP:

 

The white Les Paul, fake for sure. Scratch plate screw is wrong, EE is too big on the back, Epi logo positioned wrongly on headstock.

 

The SG I'm not sure, I'm not very knowledgable about Epi SGs.

 

The other Les Paul, the pictures are too small, I can't see enough detail to be able to tell, but the knobs do look a bit suspect.

 

Buy from an authorised Epi dealer. Don't risk EBay, Craigslist etc especially if the sellers tell you the guitar is new. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Etc etc etc etc....

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This GT doesn't seem to have any of the signs of being a fake that have been mentioned here.

 

The fake Slash GT that I posted pics of has misaligned knobs, and screwed up serial number, as well as non-adjustable pickup poles.

 

Yours looks good, and doesn't have any of these issues.

Rock on!!

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