Would you buy this guitar if...

Would you buy this guitar if you knew that it was Chinese-made almost-new Gibson LP?



If yes, how much would you pay for it given that it comes with an OHSC, frets have absolutely no wear and there is nothing wrong with it?

Does it have a copied Gibson headstock logo? I might avoid that, just on principal.

Otherwise, I guess that it would depend on how the pickups sounded, and how it "felt". Some of the Asian copies can be pretty good, A copy made on a good day in China can certainly be as good or better than a Gibson made on a bad day in the real Gibson factory. They've been known to pinch off a few stinkers.

Probably worth a couple hundred bucks.

Dave

I assume you mean a Gibson Les Paul copy, but I'm confused... the picture is of a hollow-body guitar.

I know a kid who has one of those in blue. Nice playing guitar, though every piece of metal on it is Garbage. The body was not very good, either.

The kid brought it over to my studio because the sound was being interrupted by 'something'. He thought it was his cable, but it was a the guitar's jack POS jack plug. Very low tensile strength. The body wood was stripped where the screw holes for the jack plate attached to the body, too.

The metal tuneamatic saddles are made out of pot metal, too.

The kid paid 400 for it, though a friend bought one in a pawn shop for 100.

That's all I know.

As far as I know it is a Gibson made on their Chinese factory in Qing Dao. The headstock logo is that of a Gibson.

This is my first guitar which I bought here, in Blagoveschensk. It cost me (don't laugh) $600. Now I'm trying to sell it locally with no luck so far.

You're right on the metal parts being garbage. I have a one-off Ovation electric (which I'll show off later) that has gold tuners, pickup covers and every screw on it is gold with nut being brass. The color and the texture of those metal parts on Ovation blows this cheap "Gibson" out of the water. Granted it was a closet queen but still all metal parts on Chinese "Gibson" look really pale in comparison.

Unless I'm mistaken, all Gibsons marked as Gibsons are made in the USA. Anything coming out of China is a fake. I know there are a lot of these fakes on eBay that go so far as stamping "Made in USA" on the headstock. Does yours have the made in USA stamp, or does it actually say it is made in China? Also, Les Paul are solid bodies, not hollow, or semi-hollow.

Sorry.

AcornHouse said:

Unless I'm mistaken, all Gibsons marked as Gibsons are made in the USA. Anything coming out of China is a fake. I know there are a lot of these fakes on eBay that go so far as stamping "Made in USA" on the headstock. Does yours have the made in USA stamp, or does it actually say it is made in China? Also, Les Paul are solid bodies, not hollow, or semi-hollow.

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It does have "Made in USA" stamped on the back of the headstock. However I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Chinese fake. Isn't this one technically a semi-hollow what with the f-holes and all?

You know, if you like it, play it! The one I played was a nice feeling guitar, though I didn't crank it up.

I'd price out changing all the hardware and the wiring. Do you have a good guitar repairman? In the USA, the parts would cost you $200 for a nice set of pickups, the pickup selector switch, good wiring, potentiometers, jack plug, tuners, etc. In fact, the tailpiece and tuneamatic would probably make the price go a lot higher.

Man, if I had to do it a little at a time, I'd change the jack plug, then see if you can find some saddles that will fit that bridge that weren't made out of pot metal. I would be really gentle with the potentiometers, because they'll probably wear out quickly. The pickups sounded okay, maybe they should stay for a while. Be careful with the screws when you change parts that are screwed into the body. I think that maybe part of the problem is that part of the body is made of cheap laminate and the screws holes can get messed up easily.

Good luck, we've all bought things before that we shouldn't have. Welcome to the Club, Russian Guy!!!

Regards, Harry

Russian Guy said:

It does have "Made in USA" stamped on the back of the headstock. However I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Chinese fake. Isn't this one technically a semi-hollow what with the f-holes and all?

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F-holes are considered hollow bodies, with a variant being the through-neck types which are supposed to reduce feedback like ES-335's and a couple of the Guild Starfire typers (3's and 4's is it?). I think those are also called semi-hollow, but there are also "chambered" guitars.
Les Pauls (at least the original version) have solid bodies, but there are Guild versions of that style (Bluesbirds) whose body has been routed out to make "chambers" which increase sustain in those instruments, but the tops are closed.

There is no Chinese Gibson factory. It's a forgery, plain and simple. To answer the question, no, I would not buy it. There seems to an epidemic of these fake "Gibsons" out there at this time

AcornHouse said:

Also, Les Paul are solid bodies, not hollow, or semi-hollow.

Sorry.

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There are chambered Les Paul's, and many 90's to now are weight relieved by drilling holes in the mahogany. Here's a pic of one with the maple cap removed...

'

RussB said:

There are chambered Les Paul's, and many 90's to now are weight relieved by drilling holes in the mahogany....

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Yes, but chambered solid bodies are still considered solid bodies unless there is a hole going into the chamber, like the Fender Teles with the open f-holes.

(semantics is my life! )

Russian Guy said:

AcornHouse said:

Unless I'm mistaken, all Gibsons marked as Gibsons are made in the USA. Anything coming out of China is a fake. I know there are a lot of these fakes on eBay that go so far as stamping "Made in USA" on the headstock. Does yours have the made in USA stamp, or does it actually say it is made in China? Also, Les Paul are solid bodies, not hollow, or semi-hollow.

Click to expand...

It does have "Made in USA" stamped on the back of the headstock. However I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Chinese fake. Isn't this one technically a semi-hollow what with the f-holes and all?

Click to expand...

How many screws holding the truss rod cover in?

Pretty funny about weight relieved Les Pauls. Just a few years ago when people were buying vintage Pauls the big thing was finding a light one. Now that Gibson is making 'em lighter by chambering and drilling holes in them, many are now pining for the old heavies!

'83 onwards LP's are weight relieved (cheese holes).
'06 onwards chambered.

The 'new' standard is chambered and missing characteristics of earlier guitars so they brought out the traditional which is unchambered but cheesed. They're apparently popular and some of the tops look nice.

I still think they're pining for lighter guitars, all the reissues are strictly 8-9lbs, there's just a bit more love for Norlin era.

P.S. That's a counterfeit guitar. They're everywhere on ebay and lots of suckers to boot. Apprently Chinese authorities are aware of the problem and turning a blind eye.
Post up a pix of the headstock.

Thank you for the answers, guys. I appreciate the input. I don't really care for this guitar which is why it is on consignment back at the store that it was bought at. Therefore I can't post pictures of the headstock. I don't think that it's gonna sell for even the half of what I payed for it.

As Harry (gilded) said: "we've all bought things before that we shouldn't have". The pickups sound soulless and bland when distorted. It is OK when played straight through. But my main beef with it is its body shape. Don't get me wrong Les Paul is a fine looking guitar but when it's a genuine solidbody all the way through. On of my acquaintances actually helped me choose my first guitar and I made a mistake buying a $600 fake. I should have bought a much cheaper counterfeit (think $200 at most). The amp that I bought with it is a Chinese made Epi Valve Special which sounds OK without any effects but is not diverse by any stretch of the imagination. I also purchased a Boss DynaDrive pedal which seemed like a pretty good choice at the time.

This thread is gradually turning into confession :lol:

Anyway I might have been spoiled by US-made guitars. Recently I bought another amp which is a solid state amp with all analog circuit, Tech 21 Trademark 60 which is also US-made. It is a 2-channel amp which is far superior than the tube Epiphone in pretty much every aspect starting from sound, diversity of tones, power, looks and weight. Plus it doesn't require replacing the tubes.

To sum it up, now I'm thinking of selling this whole "amateur gear set". However I'm not sure if I'll succeed.

Well, the closest I come is in buying copies of PRS semi-hollows. This is my 3rd. First was a Schecter C1-E/A which was really nice with 2 hums and a piezo, but the neck was like a roller coaster and I didn't know about being able to level the frets back then. Next was a Tradition brand. Fort Worth distributor and the guitar looked exactly like another Schecter I saw in a used guitar shop. Played well but I could never get rid of some kind of mechanical buzzing. This one is a Dillion DR450, which is a little bit lighter, with a maple top and mahogany body. Could use a little fret leveling, but otherwise, has been excellent. All were bought used and all came out of Korea. I suspect one factory makes all of these plus PRS SE's.



If I ran across one that actually said PRS on the headstock, I think I'd run.

Hello Russian guy,

I'd question the actual store who sold this to you, a respected music store should not sell fakes. Which in this case, I can confirm with our LTG friends, that this is a fake because Gibson does not have a factory in china. All gibsons are made in the USA, no exceptions. They do however own epiphone, which I believe are made in Korea now. If u can get $100-$200 youd be lucky to get rid of it.

I just purchased a Les Paul Deluxe (chambered for lighter weight), so I'd highly suggest getting a real LP, an amazing guitar, you can get studio models for $800, which is a basic LP but with all the sound. I've done plenty of research regarding LP's and there was lots of info on how the fakes are getting into the hands of innocent players who can't tell the difference (not saying you can't) It's a real epidemic, and a shame, because there's nothing like a real LP.

I should insert some Guild love here too, nothing like a guild either.

Oh and btw, good luck... Welcome to LTG

Dasvedanya!!

Thanks, kou! Sadly that is the case with this fake LP. But if I am to buy a Les Paul type guitar it would be solidbody Guild M-75. Just gotta get my S-100 fix first.