From Andy at Gemini Guitars
“A guitar customer of mine, Steve, has been wanting to get a Les Paul… He called me today to tell me that he bid on one on eBay–a new Gibson LP Standard–and got it for $1500. He paid for it, then for some reason decided to run the SN through Gibson. Fake. Gibson told him that number belonged to a 2000 Sunburst. I asked him to send me the eBay link so I could see if I could figure out it’s a fake. He called the seller, and it sounds like the seller didn’t know it was a fake, and agreed to cancel the transaction.”
Andy continues;
“Things I see:
- TRC is wrong
- open-coil pups
- pots incorrectly spaced and placed
- ?”
“Is the font wrong on the signature? Do you see any other giveaways?”
I think the script style font of the Les Paul signature is wrong, often the case with the cheap Chinese copies. Andy is correct in his other observations.
Other giveaways, the serial number stamp is wrong – Gibson have used the same stamping machine to put serial numbers onto their headstocks since the 8 digit system started. Also the system changed to 9 numbers in July 2005, so a new guitar should have 9 numbers not 8, this serial number points to a guitar made in January 2000. The Gibson logo and open book shape of the headstock are close but wrong. The bridge and stop bar tailpiece are slightly out of line with the fret board, which, due to the technology used today, would never happen on a real Gibson. The tuners appear to be copies of Grovers that you might find on a Les Paul Custom, a new Standard would come with Gibson Deluxe pegs. Spot the usual frets over the binding as well, very common on the fakes.
The previous post touched on people customising/customizing their guitars; This is what Steve wanted to do with the Standard once he got it: HPLP
