Spotting a fake Gibson Les Paul

alexmitchell17

Hi guys, just after some advice on buying second hand les Pauls as I'm new to it and have read some scary stuff online about fakes being hard to spot.. 

Legionreturns

If it sounds implausible, it almost certainly is? 

The phrases "Selling this for a mate" , "I don't really know / can't be sure what this is" or "I've lost the CoA" etc are all good alarm bell ringers.

Physical appearances there are lots of different little ways that I've seen. But checking the pots and cavities seems to open a few eyes. Scarf joints on necks, logo too small etc 

crunchman

The poorer fakes have 3 screws on the truss rod covers (it should be two), but these days most fakes probably have that right.  If you do see one with 3 screws then it's definitely wrong.

Strangefan

Price is a factor you don't really find many fakes trying to get top dollar especially with good photos, they will likely be a "bargain' and have crap Pics, also the truss rod cover on fakes usually have the wrongs wording and the serial and made in usa on the back of the headstock are not stamped like originals but are etched quite deep. 

underdog

I'm not saying they don't exist but I'm yet to see a fake with the correct posts in the bridge, they should not have a slot in them. Also nibs over the frets (for most years)

Sparky

Use this forums classifieds. You won't get any hokey stuff here.

stickyfiddle

I wrote a big guide on this once. But the photos are all on photobucket so I can't re-up them here.

Key things to watch for:

• 3-screw truss rod
• knob alignment - imagine a line between the bridge volume and bridge tone knobs - that line should be parallel to the neck 
• Scarf joint on the neck or headstock. Real Gibsons (almost) always have a single-piece neck with little wings on the edges of the headstock. Most fakes get this wrong.
• Bridge posts - most Gibsons have a narrow pin which sits between the bridge and the body. Most fakes have a flat-head screw-adjustment here instead (pic below)
• Nibs! Real Gibsons (except 2015s and some refretted guitars) have "nibs" where the binding meets the end of each fret. Fakes rarely get this right. 

I don't think I've ever seen a fake that gets all of these details right.




Nibs:

mort

Buy a 2015 - I don't think we will ever see fake 2015s.

alexmitchell17

Thank you all for your advice I'm pretty confident the one in looking at is genuine but I'm just nervous because of the amount of money (I've never paid more than £500 for a guitar before) if one of you guys could look at this one for me I'd really appreciate it! https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F292273775334
Annoyingly it's quite far away from me so I didn't want to travel the whole way for it to be a fake!

BloodEagle

That looks spot on (and very nice as well!) - go for it

stickyfiddle

BloodEagle said:

That looks spot on (and very nice as well!) - go for it

This. Looks great!

ICBM

underdog said:

I'm not saying they don't exist but I'm yet to see a fake with the correct posts in the bridge, they should not have a slot in them. Also nibs over the frets (for most years)

There are fakes with both these things correct now, as well as some Gibsons with no nibs.

Another useful 'tell' is the pickup selector switch, which should have a recessed nut with no washer - fakes have a flat nut with a washer - but obviously this is not too hard to change if the seller is determined. (I think there are some legit Gibson models which have a flat nut too, although no washer.)

There are a lot of little details which are too involved to easily condense into a straightforward foolproof 'guide', unfortunately - and as the fakers get better, they will start to correct more of them so it's unwise to place too much store on any one feature. That said, I've never yet seen a fake which has everything right, even from an external inspection let alone some of the internal details.

midlifecrisis

"That said, I've never yet seen a fake which has everything right, even from an external inspection let alone some of the internal details.ICBM said:"

if a fake had everything right, might not be possible to tell its a fake, for someone lake me who couldnt tell a fake les paul from a fake les dawson.

guitars4you

alexmitchell17 said:

Thank you all for your advice I'm pretty confident the one in looking at is genuine but I'm just nervous because of the amount of money (I've never paid more than £500 for a guitar before) if one of you guys could look at this one for me I'd really appreciate it! https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F292273775334
Annoyingly it's quite far away from me so I didn't want to travel the whole way for it to be a fake!

no issues with that - looks Kosher

Legionreturns

That looks lovely! I'd text or copy that number down before eBay ban him for dealing off site though, which they will. 

Worth asking him if he's got the paperwork for it too.  

ICBM

midlifecrisis said:

if a fake had everything right, might not be possible to tell its a fake, for someone lake me who couldnt tell a fake les paul from a fake les dawson.

True, but they're still a long way off that at the moment, even to a non-expert - at least one who has taken the time to read up or compare pics of known genuine ones.

I admit it can be harder in pics, but you won't be fooled by any of them if you can see them in person.

ronnyb

Sometime ago I saw an advert for a Les Paul on the 'for sale' board in my local Spar shop. £600. Rang the phone number and went round to see it. The seller said he had been given it by a mate as payment for some work he had done for him and didn't know much about it. There was no paperwork with it. I'm no Les Paul expert by any means but I've bought and sold quite a few guitars in my time. I'm quite sure it was a fake it just didn't seem right. Couldn't put my finger on it at the time as to why but the finish wasn't good enough and the logo on the headstock wasn't good enough either. I passed it up without even playing it.  

WezV

Sounds genuine

midlifecrisis

WezV said:

Sounds genuine

i love that " given to me by a mate for payment for work done" its like when i was looking at cars private sellers, oh its at my nans place, il meet you in the car park nonsense.

alexmitchell17

Hi guys thanks you so much for all the advice I went and bought the les Paul I posted on here last night and I'm very happy with it! 

Now for the important question with or without scratch plate?! 

https://m.imgur.com/F4RgprE

Legionreturns

alexmitchell17 said:

Hi guys thanks you so much for all the advice I went and bought the les Paul I posted on here last night and I'm very happy with it! 

Now for the important question with or without scratch plate?! 

https://m.imgur.com/F4RgprE

Without! Obviously! 

Even Gibson are finally realising that's a thing. Some of their new guitars come with a clip on now. The one I bought at the weekend came without holes, and a pick guard in the case just in case I wanted to abuse my guitar.