Go On, Make me vomit my own spleen...

[Lammas Day]

Hi Guys

 

I've just passed on the opportunity to buy at auction, what looked like, a Les Paul Standard, lemon color guitar. I passed on the offer, because in my small, yet not completely worthless opinion - it looked like a fake.

 

It had a stamp on the back of the headstock "5 3815", and the gold leafed Gibson name on the front of the headstock - which... okay so far so good.

 

BUT a few things smelled a bit fishy.

 

For starters, I took the back off it, none of the electrics had any Gibson marks on them, the pots were just blank

 

second, the machine heads were equally blank. They looked the same as my SG ones, the vertical ribbing, but not marked Gibson (checking on my BFG, the machine heads are marked "Grover" - so presumably Gibson do use other brands within their range, but to have no manufactures name at all?)

 

third, it came with no case, there was a cheap *** nasty strap with it, and an amp lead which looked 18 inches long and came of a 1980's stereo - why own a LP Standard and not even get decent accessories?

 

...was this a fake?

 

I know no one can say without seeing it, but I'm a bit split. I was willing to go up to $80 for a fake just to have around, but it ended up going for $390.

 

so... go on... have I just made the worst mistake of my guitar life?

[vexorgtr]

It's hard to say..... one must see some great detail to confirm or deny the authenticity. I'd like to see some tight shots of the neck and binding.. what the truss rod looks like under the cover, and what the pots/switch cavity, and pickup cavities look like. Its a tough cookie to authenticate an ebay critter. If you thought it was a fake, and the bidding only went to 380$, I'll bet there were others who thought it was a fake too. There's a whole mess of fakers that can be found online... so unless the seller can really back up the authenticity, they're selling a knock off. Anyone with a real high value guitar will take a great effort to prove its authenticity. If I were to sell one of my Gibsons, I have the paperwork showing the authorized gibson dealer I bought it from, and my Serials are all registered and confirmed.