“Ink Blue” ? Les Paul Standard Copy

December 28th, 2009

“GIBSON LES PAUL STANDARD INK BLUE TOP GUITAR” Condition: NEW

and it sold for $1900 in Australia!!! At first glance it looks very legit, appears to be a one of the limited edition colors from a while back, lighter than Manhattan Blue, more like on those fake Epiphones… uh oh.

blueylp
A very convincing copy, the case is one giveaway as you would expect the correct case to come with a new guitar, this guitar also has the “gibson” decal on the pot cavity cover which is never seen on a real Gibson. The seller states in the ad that it was a gift 6 months ago, so perhaps they didn’t know it was a fake. A message was sent to them encouraging them to double check it’s authenticity and not to rip off an unsuspecting buyer but sadly it appears that it was ignored.

bluey headstock

The main giveaways, as usual, lie in the headstock. The truss rod cover had several things wrong with it. It could be blank. or it could have Standard printed on it, but not Les Paul standard. The shape of the headstock is close to the genuine article but the placement of the Gibson logo, (which should be mother of pearl inlay, not a block color decal) is off, as is the font used as the Les Paul signature, though very subtly.

The frets should not travel over the binding, this is common on fakes, it could be argued that the guitar had had a re-fret but this guitar is listed as new, (well, 6 months old, which would not require a re-fret).

Fake Lefty ES335

December 15th, 2009

lefty335main

The classic shape of the ES335, sort of. The body shape is a little off with the inward curve appearing to be in too far though this could be because the horns are a little long. The other signs of it’s non-authenticity, (if that’s even a word) are that the pots placement is way off their intended position, the funky tailpiece is not usually found on the Gibson original and the pick guard should not be single ply, (though the shape of it is not as bad as on this one). Also of note is the odd headstock inlay that kind of looks like a cheap knockoff of the Traditional Flowerpot found on the L-5, (amongst others). This particular guitar also had no MADE IN USA or serial number stamped into the back of the headstock like many of the other fakes on Fibsons.com.

lefty335head
Along with those pertinent to this model, other irregularities found on most fake Gibson guitars are also present; The frets go over the top of the binding, the headstock shape is a little off, it has a three screw truss rod cover (that is completely the wrong shape) and the Gibson logo is wrong, (for this model).