Guitar Collector Forum

Gibson has warned that Chinese wholesale websites such as TradeTang.com, DHGate.com and MadeInChina.com are selling fake Gibson and Epiphone guitars at “Super Low Prices”.

The fake guitar problem isn’t new to Gibson, which has made ongoing efforts to remove the counterfeit Gibsons from the websites or shut them down entirely. Gibson’s manager of brand protection Ric Olsen said: “We work diligently to protect the investments of our consumers by taking action against those who sell counterfeit and infringing guitars." “Wholesale product sales sites like TradeTang are clearinghouses for fake guitars. Some of these sites have policies that allow for quick removal of sellers with counterfeits or infringing pieces, but sometimes it takes a long time for a site to respond and sometimes they never respond at all.”

Gibson reports that TradeTang has not responded its legal demands to remove sellers of infringing and counterfeit guitars and continues to blatantly market fake guitars via email spam and Google ads.

So, it's 'buyer beware' and, as usual, if the price seems too good to be true then you can be sure that bargain guitar is a fake!

For questions about a guitar’s authenticity, contact the Gibson Customer Service team at [email protected].

Most fakes are easy to spot, #1 the "G" and the "n" on the headstock will usually be canted to one side and not spaced properly, The lower part of headstock will be larger than the top, and the control knobs will not be in alignment and poorly spaced, Greg.

NOT TRUE! The Chinese are masters at automated manufacturing. Just because you may have seen one that had a bad "Gibson" logo, doesn't mean that's a rule of thumb you can use to spot fakes. For instance you can't use the "three-screw trussrod cover" rule to spot fakes any more, as the Chinese no longer make fake Les Pauls with a three-screw trussrod cover. They're not dumb.

Lately, most fake Chinese guitars are perfect as far as fit and finish go. They are using high quality, solid wood bodies and high-quality finishes. It's the quality of the electronics and the things that need to be done by hand that gives them away. If someone buys a fake Chinese Les Paul, replaces the electronics and does a professional setup on it, it will be almost impossible to spot. Your best bet is to check the serial number with Gibson. If they show the serial number assigned to a different type of guitar, or don't have the SN on file, then it's a fake.

Some things that I have seen recently that give away a fake Les Paul are...

- Serial number embossed on headstock, and then impregnated with white paint. Real Gibson guitars don't do anything to the serial number after embossing it into the headstock.

- Frets are metal end to end and overlap the neck binding. Real Gibson guitars have the frets pressed in before the binding is applied. After machining the neck, the binding is covering the ends of the frets. This is more expensive than applying the binding, machining the fretboard then applying the frets, so the Chinese still go cheap on this... at least until they are forced to do it right. GO to a reputable guitar store and examine the fretwork on a real Les Paul to see what I mean. Now this isn't a solidly valid rule of thumb as re-fretting the instrument will make it look like a counterfeit, so the older the guitar is, the less likely this will hold as a method for spotting a fake.

Oh... and don't think you can spot a fake by pictures posted on EBay. People who send emails to Ebay guitar sellers, telling them that they are peddling fakes, are douchebags and don't do anything to stop the problem. If the seller is peddling a fake, he likely doesn't know and will be highly offended at your attempt to educate him. Your best bet is to educate buyers and the sellers will eventually catch on. Many sellers on EBay are also victims and have been scammed by a pawn-shop customer, who also may not have known his instrument was a fake.

That's why it is important not to buy these guitars, even as "just a practice guitar or studio for myself. I promise I'll never sell it" because you may not have that kind of control. What if you are hit by a bus and your widow sells all your guitars to a local pawn broker? It's best not to support the Chinese counterfeit industry.

There are so many fakes floating around that it's gotten very frustrating. It's like the instrument version of knockoff handbags. I really wished people valued quality over labels. Then they would notice that they're getting a rip off.

This is not enough! "Buyer Beware" is an attitude that harms the legitimate manufacturers. There MUST be a treaty or other governmental action that PUNISHES the vendors of these fakes. That is the only way that these lying countries (ie China) will be motivated to stop ripping off US brands.

I registered a couple of new domain names, "FakeLesPaul.com" and "FakeGuitars.com", and will be setting up a site that can serve as a clearing house, or at least an informational trading post, of illegal, fake Les Pauls. Give me a week or two to get the sites up and then hit them like crazy. Post their domain names on your email signatures and send letters to the editors with the domain names in them. Lets get this issue front and center on the mainstream media!!!

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General Chaud Caliente
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There is. Selling goods which are what what the seller claims is fraud; it's already illegal, and redress is available.

Also, it's not "China" which is lying, it's certain Chinese manufacturers.

Not true. There is no such thing as an independent manufacturer under communism. NOTHING goes on in China without the express or at least implied consent of the government. Sometimes they look the other way, but don't kid yourself. The problem isn't with a select number of rogue manufacturers. It's MUCH bigger than that.

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General Chaud Caliente

I thought China is only faking garments and gadgets, even guitars did not escaped from their minds. I have seen some very low price of Gibson guitars while I was in Hong Kong I did not notice it was fake.

I think Chaud likes saying "not true"

What does that mean? I said that the problem is much bigger than many people think. Others offered the opinion that it is easy to spot a fake, to which I said, "Not True".

The Chinese are very good at automated manufacturing. They are getting better and better at making knockoffs that are harder and harder to tell from the real ones, until you play them. If you disagree and wish to perpetuate the idea that Chinese fakes are easy to spot, then you are doing the American guitar player a real dis-service.

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