Gibson guitars on e-bay

[The Big G]

Guys,

So many Gibson guitars on E-bay manufactured in china, they are all shockingly cheap but has anyone plunged in and bought one? Are they the real deal or what.

Let me know your thoughts and any info you have on this influx of cheap gibbo's.

cheers

G

[jbote]

They are fakes, and they are all over the place on EBay right now. You can buy one for less than $10 but they charge you close to $400 for shipping, which is where they get your money.

 

Caveat emptor.

[The Geoff]

I've been told that in China, the State takes a huge whack of the profit of the money charged for the actual price of the item, but can't touch the P&P charge, so these guys make their profit from the P&P.

 

I don't mind that, but I do object to their items being declared as genuine.

 

I'm sure that some of these guys could actually turn out some pretty decent copies, if they'd only acknowledge them as such.

 

Some of the Chinese stuff is pretty good - look at 'Richwood Guitars' on Ebay UK.

 

G.

[miroslav]

Yeah...but who's making the fakes?

 

I mean..it's not something you are gonna' do in your basement all too easily.

You still need decent manufacturing equipment to make 'em...especialy if you are gonna' do it cheaply.

 

Heck....aren't Epiphones fake Gibsons too?

[B3Nut]

From all the Epiphone boxes showing up in the product pictures, it's tempting to hazard that whatever factory is churning out the MIC Epiphones is also churning these out on the sly for other customers. The Korean-made Epis were OEM'd by Samick, so whoever Gibson has tapped for their China OEM could well be involved in making these "replicas" in some way. The CNC programs would pretty much already be there, except for headstock shape, and working up a 2nd program for the CNC machine can't be too involved, relatively speaking.

 

I predict nothing really will be done, the government won't make China do squat, since they hold a frightening amount of our debt. They've got us by the nads now...

 

Todd in Beerbratistan

[fantasticsound]

First, Gibson does not make guitars in China, although they contract others to build some Epiphones.

 

I beg to differ, B3Nut on the Chinese government not assisting us in cracking down on these pirates. The government of China has been very helpful to U.S. businesses fighting fraud by Chinese manufacturers. Shure, Inc., hardly a large company outside our niche industry, cracked down on Chinese copies of SM58's several years ago. It was only with the help of the Chinese government that this was possible.

 

Whatever is happening there, I would not think the manufacturer contracted to build Chinese Epi's is involved. A former employee of said company may have stolen CNC data to sell to a ripoff company, but the consequences for the Epi partner would be to great for such blatant stealing to go on without a vocal, serious fight.

 

If the government of China wants continued investment by U.S. companies in their country they know they must crack down on merchandise fraud.

[jazzmanplayer]

Alright guys and girls.... I plunked down my money for a China Joe Perry!!! Here's my initail thoughts. Booked matched maple top, mahogany body, real mop inlays, 4 day delivery, same weight as any LP standard, needs professional setup, beautiful... I mean awesome finish. $263 with shipping!!!!! These are way better than the first Ibanez copies. I just sold an Ibanez LP on Ebay. Watch out Gibson. And yes I have owned many of the real gibsons in my 35 years of playing.

[WornNeck]

I believe Gibson has endorsed the manufacture of LP and SG copy guitars that are marketed as their "Signature" line. They are made in China, dirt cheap and sold in places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

I could be wrong, but I doubt major chain stores could get away with selling out and out "fake" Gibsons for very long.\

 

I could be all wet too.

[Zuben]

Has eBay cracked down on these CHINA guitars? I remember a couple of months ago seeing several of them but I just arrived back home a few days ago and have had time for surfing eBay. I don't see them anymore.

 

Peace

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Originally posted by Zuben:

Has eBay cracked down on these CHINA guitars?

I don't think they have the time. There must be LOTS of fake things on eBay (and the jewellery section is rife with copies at insanely low prices). They'd need a huge team of evaluers in order to keep track of everything, and they'd have to stop the auctions while they did their checking too. It just wouldn't work. And can you imagine the possibilities for skullduggery? Say I ran an online guitar shop... I could put my competitors out of business (temporarily, perhaps) by simply reporting them all as pirates to eBay.

 

 

One time, though, I came across an ad for some Brit guys that would make whatever Fender copy you wanted and they'd, very obligingly, even make a perfect "Fender" decal for the headstock.

 

I sent a link to Fender Europe and the ad was gone within a couple of hours. I think eBay relies on the actual companies taking an interest in chasing down the pirates.

 

To tell you the truth, I was kinda hoping that Fender would show its bloody gratitude by offering me a guitar of my choice, but all I got was a thank you e-mail from their legal department.

[Warthog]

It's one thing to make an LP-type guitar and another thing to make a copy. I would not buy a copy if you paid me. Not because they aren't ok guitars, but because these companies are breaking US copyright laws, stamping "Gibson" on the headstock, and trying to pass off their crap as genuine. Besides being illegal, there's just something that eats at my core about cheaters, copycats, and swindlers. Save your $$ and buy a real Gibson or Epi...

[Junior 1]

If you can't afford a Gibson, and you want a nice LP copy, just go to Rondo for a nice Agile.

[Hardtail]

Originally posted by Junior 1:

If you can't afford a Gibson, and you want a nice LP copy, just go to Rondo for a nice Agile.

Hey Junior, it looks like they moved from New Jersey to New Hampshire. Bummer. I was going to try to make my way to their NJ place one of these days. NH is just a little too far though.

[Rhino Madness]

Originally posted by Warthog:

It's one thing to make an LP-type guitar and another thing to make a copy. I would not buy a copy if you paid me.

Isn't it ironic that the last big resurgence in popularity for the Gibson Les Paul came about through the fake copy played by Slash?

 

Since it turned out in their favor big time, Gibson didn't mind either and even offered a Gibson Les Paul Slash model.

 

Not because they aren't ok guitars, but because these companies are breaking US copyright laws, stamping "Gibson" on the headstock, and trying to pass off their crap as genuine.

Agreed: copies are illegal. Agreed also about the cheaply done copies being all around bad business. Also agreed for that matter that any copy being sold off as the genuine article and not identified as a copy is completely fraudulent.

 

However, some skilled luthiers handbuild copies that are better than most of the genuine ones (and they are probably at least as expensive as the genuine ones) but this is a different issue. In the example above, it turned out to be great for everyone involved.

 

Besides being illegal, there's just something that eats at my core about cheaters, copycats, and swindlers.

I'd like to add the legal cheaters to that list as well. Big corporations that crank out sub-par products and sell them at a premium because they own the name are also cheating their customers. I however don't mind the premium when the quality is there.

[Junior 1]

I called there last week, because I picked up my son in Virginia this past weekend and thought I would make a side trip. They said they were closing and only taking web orders till Christmas. They didn't say they were moving! Bummer!!! The Agiles are real nice guitars and even the SX ones are good, if you can do a setup.