ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Last night I purchased an Epiphone Sheraton and upon further inspection I have the suspicion that the guitar is a fake. My biggest concern is the serial number. I plugged the serial number into here http://guitardaterproject.org/epiphone.aspx and it comes back as "unrecognized." The serial number, which is stamped onto the back of the headstock of the guitar, is S9324700. Also, stamped into the bottom of the back of the headstock is "Made in Korea". According to many websites I've looked at, the "S" means that it came from the Samick factory in Korea, and the "93" means that it was made in 1993. And the next two digits should represent the month, but obviously there is no "24" month. Any one have any idea what could be wrong with my serial? Is this just a flat out fake guitar? I've also noticed that the volume/tone knobs are raised against the body and not flush against it like they are on my Les Paul. Please help! Any information or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 It would really help if you could post some pics. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 It would really help if you could post some pics. :) Sorry, I don't have access to the guitar right now, but here are some pics I have on my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 OK, after looking around a bit more I found another Epi Sheraton for sale online. This one also has a funky serial number: S9318339. Again, it looks like it was Made in Korea, Samick factory, in 1993, but there is no "18" month. Maybe this factory and year combination had some weird serial number format? This other Sheraton looks pretty darn similar to mine (although it has a different finish). Anyone else out there have a 1993 Sheraton? Edit: found another "S93" serial: S9319001. Again, no "19" month exists. This is at least making me feel a little bit better about the authenticity of my guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 While useful, you can not take the Guitar Dater as fact; it is compendium of owner-supplied information--not information supplied or verified by Epiphone--so there are gaps. Email Epiphone/Gibson Customer Service--that's your best bet to verify the authenticity of the guitar. The address is: service@gibson.com Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 While useful, you can not take the Guitar Dater as fact; it is compendium of owner-supplied information--not information supplied or verified by Epiphone--so there are gaps. Email Epiphone/Gibson Customer Service--that's your best bet to verify the authenticity of the guitar. The address is: service@gibson.com Red 333 Good point. I have sent Gibson a message through their customer service page on their website. If I don't get a response from them, I'll email service@gibson.com. Hopefully everything will check out. One possible theory is that the guitar was made in February 1993 as denoted by the "2" after "S93". If that's the case then I guess it was the 4700 unit off the line. Does this sound possible? If anyone else has any clues or has a 1993 Sheraton with a similar serial number format, please let me know. Thanks everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 To the best of my knowledge, serial numbers were not very standardized in the early 90's. Personally, from what I can see, the guitar looks pretty good to me. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 That makes me feel a little bit better. What about the knobs? As I said before, mine don't sit flush against the body like they do on my Epi Les Paul (but that was made in 2006). Is it normal for early 1990's guitars to have knobs that are little raised above the body of the guitar? Also, my pickguard doesn't quite sit flush against the pickups. These could just be minor details, but I'd like to know if I have an authentic guitar or some fraud. Thanks again everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 looks fine too me too. but some really good well lit photos would confirm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 looks fine too me too. but some really good well lit photos would confirm. Yeah, once I get back home I can take some better pictures and post them here. Thanks so much for the responses, I'm glad I didn't waste money on a fake (at least I hope I didn't)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Good point. I have sent Gibson a message through their customer service page on their website. If I don't get a response from them, I'll email service@gibson.com. Hopefully everything will check out. One possible theory is that the guitar was made in February 1993 as denoted by the "2" after "S93". If that's the case then I guess it was the 4700 unit off the line. Does this sound possible? If anyone else has any clues or has a 1993 Sheraton with a similar serial number format, please let me know. Thanks everyone! you would be correct on the 2. add a 0 in front of the 2 and you get the correct info. I just acquired a 93 made in dec and my serial starts with s9312. it is one digit longer than the ones you posted. I would say you have a genuine sheri!!!!!!. now the one thing my sheri has which i think is cool, is a sticker on the back near the strap button that states SHERATON N. not sure if it is the sticker that came on the sheri's back then, but is has aged with the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 you would be correct on the 2. add a 0 in front of the 2 and you get the correct info. I just acquired a 93 made in dec and my serial starts with s9312. it is one digit longer than the ones you posted. I would say you have a genuine sheri!!!!!!. now the one thing my sheri has which i think is cool, is a sticker on the back near the strap button that states SHERATON N. not sure if it is the sticker that came on the sheri's back then, but is has aged with the guitar. So I guess for some reason they decided not to include the "0" in front of the number of the month like they do with all other years. That makes things a little confusing. But, I guess it would make my serial number make sense. Sure hope everyone is right about it! Still waiting to hear back from Gibson... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanFoFyan Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 i had a sheraton (2002) sold it 2 days ago. and my knobs were super high off the body in comparison to my LP so thats not an issue and my pickguard also doesn't sit exactly flush either. it looks legit to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 i had a sheraton (2002) sold it 2 days ago. and my knobs were super high off the body in comparison to my LP so thats not an issue and my pickguard also doesn't sit exactly flush either. it looks legit to me Great news! Thanks for confirming that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vomer Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Also, I don't think anyone has ever posted on the forum, at least not while I've been here, that they have seen a fake Sheraton. I keep an eye on ebay and have trawled the fake sites once or twice out of interest, and I've never seen a fake Sheri. Yours looks like a Samick should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Also, I don't think anyone has ever posted on the forum, at least not while I've been here, that they have seen a fake Sheraton. I keep an eye on ebay and have trawled the fake sites once or twice out of interest, and I've never seen a fake Sheri. Yours looks like a Samick should. Great news again! Yeah, I guess it would make a lot more sense to fake a newer Epiphone or Gibson, not one from 1993. I was just a little worried because I could find almost no information on my serial number anywhere online. Also, I was a little surprised by the quality of the pickguard and the jack, but I guess those are only minor details which can be fixed if need be. By the way, the guitar plays great; it has a little buzz to it, but nothing terrible. Hopefully Gibson will email me back soon and confirm what everyone here has said. Thanks again everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vomer Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 They are out ! I stand corrected. WTF is that ugly POS Peter? Do you have pics of the rest of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersonic Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 They are out ! Really? Are you kidding me? That's just hilarious looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanFoFyan Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 hahaha that thing is god aweful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Fortunately mine is nowhere near that bad. I'm almost convinced that mine is authentic now. It still would be nice to hear back from Gibson though. Also, I've heard that the early 90's Korean made Epis are of a bit better quality than the Chinese ones (possibly even better than later year models as well). Is that accurate? Or is it just a rumor floating around? Thanks for any insight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ugadawgs311 Posted April 15, 2011 Author Share Posted April 15, 2011 Another question I have is: why is there no sticker inside the top F hole with serial number, manufacturer, etc.? I've seen a lot of Sheratons that do have some sort of Epiphone sticker inside the F hole, so is it possible that mine may have not been made with one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vomer Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Peter, I had a quick look and couldn't see any obvious fakes, they look like pics of legitimate models, apart from the blue monstrosity. But I didn't open each thumbnail, just a few at random. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Another question I have is: why is there no sticker inside the top F hole with serial number, manufacturer, etc.? I've seen a lot of Sheratons that do have some sort of Epiphone sticker inside the F hole, so is it possible that mine may have not been made with one? i have no sticker serial in f-hole. i have a 93 as well. like you i have a stamped serial on headstock. which i believe was how it was done. Only sticker i have is a label on back "SHERATON. N" not sure wht theat signifies. again, i think you are ok as far as yours being legit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BryanFoFyan Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 mine has an epiphone sticker in the f hole but no serial on the sticker. the serial is stamped on my headstock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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