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This isn’t always the case however, many fakes will feature bolder, thicker “Gibson” text across the headstock. Again, even if it only has the requisite 2 screws it may still be a counterfeit, you still need to look for the other telltale signs. Gibson has never made a truss rod cover with 3 screws. If it has 3 screws, no matter which orientation, it is almost certainly a fake. A genuine Gibson Les Paul will only ever have 2 screws in the truss rod cover, and they should be vertically aligned, one at the top, one at the bottom. Please do remember that this guide is aimed at providing hints and tips on spotting fakes, and there is no guarantee that a guitar that doesn’t have any of these telltale signs is not a fake – if it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t, and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is! Truss Rod CoverĪn easy first spot is the truss rod cover.
Many of these fakes suffer from the very same inconsistencies and variations from an Original Gibson Les Paul, and that makes them relatively easy to spot. What Are The Signs That Suggest A Gibson Les Paul Is Fake?įortunately, the desire of the counterfeiters to make quick money outweighs their desire to properly research the instruments they are faking. When fakes circulate from the hands of the wholesalers and those who knew what they were buying, into the hands of the innocent guitar shopper, that’s where the real problem arises. These buyers did not purchase these instruments knowing that all they were buying was an open book headstock and some cheap components, and this is the real harm. Even worse, the players who pay what they think is fair market value for a Les Paul, potentially thousands of dollars, and it turns out to be a fake.
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The big problem arises when somebody who isn’t well versed in how to spot a fake sees the deal of a lifetime on Craigslist or Marketplace for their dream Gibson Les Paul, only to later discover that it was a fake, and they have spent hundreds on a worthless counterfeit.
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That is a conscious decision, not necessarily a good one, but one made of free will, nonetheless. If someone is happy to look past the questionable labor, the stolen intellectual property, and the potential stigma of being called out on their knock off, then that’s on them. Others say that it’s marketing gone wrong – Gibson have fueled the desire to have that open book headstock on a guitar to such a point that vanity might drive some players to forego an Epiphone, which is likely of vastly superior quality, just to have a guitar that looks a bit like a Gibson (later you will learn why this isn’t always the case). After all, all but the most basic models are far out of the reach of the average working musician price wise. Some may claim that Gibson’s outlandish pricing structure fueled the rise of the fake Les Paul. What Is The Harm With Fake Gibson Les Pauls? But they don’t only sell to wholesalers, they’ll happily sell you just one of their fake Gibson Les Pauls, or “ Chibson” Les Pauls, as they’re sometimes nicknamed. The more you buy, the cheaper they get per unit, which makes them an attractive prospect to people looking to make a quick buck on eBay or Craigslist. In fact, it’s not just Gibson Les Pauls they sell – imagine any famous guitar, custom, special edition, relic’d, and you’ll find it on these websites. It’s not unheard of for them to appear from other far eastern countries, but large scale e-commerce websites hosted in China are rife with knock off Gibsons.
This is not an attempt to single out any particular nation, however, the vast majority of fake Gibson Les Paul guitars do come out of China.