Counterfeit Gibsons making the news

[oakforest5961]

 

https://apnews.com/article/fake-gibson-guitars-shipped-los-angeles-port-624705ba0ca647552b000f04e17cbaea

 

I'm not surprised at there being counterfeit guitars made, but I was fairly wide eyed at the scale of this haul.

[Beedster]

You can bet there’s a lot more out there than those Gibsons

[Reggaebass]

Wow, that’s quite a haul 

[Beedster]

I often wonder how many of the basses out there are fake, despite the owners believing that they’re 100% genuine. Copying, as well as relicing/aging are now so easy to do, and the impulsivity and emotionality of many buyers of vintage instruments means that we often accept very limited evidence when buying a ‘dream’ instrument ?

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Wow, that’s quite a haul 

 

Ironic that the main picture in the news story features a Gretsch  ( links to Fender ). 😆

[SurroundedByManatees]

11 hours ago, Beedster said:

I often wonder how many of the basses out there are fake, despite the owners believing that they’re 100% genuine. Copying, as well as relicing/aging are now so easy to do, and the impulsivity and emotionality of many buyers of vintage instruments means that we often accept very limited evidence when buying a ‘dream’ instrument ?

On the Gibson story: It could well be that they are very non-authentic looking and are recognizable as fakes with just a little bit of knowledge. As they are probably cheap as chips guitars with a fake logo.

 

All the fake Fenders (most seen as easiest to "fake") I've seen had at least 5 aspects that didn't match with a real one. Maybe a good luthier built bass (Nash per example) could fool at first sight. But those don't come in thousands.

 

The vintage stuff is another story. 

 

Edited yesterday at 07:20 by SurroundedByManatees

[Beedster]

45 minutes ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

On the Gibson story: It could well be that they are very non-authentic looking and are recognizable as fakes with just a little bit of knowledge. As they are probably cheap as chips guitars with a fake logo.

 

All the fake Fenders (most seen as easiest to "fake") I've seen had at least 5 aspects that didn't match with a real one. Maybe a good luthier built bass (Nash per example) could fool at first sight. But those don't come in thousands.

 

The vintage stuff is another story. 

 

 

I agree, most are easy to spot, but that's true of all deception really. But given in nearly areas of art, engineering, tech, where there are a small number of fakes that even experts struggle to find the flaws that determine it's not the real deal, there must be at least a couple of 'bad Nash/bad Limelight' type luthiers out there?

[SurroundedByManatees]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I agree, most are easy to spot, but that's true of all deception really. But given in nearly areas of art, engineering, tech, where there are a small number of fakes that even experts struggle to find the flaws that determine it's not the real deal, there must be at least a couple of 'bad Nash/bad Limelight' type luthiers out there?

Yeah who knows, this could totally be the case. Though it would be a costly thing to fake a pre-cbs Fender well, with brazilian fretboard and convincing pickguard. 

 

In the "best" scenario they haven't been discovered yet. 

 

[SurroundedByManatees]

Maybe it would be educative to open a topic about forgeries that people come across. It can be helpful for a lot of people I can imagine.

[Woodinblack]

44 minutes ago, Beedster said:

But given in nearly areas of art, engineering, tech, where there are a small number of fakes that even experts struggle to find the flaws that determine it's not the real deal, there must be at least a couple of 'bad Nash/bad Limelight' type luthiers out there?

 

Indeed, of the 643 Gibson '59 Les pauls that were made I think they have only managed to trace 2,000 of them

[Dad3353]

Some copies are bought by the unsuspecting as 'original', paying the retail price (or close to it...); these are a loss of sales to the original makers. Others are bought at 'knock down' prices, and are known to be fake by the buyer, who would not, probably, have bought an original in any case, so no loss of sale. These latter may be 'damaging' to the reputation of the original maker if they are shoddy; often enough these fakes are, indeed, as good as, or better, than the model they are copying, at least from a player's point of view. There are 'fake' Rics out there that are searched for as being better than a real one (and are now even more expensive to buy..!). Just sayin'. 

[Hellzero]

4 hours ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

Maybe it would be educative to open a topic about forgeries that people come across. It can be helpful for a lot of people I can imagine.

I've done a similar process here with some vintage Fender basses, telling people that what they are selling is not what they pretend to be.

 

And some established names are also selling fakes and don't know the exact specifications of what they are selling also pretending that it's fully original.

 

The answer is always the same: Mind your own business!

 

So why bother...

[kodiakblair]

6 hours ago, SurroundedByManatees said:

The vintage stuff is another story. 

Well the USA had a healthy cottage industry in the 70s knocking up 'Fenders' for unsuspecting Japanese buyers. 

 

Poetic justice if traffic now flows the other way 👍

 

Far as the main story goes. Fake drugs  flood into the USA every day, nice to know theirs customs folk are concentrating on consumer goods rather than the health of their citizens. 

[spongebob]

Came from the factory without defects…..clearly a fake Gibson! 😇

[tauzero]

3000 fake Gibsons etc would be about £500k to buy from AliExpress, so should their worth be the cost price or the price of equivalent Gibsons?

 

Anyroadup, a large shipment like that is surely going to a retailer rather than to individuals. I wonder if the intended buyer will ever be revealed.