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help to find out if my epiphone is not a fake


gtgtgt

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Well ... the serial number is unrecognized by Guitar Dater for starters ...

 

We're gonna need some pics of the guitar itself (not just the back of the headstock) to really be able to help you with this, GT. Where'd you buy the guitar ... from a legit dealer or out of the trunk of someone's car?

 

Jim

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GT, the tuners on my slash appetite have wilkenson deluxe on them. Also, as others have requested-- more pics would help. folks with slash signatures can compare what you got there to theirs. From what you show, I say it can be a new model guitar. That headstock comes on most of the epi styles out on the market.

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KGrHqIOKo0E3Ekfm-BN-QW6su_12.jpg

 

yea pickguard looks fake to me.

how can the serial number be real if its fake?

 

They simply copy a real serial #. That's why some dealers/sellers will obscure part of the serial # in pictures of the headstock, etc so the # can't be used by unscrupulous sellers.

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Inspector # 52 never worked at that plant........so, well, it's a fake........The volume and tone knobs aren't lined up either, a common mistake of forgers..............

 

( I also agree with RaSTus as well.......We've been 'visited' by many, um, you know, lately..I don't trust a new member until 50 posts or so...)

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A couple of points...

 

First, the Guitar Dater Project site is totally useless in determining whether a guitar is real or not, or even if the serial number is real or not. All it can do is tell you if the S/N follows the correct pattern that the site uses to decode. I believe that site cannot decode anything other than serial numbers that begin with letters and those were discontinued in mid 2008. To test it out, use this serial number, EE11073654, and it will give you this result:

 

Your guitar was made at the

Qingdao Plant (Epiphone), China

July 2011

Production Number: 3654

 

Not bad...I have a guitar that hasn't been made yet!

 

 

Second, just because a serial number can be decoded by any site, or even by one of us members, does not make it a real serial number. It just means that it follows the correct pattern. Anyone with more than two brain cells can figure out how to create a valid looking serial number that will pass casual inspection or fool the S/N 'verification' sites.

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so with all this here

do you think i can ask someone at epiphone to tellme if it is or how fake it is

Simple answer is possibly...

If my White SG is snything to go by, NOTHING will be branded Epiphone inside (Switch, pickups, jack) and the pots will be blank & small with no 500k on them

 

Like you I also had a false "Inspector #". These are sourced DIRECT from Gibson info and will 99/100 prove if the guitar is legit or fake.

In my case the Inspector was on materinty leave when it was supposed to have been made...

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Simple answer is possibly...

If my White SG is snything to go by, NOTHING will be branded Epiphone inside (Switch, pickups, jack) and the pots will be blank & small with no 500k on them

 

Like you I also had a false "Inspector #". These are sourced DIRECT from Gibson info and will 99/100 prove if the guitar is legit or fake.

In my case the Inspector was on materinty leave when it was supposed to have been made...

so you ended up selling it?

or still have it?

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@midiman56 --- hey brother, how's Vegas without a Sahara?

Your post brought up a common misunderstanding about guitardater --- that site never updated its database to include Epiphone serial number sequences after 2009 (when Epi switched to the all numeric serial and 2-digit factory I.D. Number). The site returns a “not recognized” for all searches using these serials. I'll PM PeteR about posting an update to the factory I.D. Thread.

 

@Barcham --- spot-on description of guitardater site's shortcomings

 

@ triple gt --- we don't know you yet, so my comments are “cautious”

1. Your guitar is not legitimate – but at the same time it's not likely an out-and-out fake:

– it is a pseudo-Epiphone guitar, i.e it never sold through a dealer but it's origin is Epi-ish

– could be an “Epi 3rd” but looks to me more like yet another new sub-specie, an “Epi make-over” or “EpiMO” for short (hey y'all, I spot 'em I get to name 'em --- [wink] ha, ha, ha)

“What is a made-over,” you ask?

It's was a low-end Epi when it left the factory, but then a scammer changes certain of its features to make it appear to be a higher-end instrument to sell at a profit (e.g. a legit LP standard becomes a “made-over” '59 LP goldtop with a little new paint, decals, and tweaking).

2. It is a decent mimic – but the problems I see are different from what has been mentioned in this thread (those who know Epiphones can see what I'm talking about upon real close inspection) – and lead me to conclude that your photos are most likely of an EpiMO attempt.

3. Given the photos and the your tone of your posts, I think you're trying to mine this site for expertise for some ill purpose. I do hope that over time you prove me wrong.

4. Bought out of “trunk of car.” Please! You know it's shady (fake, stolen, divorce-swindle, etc). Buy from an EPI/Gibson dealer or it's BUYER BEWARE!

 

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on [cool]

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lol

dont worrie i dont fake guitars

just never had an epiphone before so dont know them

thanks for the help

 

In the end, it looks like a playable guitar; As such, regardless, you do have a playable guitar......

 

And welcome to the forum........

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@ triple gt --- we don't know you yet, so my comments are "cautious"

1. Your guitar is not legitimate – but at the same time it's not likely an out-and-out fake:

– it is a pseudo-Epiphone guitar, i.e it never sold through a dealer but it's origin is Epi-ish

– could be an "Epi 3rd" but looks to me more like yet another new sub-specie, an "Epi make-over" or "EpiMO" for short (hey y'all, I

 

And how exactly did you determine this? According to you, every single questionable guitar that comes through this forum is an "Epi 3rd" and now an "Epi make-over". Have you seen detailed pics that we arent privy to? Or did you inspect the guitar personally? Because it seems to me that is what it would take to make that kind of assumption. Not a pic of the back of the headstock and a tiny pic of the front. Its like you're hell-bent on propagating rumours that Epiphone is selling guitar bodies through the back door to counterfeiters and every "fake" just happens to be one of these regardless of the proof, or lack thereof. Show your proof or give it a rest. I'm open to either one.

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