guitargreg1993 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Hi and thanks - here is the body of complaints exactly as he listed them in the mail. There is a lot on that list that directly contradict my impression of the guitar and I simply do not understand point 13. The more I learn about this the more inclined I am to think he is trying to scam me. Honestly, I think you're right... most definitely trying to scam you. Plus the fact that he "moved to Argentina" so suddenly and wants money sent there is EXTREMELY suspicious.... That sounds like he wants you to send money there because there would most likely be no way to track it, so it would "disappear" without you ever knowing he took the money. Anyway, here is a list of my responses to the list: 1 The serial number print is not from the Gibson company, and the serial number its not real. --Really? Tell him to email Gibson about the serial number and if they say it is indeed fake or give details about the serial # that proves it's not the guitar he has, tell him to send the email from Gibson to you. 2 The neck is not a Gibson --Really? What proof of this do you have?? 3 The body of the guitar is not made of caoba as it should be on a Gibson standard. --Last I checked, Gibson Les Pauls are made of MAHOGANY. 4 The humbuckers are not Gibson or even made in USA. It seems to have been to be P90 but seems to be removed. --Probably not the original pickups. Just because pups were changed doesn't make it fake. 5 The neck frets are not the original from a Gibson standard. --Really? Prove it. 6 The standard inscription on the head of the neck is not Gibson original – it is a fake copy --Maybe the truss rod cover was replaced. But it IS a genuine Gibson TRC; the "standard" may have been inscribed on a blank TRC by someone, but once again that doesn't mean it's fake. 7 The shape and the cavities on the body are not shaped with the Gibson standards. --Really? Show us some side-by-side pics of the "fake" LP and a genuine one... 8 The mic cables are not Gibson originals and have a job to seem to be Gibson standards. --HUH?!?! WTF does that last part mean?? And mic cables are cables used for microphones, and have nothing to do with a guitar. 9 The selector switch is not original (it’s the same one used for ephiphone) and apart from that its not working. --Really? How do you know that? Prove it... and just because it doesn't work doesn't make it fake. It may have crapped out; all electronics stop working at some point, being that it is over 25 years old... 10 The bridge is not original, and the origin has been awfully removed. --What does "origin has been awfully removed" mean?!?! 11 The neck shape its not Gibson standard plus the whole neck has been pasted to the body. --All LP necks are HAND-MADE, meaning that not every one is the EXACT same... and LP necks are not bolted on to the body; they are set-in to the body, meaning they are GLUED in!!! 12 The GIBSON script is a complete fake, not original. --Really? What proof of this can you show me?!?! 13 The tensor neck head is not original, it’s not even on the guitar --WTF?!?! 14 The mark on the 7th fret has been added trying to imitate a Gibson. --WTF?!?! 15 The capacitors are not originals. --So they were changed. Big f**kin deal. Just because the capacitors were changed doesn't make it fake. 16 The potenciometers are not Gibson. --Look @ response to 15. 17 The tap of the body is not proper in size and it is not the original maple from Gibson - even the unions are not proper. The shape is not smooth as a Gibson original should be. --Prove it. Like the necks, all the maple tops on LP's are hand-carved, so each one will be a little different. What do you mean by "the unions aren't proper"? 18 The sound of the guitar plugged its awful and completely noisy. The circuits are all fake and not proper. --Maybe one of the electronic components went bad? Or it could even be a cable, pedal, amp tube, amp part, etc. Or you just suck at guitar... 19 The circuits cover is not original, it’s not even the same material as Gibson. --Once again, look at response to 15. 20 The humbuckers have been scratched to seem old, but they are not from the year when you told me the guitar was made. --So the pups were changed. That doesn't make it fake. ----- To be honest, that list looks terrible. It is very poorly presented; not professional looking at all (terrible spelling and grammar throughout, he repeats issues more than once to inflate the number of "issues" on the list; example: #2 and #11 are essentially the same) so that makes it look less credible. Anyway, don't give in to this idiot. Luckily for you, it wasn't through eBay so you wont automatically be screwed into complying with him. If he truly believes its fake, he should prove it to YOU. Remember, it is HIS job to prove it is FAKE, not YOUR job to prove it's REAL. Like others have said, tell him to take the guitar to an AUTHORIZED Gibson dealer and have them check it out. If they confirm it is not a genuine LP, have them send that letter DIRECTLY to you stating so. This would prevent a possible forgery letter from this guy. Then, and only then, should you contact him and let him know you will give him his money back... instruct him to ship the guitar with insurance and tracking number via UPS, FedEx, or some other means by which you can track the shipment and know that it is indeed on its way back to you. Tell him you will NOT send the money back until you can confirm the guitar has been shipped and is on its way. Then and ONLY then, do you wire the money back to him. I feel bad for you having to put up with this crap, good luck man and tell us how it works out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 He wants the money and then he'll send you the guitar? Tell him to send you the guitar first. I suspect you wouldn't get your guitar back if you post him the money. Tell him to jump. Shut your ebay account down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artie Owl Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 He wants the money and then he'll send you the guitar? Tell him to send you the guitar first. I suspect you wouldn't get your guitar back if you post him the money. Tell him to jump. Shut your ebay account down. Yeah I was worried about that too, but it was a private sale, not ebay, so no worries for him there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 WHERE did you send the guitar? Did he pick it up personally. It doesn't seem he and you are talking about the same guitar. Is it impossible that the guitar you shipped is not the guitar he received? How about this fellas. Ask the remorseful buyer to take pictures, good ones, of the areas he claims show that it is a fake. Let us all weigh in on it's authenticity. If that isn't good enough for him, surely, there is an authorized Gibson dealership in Argentina where he can take it for verification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitargreg1993 Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 WHERE did you send the guitar? Did he pick it up personally. It doesn't seem he and you are talking about the same guitar. Is it impossible that the guitar you shipped is not the guitar he received? How about this fellas. Ask the remorseful buyer to take pictures, good ones, of the areas he claims show that it is a fake. Let us all weigh in on it's authenticity. If that isn't good enough for him, surely, there is an authorized Gibson dealership in Argentina where he can take it for verification. thats a great idea!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Sorry to be late for this one and I sincerely hope I can be of help. First is the guy from Argentina? If so, f__k him. I'm from south America and believe me, most people in here don't know a thing about guitars (I validate/invalidate 10s weekly). People in here will tell you a guitar is a fake just based on the fact they have never seen that finish It pains me to say it but most in this Godforsaken continent are stupid, ignorant and scamers. I have to deal with them all the time. Now that I have vented a little... on to the guitar. I can't believe he would tell you all that stuff about the guitar now and not when he bought it, it looks real to me, I think it's been refinished and some stuff has been changed tho: pickup covers, knobs, TRC, and especially the jackplate. Maybe he hasn't seen a Gibson in his life, maybe some ******bag is trying to sell him a fake chinese gibby and is comparing it to his (and telling him his is the fake). As per his reasons for thinking it's fake... 1 How does he know that NOW and didn't notice when he paid? Anyway, IT IS a Gibson number. 2 It is a Gibson neck, no counterfeiter does "nibs" (binding over fret ends). 3 Wrong gain, Gibson has made and still makes guitars out of different woods, sometimes as special editions, and how can he tell the body isn't mahogany anyway? Is he a wood expert? If so, return to noumber 1: how does he notice now and didn't notice when buying the guitar. 4 I don't understand this one, P90s are not humbuckers, the routing for P90s is completely different. 5 Dufus. How can he tell Gibson frets from non Gibson frets? To install new frets (a nornal ocurrence on old guitars that have actually been played) is to renew the frets, BUT in most cases you lose the "nibs" (binding over fret ends). 6 Again: I say bull**it! How can he tell now if he didn't before, and of course, as some have said, the Gibson logo and "starndard" in the TRC look good, you can always swap TRCs and that could be newer than the guitar, but still a Gibson TRC for the Les Paul standard model. 7 How does he know this? Did he take out the pickups and measure the routings and compare it to another standard (that he has proof is real)? I think not. I call that bull**it too. 8 Same as above. 9 The picture looks blurry on that part but still you can partilly make out the switch's nut is the type Gibson uses and not epi. 10 A real Gibson expert is what this guy is (I say look at pippy's answer to this one, he said it all). 11 "pasted to the body"? What does he mean by that? Was he expecting a bolt-on neck? A Gibson expert indeed. 12 Already mentioned in #6 13 What? It's not on the guitar? Then the neck would look like a bow! 14 WTF? Really... W-T-F??? 15 They might be upgrades! (Gibson has used different caps over the years, and lots of people change them for "better caps". 16 Same as above. 17 How did he measure size of the cap? I haven't seen them to vary much but they aren't exactly the same from one another, you can expect them to be a little different especially for an 80s gibby. 18 Tone is in the fingers You can blame a bad tone/sound on lots of other things: a cheap wire, a cheap amp, a cheap player that can't set his amp properly. "Bad sound" is a very subjective matter, what sounds bad to him can sound great to you. 19 I think this is hard to comment about, we can't tell without taking a close look to it but I'm intrigued as to how can he diferentiate when he didn't when he bought the guitar. 20 This is the only part where I agree with him. They look like they were scratched in order to make them look older. All in all, I think he is either trying to scam you, or being tricked by someone else into thinking he's got a fake (probably someone trying to sell him a fake as real, I've seen this happen a lot, I've gotten into trouble with counterfeit sellers down here 'cause I don't like them scamming people). Being that he's from South A I'm more inclined towards "he is trying to scam you". You send his money back, you won't be getting any guitar back from him, and if he sends you a guitar it will not be yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 BTW don't let him tell you there's no authorized Gibson dealer in Argentina, the regional distribution for South America lies with an Argentinean instruments dealer and he is the one that sub-distributes to the rest of the South American countries (less Brasil), so he should be able to at least get them on the phone (hell, I've talked to their people and I'm in Ecuador!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 3 The body of the guitar is not made of caoba as it should be on a Gibson standard. --Last I checked, Gibson Les Pauls are made of MAHOGANY. Caoba is spanish for Mahogany Tho you don't really get to hear it called that way in here often, not in the guitar world, almost no one asks for a "caoba guitar" all the guitar playing people talk about mahogany, ebony, alder and ash instead of caoba, ebano, aliso and fresno respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 As it's a private sale. Sold as seen. He should have 'authenticated' it before he bought it. Tell him. If he wishes to take it further to get it in writing from Gibson that it's a fake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Don't get me wrong but that's why I always tell my non South American friends to never ever do business with South American people I kid, I kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krock Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 You should get him to send you pics of what the guitar he supposedly got from you looks like. This way you can check that it is even the same guitar that he got from you. And yer, using an esgrow service is a good idea. I wouldnt trust this guy. Oh, and make sure he pays for the transportation of the guitar and he insures it so if it is damaged he wont blame you and demand the money anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.