tflanster Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 There's a guy trying to sell a "Gibson LP" on Craigslist. He has ads in Fresno, Merced and Visalia, CA for "Nice Guitar $60" and "Guitar Needs New Home $50", etc. I looked at the pix. Headstock marked Gibson but the rest of it is fake. I contacted the guy. He says in the body of the ad that ". . . bidding starts at $600". I told him its a fake. He said its way better than the original but offers no details. The guy told me the guitar was made by an ex-Gibson employee and a few other bogus comments. I reported the ads to Gibson, as did others, I'm told. Man, I really hate that stuff!:) Hope the guy gets nailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbreeze Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 seems in the last year or even six months....there has been lot of FAKE Gibsons going around. I did a search and found all these are being made in China. They say Gibson on headstock. Come in Gibson cases...and are dirt cheap! They look like real thing...but the reviews on quality have been good and mostly bad. I found some on YouTube today. Mostly Les Pauls,...but I found Firebirds, Flying V's. Juniors. I was curious. Too many negative responses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Chinese copy of Les Paul Supreme... Tuners are Crooked! (Haw, Haw!) Mr. Breeze! Go back to your post - Edit OUT the name of the site you mentioned! Guarantee this thread will go to area 51 if you don't.... Epi and Gibby Forums and Mods aren't keen on posting the actual name of the sites that handle non-genuine stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl297 Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Chinese copy of Les Paul Supreme...Tuners are Crooked! (Haw' date=' Haw!) Mr. Breeze! Go back to your post - Edit OUT the name of the site you mentioned! Guarantee this thread will go to area 51 if you don't.... Epi and Gibby Forums and Mods aren't keen on posting the actual name of the sites that handle non-genuine stuff.[/quote'] yes I've checked out that site in the past and knew of it before, they also have fake Ric 4003's that look identical but I can guarantee that they don't sound identical. Just a word of warning that ALL expensive brands are now subject to this counterfeit bs. How to spot a fake Gibson: This info has been out for awhile though so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colchar Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 I saw a video somewhere which gave detailed explanations of what exactly to look for on a Les Paul guitar. if I find it again I'll post a link. Please do as I've stumbled across a possible trade that is too good to be true. The only thing that makes me think it might be legit is that the guy doesn't seem to know anything about guitar so I might be inclined to buy his 'a family member gave it to me a few years ago' story. I am going to investigate as fully as possible including contacting Gibson to verify the serial number and, if it does turn out to be legit, I will buy the guitar as it would be the find of a lifetime. But yeah, that video would be a huge help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gl297 Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 lol,I must have edited my post while you were typing yours, my above post has a link to a youtube video and there's other videos on there too. Good luck with the guitar I hope it turns out to be real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colchar Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 FAKES are produced and sold........ as long as some buyers will hunt for the best price-deal. Everybody seems to know the real street-price. Those deals of the liftime are rare' date=' IMO Imagine.......everybody buys at a legit store...... they can use it as firewood. Peter[/quote'] I had originally thought it was a fake and posted a link to it on another guitar website in a thread joking about fakes. After a few more people looked at it they started commenting that it looked real and there were no obvious signs that it was a fake. Because of that I've pursued this a bit but wouldn't buy it without confirming the serial number and guitar (with photos) with Gibson themselves. I am far from dumb and am not about to get scammed but, once in a blue moon, amazing deals do happen. But trust me - this will be researched and investigated to death before I drop any money on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflanster Posted May 2, 2010 Author Share Posted May 2, 2010 I had originally thought it was a fake and posted a link to it on another guitar website in a thread joking about fakes. After a few more people looked at it they started commenting that it looked real and there were no obvious signs that it was a fake. Because of that I've pursued this a bit but wouldn't buy it without confirming the serial number and guitar (with photos) with Gibson themselves. I am far from dumb and am not about to get scammed but' date=' once in a blue moon, amazing deals do happen. But trust me - this will be researched and investigated to death before I drop any money on it.[/quote'] RE: the one I started this thread with - it is in fact a fake. The guy selling it admits it. The problem is, he's selling it as a Gibson - "Gibson" is printed on the headstock for crine out loud! The price on the first ad was, a week ago, $50.00. then inside the ad it says "Bidding starts at $500.00". Then the ad appears in three more local cities with the $60.00/$600.00 statement. At least 2 other guys posted on the site that the git is a fake and I had a few back and forth emails with the guy about it. I actually "bid" on it for the asking price of $50.00, cash, today. This is one of the strangest phony ads I've seen. There's no doubt in my mind that some goof will buy it - and sadly, there are a lot of gullible people out there. It really puts a twist in my knickers to see this stuff. However, my bid remains at $50.00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Counterfeits guitars are a problem, but they don't even register on the top 50 illegal products in the world market: http://www.havocscope.com/indexes/products/ BTW, I could be wrong, but I think both the seller and the buyer can be prosecuted for trafficking in counterfeit products. One thing for sure, any counterfeit product can be confiscated and destroyed with no compensation to the owner, whether they are aware of the issue or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamBooka Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Yep.. as long as there is a market, there will be counterfeits. I see quite a few here in Montreal. BUT if you want a Gibson and cant afford it, what are you supposed to do? Buy an Epiphone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 One thing for sure' date=' any counterfeit product can be confiscated and destroyed with no compensation to the owner, whether they are aware of the issue or not...[/quote'] =d> =d> =d> No one believes me when I tell them that. Most of them get real mad an puff up, mumbling my demise under their breath. I mean, sorry bub, it ain't my fault you basically got the damn thing at a boot sale, what ya expect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colchar Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 RE: the one I started this thread with - it is in fact a fake. The guy selling it admits it. The problem is' date=' he's selling it as a Gibson - "Gibson" is printed on the headstock for crine out loud! The price on the first ad was, a week ago, $50.00. then inside the ad it says "Bidding starts at $500.00". Then the ad appears in three more local cities with the $60.00/$600.00 statement. At least 2 other guys posted on the site that the git is a fake and I had a few back and forth emails with the guy about it. I actually "bid" on it for the asking price of $50.00, cash, today. This is one of the strangest phony ads I've seen. There's no doubt in my mind that some goof will buy it - and sadly, there are a lot of gullible people out there. It really puts a twist in my knickers to see this stuff. However, my bid remains at $50.00.[biggrin'] Oh I don't doubt that the one you saw was a fake. I was talking about another guitar altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiac Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 It'll go down as "The Famous Fresno Fake Fiasco"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReneBoedker Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 THe site I found was called (censored). Wow, thats really "great deals": Fender Std. Stratocasters for $50 and Gibson Les Paul Customs for $100. You won't find a genuine top brand guitar for that kind of money, unless the headstock has come off and the body has been split down the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Yep.. as long as there is a market' date=' there will be counterfeits. I see quite a few here in Montreal. BUT if you want a Gibson and cant afford it, what are you supposed to do? Buy an Epiphone?[/quote'] Epiphones?...Those are being faked directly out of China as well. I won't post the site here..but they are pretty bold..you can get almost anything in Gibson/Epi/Fender etc..no shame..just $$ and quantity desired. Some even end up on the online popular selling sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflanster Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 Well I was torqued enough to contact Gibson about that git. Got a response from them today - said their legal department is checking it out and thanked me for bringing it up. I'm sure not a prude by any stretch but this crooked stuff really bums me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbreeze Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 I think I made my post a week ago. This morning I was on another auction site...similar to ebay. Ive purchased concert dvd's there before. Thought Id do a search for gibsons...and sure enuff, this site had V's,Jimmy Page signatures, Randy Rhoades signature, Firebirds....all within the $300 range. Some of these buyers have 99% feedback. I was checking out what other buyers said. You would be surprised how many are from USA. Im sure some are on this forum.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tflanster Posted May 9, 2010 Author Share Posted May 9, 2010 The guy in Fresno is now advertising "EMG's". When you open the page there's the "Gibsun" again. Its now advertised with "hot EMG" pickups.The ad's showing up on CL pages far from Fresno although I haven't seen it recently. It was showing on the opening "teaser" page $60.00 but when you open the page there's the $600 price again. What a jerk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.