#1
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How Do You Spot Fake Guitars?
I think pawn shops and Craigslist can easily advertise knock offs as originals. Like if they have a new Les Paul for $750, I doubt that it's a real Gibson. I've even seen Esteban guitars disguised as other things.
One of my favorite things to look at are the grain lines in the sound hole to see if it's solid or laminated. I'm wondering what you look at to spot fake guitars. Misspelled logo stickers?
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------------------------------- Emerald Green Wing, Multi Scale Length X10 Emerald Ruby Cross, Multi Scale Length X30 Breedlove Blond Jumbo Yamaha Silent Steel String |
#2
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You really can't rely on misspelling and obvious things. When you have owned enough instruments you can tell what looks right and what doesn't. Fakes need to make a profit to be worth making so they are typically pretty bad in terms of craftsmanship. All the ones I've come across have been cheaply made guitars with a popular maker's label on the headstock. And, it's just obvious because I've owned the real thing. Before I had that experience, I wouldn't have known what to look for.
They aren't a big problem in the acoustic guitar market because the limiting factor is labor. If you paid someone enough to make a fake that's comparable in quality, then there's no point in making a fake, you just make your own line of guitars. |
#3
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If a deal is too good to be true, it's likely a fake.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#4
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Depends on the guitar... wrong font or placement of the headstock decal/inlay, poly finish when it should be nitro, trussrod placement in the wrong spot (e.g. a "Martin" that adjusts at the headstock), paper label where there shouldn't be one (fake Martins in particular), wrong model number for the features, wrong or incorrectly proportioned inlays, wrong tuners, volute when there shouldn't be one or vice versa, wrong bridge shape or proportions, wrong bracing... i could probably think of a couple more if I were to put my mind to it.
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"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan) |
#5
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Pretty easy, really.
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Be curious, not judgmental. |
#6
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Great post GITM! lol
1978, drunk as a skunk at midnight and stumbling around in the streets of Olongapo, Philippines, I stopped in front of a music store window to goggle at some really shiny Fenler Stratocasters. Through the glass (the place was closed) they looked okay, though I never went back and put my hands on one. Recently googled Fenler guitars out of curiosity and didn't find any. But there were some amps, typically sold earlier in the 70s to GIs on leave/heading back to the US from Vietnam. https://reverb.com/item/2460648-fenl...s-black-silver Last edited by tinnitus; 05-13-2024 at 11:23 PM. |
#7
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The layer of wood under the sound hole is there to add protection, and the grain lines won't typically match those on the top. Doesn't mean it isn't a solid top guitar though, or a fake.
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#8
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I would be fairly confident about spotting a fake acoustic. I wouldn't trust myself to spot fake electrics though, there are some convincing fakes of vintage Gibson and Fender models on the market.
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#9
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A good indicator that a guitar may be a fake is the truss rod. Of course you would need to know what the genuine article looks like in the first place. It's unlikely you will be able to tell without inspecting the guitar physically, unless it was blatantly obvious from a photograph.
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#10
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Quote:
But those aren't terribly common. On the other hand, the layers of a laminated top are also plainly visible on many guitars. Quote:
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"What have I learned but the proper use for several tools" -Gary Snyder Bourgeois DR-A / Bowerman "Working Man's" OM / Martin Custom D-18 (adi & flame) / Martin OM-21 / Northwood M70 MJ / 1970s Sigma DR-7 / Eastman E6D / Flatiron Signature A5 / Silverangel Econo A (Call me Dan) |
#11
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They certainly had some great sounding bands in the bars there. In 78/79 I had many missions across the river and drinking orange soda on the way back the next morning. Were you part of that hostage rescue attempt?
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------------------------------- Emerald Green Wing, Multi Scale Length X10 Emerald Ruby Cross, Multi Scale Length X30 Breedlove Blond Jumbo Yamaha Silent Steel String |
#12
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A guy I worked with in the early 80's asked me to go to a pawn shop and check out a D-28 to see if it was a good deal. I walked into the shop and asked about a few guitars but didn't see a D-28. When I asked about the Martin hanging behind the counter he handed it to me and told me it was a great deal on a D-28.
I played it for a few minutes and looked at the neck block to confirm what I knew it was, a D-18. It also had the serial number gouged out and when I pointed out these two glaring issues to the pawn shop owner he took the guitar back and told me to leave his store. My friend didn't buy the guitar, btw. _________________________________________________ In the mid 70's a guy I worked with came back into the plastics plant where we worked and said there was a guy in the parking lot selling Bulova watches. My co-worker had just bought one for $25 and when he showed it to me I told him that the watch said 'Bolivia', not Bulova. He ran outside but the guy was gone. I got a good chuckle out of that one!
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David My Woodworking YouTube channel - David Falkner Woodworking -------------------------------------------- Martin, Gallagher, Guild, Takamine, Falkner |
#13
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They have done a good job of matching up the two pieces, but it is clearly not a single piece of wood. But that makes sense. If a guitar has sound hole reinforcement then leaving the top thicker in that area, to provide reinforcement, means throwing away a lot of premium wood from the rest of the top where it is the normal thickness. It is true, though, that if a guitar doesn't have reinforcement then it's relatively easy to spot a laminated top. |
#14
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Yes, the Sierra Club on Magsaysay Blvd. had some crazy-talented bands. To my knowledge, they weren't playing on the counterfeit "Fenler and Gibson" junk that a plastered Sailor or Marine might buy next door. Though legit gear was probably out of the financial reach of those players, the big club owners could easily cough up a few thousand for real Strats, Les Pauls and various tube-powered stacks. This might keep a smokin' hot house-band in months of indentured servitude, serving up note-perfect Foreigner, Eagles, Boston, Aerosmith, BÖC, Zep, Floyd, Skynyrd, Sabbath concerts every single night in packed clubs (that would give any American fire marshall PTSD). I'll never forget a skinny 5-foot-tall fellow at the Astro Club in platform sneakers playing some freaking serious Daune Allman slide guitar, note for note, adding extended improv solos. I saw all the huge groups that toured in the US back then, and those Olongapo club bands performed some of the tightest live music I've heard anywhere. |
#15
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If you look under the truss rod cover and there is no truss rod... probably a fake.
If Quality is spelled wrong... probably a fake. |