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Beware of fake guitars

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:06 pm
by Vidar Lund
This Trade Tang thing pops up all over the place nowadays. You may get the best guitars in the world it seems, for a couple of hundred dollars. The guy says it himself: "Your business with me will be a pleasant experience for you. I am dedica to bring joy, safe and top- products for you". If it seems too good to be true it´s because that´s what it is.

http://www.tradetang.com/wholesale-Elec ... 20507.html

Have anyone here bought one yet? They´re genuine Rickenbackers, Fenders, Gibsons and Gretsches according to the pictures. I guess the best thing about them are those pictures. The rest is fake.

Re: Beware of fake guitars

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:44 pm
by PhilHunt
I saw a chinese Gibson Les Paul Goldtop....and I tell ya what..... dang if it didn't look like the real thing ......until I played it. You could tell the pickups are Epiphone and the guitar is somewhat lighter than a real one. The pickups just didn't have that sound like the real Gibson PAFs. Also the tuning keys look like the real deal, but they don't turn as smooth as the real Kluson. For $350 it wasn't bad. Better than paying $2,000-$3,500 for a real one.
There's a whole bunch of the chinese Gibson, Fender copies on ioffer.com.

There's also someone selling a Gibson L-5 copy and a Gibson Super 400 copy. From what I hear....those chinese guys do one hell of a copy job. They come with Gibson cases with all the paper work, tags, and everything. Even serial numbers and stamped made in the U.S.A.
I have to give it to the chinese guys.....they sure do make the finishes and the Gibson headstocks look like the real thing.
I hope the guys who run Pawn shops know they are out there, beacuse if they don't...they are seriously gonna get ripped off. But, then again pawn shops rip people off anyway.......look at the show PAWN STARS. This seems to be the big thing now. I'm surprised Gibson and Fender haven't shut them down.

If you ever read the feedback on some of these chinese companies on ioffer selling the knockoffs, you can tell they rip people off because months go by and the people get the guitar about a month later, never get the guitar.....or they get something totally different from the picture-BUYER BEWARE!

Re: Beware of fake guitars

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:57 pm
by thenorm
Just a thought...

I'm no fan of pawnshops but their purpose is not to be a retail store. They are a place where lower middle class and poor people can try to get a loan quickly by putting up personal property for collateral. The person pawning an instrument is usually not able to borrow money any other way.

The pawnshop owner is not going to give you anywhere near the retail value of the item put up for pawn and the owner of the item is always welcome to try selling it to a music store but there, too, they will be disappointed by what the store will offer on a cash basis. A "brick and mortar" shop needs a healthy markup to conver the overhead of maintaining a business you can just drive to.

A friend once told me 'you can't call yourself a true professional guitarist until you've had your guitar in hock." May be an overstatement but I remember a time when I was in a situation and all I had was my guitar. I hocked it, got 75 for it and paid the man back and got it out of hock a week later.

I guess that makes me a pro.

You want more money for your used guitar? Try an ad in craiglist or e.bay. You may find your opinion of what your guitar is worth is way different than someone else's.

Do I like pawnshops? No. But I needed quick money once and the pawnshop offered a quick solution when I had no other options.

Re: Beware of fake guitars

PostPosted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:51 pm
by Vidar Lund
Norm, I bought my Martin D28 (1979) from a pawnshop for about 10% of the price of a new one. The guy who pawned it hadn´t bought it back. I´m very happy with my Martin, and otherwise I couldn´t afford it.

Re: Beware of fake guitars

PostPosted: Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:15 am
by Mike Nye
JL_325_Headstock.jpg


Here's a real FAKE that I saw in a pawn shop ! ! !