Chinese Martin D-45S FAKE

[stormin1155]

Originally Posted by Bingoccc

Tradetang is an old site that carries all the fakes. Check out this Gibson. You can zoom in or cursor down to see the label. They carry all kinds of guitars. You should never buy them. But some folks will. http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Ne...0-2602120.html For years the item title carried the U.S. makers name. Now they usually hide the headstock and don't name the brand.

Some websites will show pictures of the real thing, but of course, that's not what you get. The picture of this J200 is pretty obviously not of the real thing... the neck is the dead giveaway (scarf joint, no center line, no wings, no fret nibs..).

[MNJack]

To me this is very disturbing, that they apparently are faking the interior logos and serial numbers also.
This picture is from the guitars of china website.

[teleamp]

Is someone faking the Chinese Martins?

There is a CF Martin guitar company in China that has no relationship to the American CF Martin company...

[fazool]

Originally Posted by teleamp

Is someone faking the Chinese Martins?

There is a CF Martin guitar company in China that has no relationship to the American CF Martin company...

Yes - I read that they registered that name. 1) that's not a coincidence and 2) its not an accident. Just like copying the logo and serial number. It's no longer valid to claim ignorance on their part. It is a very deliberate deception and indicative of a society-wide love of counterfeiting, IP theft, fraud, deceit and lies.

[Gibsonstrummer]

Please view this ad:

Custom One Of A Kind D-45 - Acoustic Electric Guitar,
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-guitar/calgar...tar/1034654197

Price: $ 2,475.00

Download the application from the Google Play Store.
http://goo.gl/Hs9Yg

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Judson

I'm not sure why anyone would actually want a "fake" Martin guitar no matter what the cost savings over the real thing. I guess the same folks who would buy a "fake" Rolex watch. Oh well ...

.

Does it make a difference if it doesn't say 'Martin' anywhere on it? Same guitar, but now it's a copy and isn't being passed-off as a Martin.

[teleamp]

Originally Posted by fazool

Yes - I read that they registered that name. 1) that's not a coincidence and 2) its not an accident. Just like copying the logo and serial number. It's no longer valid to claim ignorance on their part. It is a very deliberate deception and indicative of a society-wide love of counterfeiting, IP theft, fraud, deceit and lies.

I'm not condoning it. But, it's not against the law where they are at, just in the USA. Sad, but true, this is why I prefer to buy new from established businesses or used from people I know personally... Bottom line is, buyer beware.

[Chris' Guitar]

I would choose to agree with the poster above. It is not illegal to manufacture a CF Martin guitar of China in China if as been stated and from what I've researched the company owns the rights to said name.
Nor is it a counterfeit or fake Martin. If it doesn't state USA anywhere on it.
Nor is it illegal to copy a shape or style of the product.

I'd buy one for $250 no problem. ..lol but I'd know it was a fake.
What's illegal is when an unscrupulous dude passes off the fake as real by modifying it to show made in USA and gets close to full price for it.
Jmho. Take it or leave it.

Chris

[Vee_Voe]

Those site which sell the Chinese fake are known to post up photos of the genuine guitar, the guitar that they send you will be vastly different. There's a lad on youtube that did a little video on this exact fake guitar. I'm questionable about his knowledge on acoustics, but it's an interesting watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlJYrT9P8NA

[MD1983]

My viewpoint on this is: If I handle the fake guitar, and neither my eyes nor ears nor hands can tell that it's not a real D-45, then I deserve what I get. And if I'm buying it online on faith, then that's also on me. Not that there shouldn't be laws against this; I just mean, at the end of the day, there's only one time-tested law: caveat emptor!

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by MD1983

My viewpoint on this is: If I handle the fake guitar, and neither my eyes nor ears nor hands can tell that it's not a real D-45, then I deserve what I get. And if I'm buying it online on faith, then that's also on me. Not that there shouldn't be laws against this; I just mean, at the end of the day, there's only one time-tested law: caveat emptor!

I agree to an extent, but if you've paid, what, $300 for a pretty decent guitar you can't really lose. I mean, someone would have to be naive beyond belief to think they're getting a genuine D-45 for that price.

[Bear Davis]

I'm sure this site has been reported to both Martin and Taylor long ago but they currently sell counterfeit guitars from both companies. Just do a search for either.

http://www.aliexpress.com/

I was surfing craigslist and saw an ad that said in all caps DONT BE FOOLED and it had this website listed.

Unfortunately an unsuspecting buyer responded to a guy on craigslist for a 914ce that was only 1500 bucks in mint condition but no case... They described how it didn't play or sound the way it should have but they went ahead with the purchase and discovered it was a fake from the above website. Of course the person who sold it to them can no longer be reached.

I looked through several of their pics and at certain angles they look convincing, but other shots are dead giveaways as fakes. The most obvious is the Fishman pickup for the taylors. The serial numbers are complete BS as well. Just a bunch of random numbers.

Here is their 914ce lol

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/prod...719147444.html

[Gasworker]

Chris Martin wrote an article in one of the Magazines crtizing Chinese manufacturing and it wasn't well received here. The thread got closed.
As far I am concerned people who knowingly sell or buy fakes are as guilty as those who make them.

[seannx]

Originally Posted by fazool

Yes - I read that they registered that name. 1) that's not a coincidence and 2) its not an accident. Just like copying the logo and serial number. It's no longer valid to claim ignorance on their part. It is a very deliberate deception and indicative of a society-wide love of counterfeiting, IP theft, fraud, deceit and lies.

While I agree with most of the above, I wouldn't characterize it as a society wide love. More like business as usual. Buyer beware is the key thing to know regarding MIC goods. What we think of as normal business ethics doesn't exist in China. That's not to say that good products can't be made there, and be accurately represented, but the reverse is often the case. Some don't like to hear this, and consider it China bashing.

[J-55]

Lots of em out there. I walked into a well known guitar retailer. ( no names mentioned) they had an unusual looking gibson for 900$. Looked ok from afar but when I got up close I could really tell this was a knock off. The headstock was almost identical to the china made fender beginner acoustics. The label read sj45 custom deluxe! Lol.
The interior wood looked like it had been made with matches covered in wood glue.
I actually went out and told the guys working there. You guys will get in trouble for selling that to somebody. They all kinda looked at each other with a worried look in their eyes. Somebody had obviously took that instrument in there and sold it to the store. For the life of me I don't know how the place let that one end up on their shelves.
It actually sounded fairly decent which was the jokes punch line!
Think they shipped it back to Gibson in the end.
There are sites all over the web now selling them. One actually turns up on my FB quite a lot as a sponsored ad.
Scary. Some people work hard and could easily be robbed out of hard earned money. If I were to end up shelling out 1500$ upwards, I would hit the roof if I found it was a dud.