I need your wisdom

[R94me]

A friend of mine asked me to give him my thoughts on a Les Paul he purchased a couple of years ago. I picked it up today to look it over, and I’m convinced it’s fake. I included some pics of things that stand out to me as it being bogus. Screw heads on bridge, no added wings on sides of headstock, serial number looks routed not stamped. In addition there’s not truss rod nut under the cover and the pot cavity looks like it was chiseled out with a screwdriver. I’d much rather tell him some knowledgeable experts on a Les Paul forum believe it’s fake, than to just give him my opinion. Thanks!

 

[bum]

100000% fake

 

[cmjohnson]

1: Metric bridge hardware. Dead giveaway.
2: That serial number is known to be on a number of Chibson fakes.

Here's your serial found on another guitar via a brief internet search.

I'd say that's a slam dunk. Sorry but this guitar is most DEFINITELY a fake.

But that doesn't mean it's a bad guitar. It's just a 200 to 300 dollar guitar.

 

[pondcaster]

Absolute fakery.

 

[shark]

a free community service provided by The MLP members think tank of knowledge that as a group is never wrong.

I learn more every time one these pieces come up thank you all.

 

[mudface]

Fake

 

[jstarr]

∞ fake

 

[motowntom]

OP, how much are you selling them for? ....... One post.
Cheers

 

[BadPenguin]

Fakey McFake Fake

 

[JMP]

Not a Gibson

 

[R94me]

OP, how much are you selling them for? ....... One post.
Cheers

I understand your reasoning, but I’m not selling this or any others like it. A friend of mine paid $1800 for it a couple of years ago. He was asking about buying my R9, and wanted to pay cash and this guitar for it. I didn’t want/need another Standard, but I told him I would look at it and see if any other friends might want it. I picked it up today, as as soon as I opened the case I was concerned.

 

[1allspub]

Ouch for your friend... but yeah, fake!

 

[96LPCLASSIC]

Show him the thread he needs to know he bought lumber.

 

[R94me]

Show him the thread he needs to know he bought lumber.

I just called him and gave him the bad news. He was disappointed but didn’t seem surprised.

 

[cmjohnson]

This is exactly the reason why I'm so rabidly against the existence and importation of these illegal Chinese knockoffs. Because the first buyer of them almost certainly knows he's getting a knockoff, but once it becomes a used guitar, all bets are off. The next buyer may not know and the seller may not be honest or bother to tell the truth. And that's when you end up with someone paying many hundreds or even thousands of dollars more for a guitar that's worth very little.

 

[01GT Eibach]

Yes, and there are more visible issues even beyond the ones already named. Dare I ask how much he paid for it?

 

[AJK1]

This is exactly the reason why I'm so rabidly against the existence and importation of these illegal Chinese knockoffs. Because the first buyer of them almost certainly knows he's getting a knockoff, but once it becomes a used guitar, all bets are off. The next buyer may not know and the seller may not be honest or bother to tell the truth. And that's when you end up with someone paying many hundreds or even thousands of dollars more for a guitar that's worth very little.

And why people should not buy them, especially people on this site…

 

[LesPaul60sTribute]

As blatantly fake as I have ever seen - they didn’t even try ….

 

[Cjsinla]

Yes, and there are more visible issues even beyond the ones already named. Dare I ask how much he paid for it?

He says $1800

 

[John Vasco]

That serial number, 00170, is up there as a blatant fake alongside 02005.