Historic Reissue, or not even a genuine Gibson?

[spartacus slim]

Saw this guitar listed on eBay as a Gibson Les Paul. It has some features that would indicate it being a Historic reissue including an ink serial number and ABR-1 bridge, but a couple of things don’t look right to me:

Fretboard binding does not have nibs.
Bridge pickup appears to be mounted unusually far from the bridge.
Control cavity rout looks wrong, and it has 2 holes drilled for the pickup and selector switch wiring to come through instead of 1 channel.
Les Paul Model silk screen font appears thicker than normal, though I suppose this could possibly be an illusion caused by lighting and the gold paint reflecting.
Hard case has the dark red lining seen in 2000s era Custom Shop cases, but it only has a single neck rest instead of 2.

Do any forum members have an opinion or insights on whether this guitar is actually a legit Gibson or not?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392970036418

 

[BDW60]

Never seen a Gibson historic top finish look quite like that. Or the back, really. Can’t tell from pic, bit can you see wings on the back of the headstock? Nibs on fret ends?

Looks like a Chibby to me.

 

[spartacus slim]

Never seen a historic top finish look anything like that. Or the back, really. Can’t tell from pic, bit can you see wings on the back of the headstock? Nibs on fret ends?

Looks like a Chibby to me.

There’s definitely no nibs on the fretboard binding - I noticed this before but forgot to include it in the list at the top of the thread! Will edit now...

Photo of the headstock back is too blurry for me to make out if there are wings there or not, or to be sure what the first digit of the serial number is...

 

[Duane_the_tub]

I think it's a replica. Look at the shape of the heel.

 

[el84ster]

Not a Gibson. So many things just off.

 

[JimmyAce2006]

Does it have a long neck tenon?
It could be a pre-historic.
It is easy enough to call Gibson and do a serial number check. 1-800-4GIBSON


...........

 

[mudface]

Fake

 

[spartacus slim]

Does it have a long neck tenon?
It could be a pre-historic.
It is easy enough to call Gibson and do a serial number check. 1-800-4GIBSON


...........

Unfortunately the serial number isn’t clear enough to read in the listing photo.

As for the guitar maybe being a pre-historic, I researched this possibility online before starting this thread, and couldn’t find any examples of early reissues with a similar control rout or placement of the bridge pickup, as well as a number of other differences.

 

[rockstar232007]

Fake.

- No side-wings on the headstock

- Bridge is too low (distance from the bridge pickup)

- Tuners are slightly crooked

- Body shape is off, even if it was a pre-historic

- Headstock contour ("mustache") is way too flat

- The finish isn't even close to Gibson standards

- The logo is definitely modern

Now, I don't think it's a Chibson, in the traditional sense, but it's definitely NOT a Gibson.

 

[Side Burns]

The case doesn’t look Gibson either

 

[lpfan1980]

The grain in kind of odd.

 

[ARandall]

This is a 'clone'.....although its not anywhere close to what a Gibson is. You can see obvious things like the pot locations are all wrong, the logo slant is wrong, the cavity rout shape plus the cutouts for the top 2 pots are wrong too.

Maybe this started life as a wood-only kit. It doesn't show as many of the obvious tells for a chibson that you'd usually see

 

[Lemonburst R8]

Definitely a Fugazi The dark grain filler on the natural “ mahogany” back is a standout and an eyesore as well the shape of the control cavity placement of the knobs the font on les paul model looks slightly crooked Is it even silkscreen or vinyl the burst just looks ametureish and just wrong and on and on. Stevie Wonder could see it was knock off. Id not only walk away if it was my duckets I’d run

 

[christopherJ]

Fake and illegal to sell.

 

[bblooz]

Fake and illegal to sell.

+1

 

[Progrocker111]

Fake as hell

 

[musicmaniac]

I think you got your answer!

 

[spartacus slim]

I think you got your answer!

Yes, so a big thank you to all contributors.

My first instinct was that the guitar isn’t a genuine Gibson, but I wanted to see if anyone else might notice something I’d missed, not discounting the possibility of it being a refretted and refinished P90 or mini-humbucker model routed for full size humbuckers with the bridge pickup in the wrong spot, and a weird control rout from some specific era I’ve never seen before...

There’s just too many details wrong though, so it definitely appears to be a fake.

 

[PageSide84]

Real or fake (it's fake), it's ugly as hell.

 

[beefcakeobama]

It looks as if someone had modified a Burny or Greco guitar