Fake Vintage Gibson TV Yellow Junior on eBay

IvisonGuitars

GuitarMonkey;655616" said:

"This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available."

Lets just hope some unsuspecting soul didn't make him an offer off eBay and is therefore knackered when he/she finds out its a dud....

Monstronaut

One of my friends(who is good friends with the seller) brought this guitar round to me tonight to have a look at as I've had a few vintage juniors. It seems the seller bought this in good faith from the states about 3 years ago and has been had. He's removed it from sale to try and get to the bottom of the matter It has a one piece body, a snug fitting tenon(no gaps) and what appears to be a Brazilian board. I had a look in both cavities and had a look at the truss rod. I took some photos which I'll upload when I get the chance. After having a good look I'm still not sure to be honest. The neck has been shaved which would be the main reason for a refin I suppose. If it's an original junior there isn't an original part on there, the headstock veneer has been re-done, its had a re-fret, it was cherry at one point as there is some pink showing through the tenon.

GuitarMonkey

If original, it shouldn't have either a snug-fitting neck joint or a headstock veneer.

Blacksheep

Be interested to see pictures. I feel for anyone who is ripped off. But sadly you run a risk buying vintage if you don't do your research. And the fact this is supposedly a 59 TV but says Junior on headstock should have set alarm bells clanging. It's not easy to distinguish Brazilian rosewood by sight alone. But if it IS, then the original body/neck may be 50s. None of reissues etc have BR and putting a genuine BR fretboard on a forgery would be a very strange thing to do. My guess is it is a fake from top to bottom. If not, and shell is original 50s Junior, your mate's mate might well find some who would take it for restoration. But I reckon he'd be lucky to get a third of what he was asking.

IvisonGuitars

Well, all props to the seller for taking it down before it was bid on my an unsuspecting soul.

Shame he didn't want to believe me and no doubt countless others when it was first listed, dismissing the notion that it was fake immediately, could have saved himself some unnecessary negative press.

But I certainly feel for him, as he obviously has been duped by the original seller.

Bloody vintage guitars are becoming a real minefield now, years ago you could almost be 98% sure that a 50's junior would be without major issue (apart from any obvious signs) as they weren't worth the hassle to fake.

Worryingly, Ive seen a few threads on the net of people taking a 50's single cut Junior and turning it into a more expensive Special. The wood is still original, as is the serial and hardwear, add some neck binding, dirty up the newly exposed wood of the route, refinish and hey presto, the £3k junior turns into an £6k special.

Philly_Q

miserneil said:

Worryingly, Ive seen a few threads on the net of people taking a 50's single cut Junior and turning it into a more expensive Special. The wood is still original, as is the serial and hardwear, add some neck binding, dirty up the newly exposed wood of the route, refinish and hey presto, the £3k junior turns into an £6k special.

I suppose it would be worth the effort, but quite a lot of work involved there - the bridge pickup cavity would need some re-routing, and would the Junior's rear control cavity be completely hidden by the Special's control cavity? 

(I could go and get a couple of guitars out of cases but I'm too lazy...)

GuitarMonkey

You'd also need to add the holly wood headstock facing, pearl Gibson inlay and the Les Paul Special silk screen

IvisonGuitars

GuitarMonkey;664384" said:

You'd also need to add the holly wood headstock facing, pearl Gibson inlay and the Les Paul Special silk screen

I totally agree that would need to be done to make it 100% but as the original guitar in question shows there are plenty of buyers out there who are prepared to take a guitar on a sellers word/face value without researching it properly. Sounds like the DC Junior was imported from the U.S. on pictures and a sellers say so.

There are plenty of uninformed/gullible buyers out there.

ICBM

It's a long story, but that's how I got my Rickenbacker 381 a few years ago… it's a 1989 381V69 reissue, but was sold to its previous owner by an American Ebay dealer as an *original* '69. Luckily he didn't pay too much over the odds for it, although it was not (at the time) the bargain he thought it was. OK, it was in pretty poor condition and could have passed for 40 years old instead of 20, but it has a couple of basic features that should have indicated its true age immediately, even in a full-guitar photo.