Could you spot a fake Gibson Les Paul? We would all like to think so. But given that fakes bearing the Gibson logo on the headstock are still circulating, with some $18 million of fake Gibson electric guitars seized by US Customs and Border Protection officers only last November, clearly some can’t.
There is a market for this garbage. People can get hoodwinked – especially when many sales are online. A friend of YouTuber Robert Baker bought a fake Les Paul and Baker decided that this would be a good time to put together a PSA of what to look for.
“I bought this fake Les Paul from a friend of mine who was getting rid of it. I wanted to make you a video showcasing all the little, subtle things that are wrong with these that can help people hopefully not buy these fake Les Pauls balls,” says Baker. “A lot of us have friends who have unfortunately purchased some of these thinking they were real, and it’s just heartbreaking to see someone spend so much money on something that is fake.”
Baker says it took the best part of eight months to put this video together. When you consider the all-star pro team he assembled to pore over the design inconsistencies and tell-tale scenes that his single-cut was a fugazi, you’ll understand why.
There’s only the world’s highest-grossing blues guitar player and vintage guitar collector at large, Joe Bonamassa. Tom Bukovac is onboard to lend his expertise. Then we have the Gibson’s Tom Murphy with fellow Custom Shop alumnus Phil Jones. Joe Glaser and Nick Drushel of Glaser Intruments in Nashville. That’s a lot of expertise. But then, this is a lot of fake guitar to dissect.
The problem, of course, is not restricted to Gibson. That November seizure of counterfeit guitars in November also included Fender, PRS and Gretsch guitars. Knowing the brand is critical. And when Baker’s team get to grips with Exhibit A lying there on the examination table the tell-tale signs are there for all to see. You will no doubt spot some yourself.
Bonamassa doesn’t take a beat before he starts listing out the problems. Murphy is the same. The binding, the knobs, the headstock… None of it adds up.
“There are quality issues and design issues that tell you it’s not even a Gibson,” says Murphy. “I want to see that silkscreen (headstock logo). That’s not even a silkscreen; that’s a decal. This white binding is glaring. I don’t know of any of our Gibson guitars possess that, or have even in the recent past, and these knobs, I don’t know what they are supposed to represent. They are a colour that doesn’t appear anywhere on a real Gibson.”
And that’s just the start. From the body shape to the hardware and the electronics, everything is off.
Spoiler warning: they cut up the guitar. But Baker says it is justified; they wanted to see what this guitar is made of. What are they making these things out of? Well, you can check it the segment above find out – and subscribe to Robert Baker Guitar on YouTube.
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