I'm sure you can buy one on eBay right now. See 'em all the time.

 

So that's where my Aliexpress order is at!!!

;o)

 

Sure, just dial 1-800-CALLFBI and quote the phrase "Can I have my coke filled guitars back please" and you will be put through to one of the friendly operators who will assist you with your order

 

LOL. Ok.......spending 3k for a U.S. Gibson. You're saying that if I receive a $200 POS guitar through the post, it's just a piece of wood and no big deal? gtfoh! :-D

 

New or used. I bought (pre-ordered) a new DX7 from Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center (Wheaton, Maryland) & was told when it arrived that it could be from the black market. Genuine, just not from Yamaha distribution. I tool it on the stipulation that they cover any warranty issues for repair and, give complete refund or verified authentic replacement if there was a customs/justice department action.

One possible way to CYA is to contact the manufacturer with the serial & tracking numbers along with the retailer/seller info for verification.

Edit:
Just read the article. Gibson has an online verification form. Hopefully it is accurate.

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2024

Ibanez became well known for making very good replicas that were close but, not one-to-one copies with equal or better sound & build quality. I even preferred the Japanese made Kramer guitars over the U.S made ones.

 

“If a guitar is being sold for a fraction of what it would typically sell for, it is likely not a real Gibson guitar,” the site states.

so the key to not getting caught is to sell them for the same price as the real ones.

 

I don't want to be rude but most of the time things produced not in the US are better workmanship IMHO. I don't know what the problem is either. But perhaps the path that apple is taking, "designed in California, produced in China", is not the worst one

 

CNC production for turning lumber into guitar bodies, has remove the "craftmanship" needed in producing high quality guitars. The remainder is mostly 50 year old or older electronics. hum buckers or single coils, pots,capacitors etc are relatively ancient technology. The only thing the big players bring is trustworthy,dedicated distribution chains and advertising. The electric guitar has not changed much since the 1960's.

The margin on name brand guitars is incredible allowing billion dollar corporations like Fender to buy up most of the music business, take what they want for future products and sell off the husks after gutting them.

if I was going to spend 2k$ on a guitar, I'd go with a hand made model by a trusted luthier, not a big name fender or gibson etc. I'd give him a guitar i like to use as a starting point, ie scale length, neck radius, etc. we'd work together on making a one off. Thats a guitar that would be worth a couple of thousand dollars to me, not yet another fender strat in a different color,etc.

the guitar market is mostly cookie cutter copies of the past. nothing wrong with that, the old guitar could be very good.its just they can now be made by mostly robots and computers and their inherent value has therefore dropped, but the old companies like the big revenue streams...

 

I bought a China made explorer ubuild kit a few months ago (Leo Jaymz). Was so much fun. Customized it to my specs. I did this after playing a $14k Can "historic" piece of crap at the local dealer. 14k ? For orange peel finish, wrong neck angle (should be 2.7 for original 50s spec and was the 3+ of the 70s reissues. Tells me they used the same tools for the regular 3k one. Lol)? No thanks. My kit was $200 bucks, upgraded bridge, proper wiring, better switch, tools to build and gun oil finish ( laquered the headstock black no logo for now cause I can't find a waterslide dragon to put there.), I ended up at about $400. Need to do a upper partial fret dressing for a high fret, but more than happy with the results. Fender and Gibson pricing is way out of hand. I worked for a major retailer about 12 years ago and a lp custom was about $3k Can. Now they are $10k, and the qc is still a total joke. Pardon my French, but F*** OFF to both of you and your money grabbing shareholders......

People forget, Ming vases come from China......

 

Last edited: Nov 28, 2024

Not rude at all. Just the truth sometimes concerning overall craftsmanship/quality. At a Pro shop that I co-managed, we sold more versions of the Japanese Charvel/Jacksons & Fenders than anything else (customer choice).

With the savings I would guitars to a local luthier to as an example:

• change to preferred pickup choice & layout if needed
• level & dress frets as need
• change tuners if needed

This while still being a third or more less expensive than the unsatisfying U.S. model. Never had an issue with maintaining resale either.

 

Damn, I bought 3 thinking it was just a Black Friday deal…

 

There are still idiots, lots and lots of idiots, out there who believe that a genuine Gibson is a genius piece of work and needs voodoo wisdom to build them ... facepalm. Gibson rips people off since they started the business. They can't have competition on their turf. The "counterfeit" making companies proof Gibson is a fraud with their pricing. And Gibson of course makes use of all the idiots that don't know shit about making guitars and believe in Gibson being Gods.

Summary: Facepalm.

 

good, and only china ll do that

 

Copies of popular guitars has been around since the early 1960's some were poorly made but then there were others that were really good and are collectable... but they never put the names of the official company on them, that really wasn't an issue then, Later in the early 1970's Gibson was sold to Norlin if I remember right, and their quality really dropped, enter Univox and several other Japanese made Guitar copies certain versions of these guitars were much better made than Gibson and they lost sales, enter the lawsuit LP Copies, because their quality was superior and in some cases exceptional, these were the lawsuit copies, there are still some around with a fairly good market value for them. Then we get into China's Guitar copies it was mostly mass produced lookalikes with very low quality in the beginning, but later changed and started making much better instruments but infringed on the Gibson, Fender logos, but then, don't forget they were also manufacturing low end copies for Gibson, Fender, parent companies and several other name brands also, and then the fact that several old defunt guitar companies were resurrected and their guitars models returned because of China's prices, improved quality, and the resurgence of interest in these old guitar brands. The legality of copyright is in the domain of lawyers, and not in my area of expertise or opinion, so it is up to the courts to decide, the only thing I believe is environmental waste, instead of burning or destroying these guitars they should be given freely to young underpriviledged and poor school children for their music programs perhaps brand the headstocks with "illegal copy not for resale" or something similar, in a world full of waste this would be an infinitely better solution.

 

In the case of these counterfeit guitars, it is actually trademark infringement. Not copyright infringement.

 

Seems like such a waste - destruction was not the only option.
Could have easily rebranded them and given them to disadvantaged school kids or underfunded music programs.

 

mostly true, but without Gibson, there would be no Gibson copies. It is a holy grail, the quest is most important, the goal is intangilble a dream object that never existed.

a siren crashing ships of wallets upon the rocks of reality, the island of Les Paul, the voluptous female shaped ES-335 begging for your caress, the devil horns of the Les Paul Double Cutaway, an altar for the sacrifice of tender fingertips. A world without Gibson, would be bereft of all this and more. it was the Goddess/Mother/Whore that birthed Fender guitars, the fever dream of a radio repairman in Fullerton California, who deconstructed the electric guitar and rebuilt it into an object that could do as much and more with so much less.

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2024

Ok, then they have to do this slowly and sadly with accompaniment of George Harrison's song When My Guitar Gently Weeps

 

I agree with you. it is a VERY big deal. No idea why people downplay this. if you're under the assumption that you are getting a certain product and you receive a knock off fake, you were Scammed. How is that not a big deal? Whatever the price! even if you just paid $200. if the article is not what was agreed upon at the time of the contract, then you were scammed. but sure, go ahead and play it like it's nothing. next time you order a cofee and someone gives you tea: hey that's life. no big deal.