Losing the Way of the Jedi

A few months ago it came to my attention that "replicas" of very expensive American made guitars could be purchased for very little money (comparatively) from China. Call them what you will… fakes, counterfeits, knock-offs, etc. but curiosity has gotten the better of me. Forgive me father, for I have sinned...

Now, before you unleash a barrage of hate mail my way, here's what I have to say about the whole matter. Perhaps I will end up opening up a box in a few weeks (assuming it arrives) only to find a crap-ass guitar and I'll end up contracting bird flu. I suspect some of you hope that's exactly what will happen. I'm more nervous about the bird flu than the guitar actually, as I'm planning to tear it apart anyhow. Yes, I know that a $300 guitar will in no way, shape, or form compare to the equivalent $3000 guitar. I was born at night, but not last night. I'm really just curious to see if I can get the thing up and running proper.

I think most importantly is to disclose the fact that I HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO INTENTION OF TRYING TO PASS IT OFF AS THE REAL THING… I don't plan on selling it at all. Rather, I'm hoping to practice my fret-work and nut installation skills. Of course, I'm also planning to upgrade to the electronics and pickups and see what comes of the whole thing. Nothing too fancy, just some parts from Stew-Mac… I know there's that's whole thing about there being no sense in putting lipstick on a pig but again, curiosity has gotten the better of me, and besides, what's the harm sexying-up a pig?

In my own defense, I've put together various "Fender" guitars which are not Fenders at all. With the application of a waterside decal, they have only become Fenders at first glance. I don't try to pass them off as the real thing, and I won't try to pass this one off as the real thing either. Anyhow, the order went out via DHgate on February 13th… I'll keep you posted on how this all plays out… hopefully better that this! 

I am curious actually where the moral dilemma lies for others… is it the manufacture, purchase, or attempted resale of counterfeit goods that people are opposed to? I'm obviously torn myself, or I wouldn't be mentioning turning to the dark side or posting pictures of some dude getting struck down on the can. For me, the real crime is that people would try to pass them off as the real thing and that some poor kid might spend his or her hard earned money on a fake. I can't blame the Chinese really… if there wasn't a market they wouldn't be making them. Do I feel bad for Gibson? Not really. They sell plenty of guitars… hell, I own six "real" ones (and have owned plenty of Epiphones) so they'll gotten plenty of my hard earned cash over the years. Anyhow… I'll do an unboxing video when she arrives… if she does. 

TIMELINE:

2/13/14 - "Black Custom" Guitar Ordered 

2/16/14 - Message from DHgate that the guitar has shipped. EMS tracking

              number posted, however it's not working. I know it often takes USPS and UPS

              numbers a day or so to activate or become visible on their tracking sites, so I'm

              not too concerned yet. I'll check back later… I can't imagine the Chinese are

              celebrating President's Day.

2/18/14 - Still no tracking information on EMS site… looks like I'll have to contact the

              seller if there's no information by the end of tomorrow.

2/19/14 - I sent the buyer a message early this morning and has a response by early

              afternoon… he said not to worry and that he'd check the number and get back

              to me. I honestly can't complain about the customer service thus far. I have

              seen others posts (on YouTube video comments) that they suspect sellers put a

              fake tracking number up and then once it actually ships, put the real number

              up. I have no reason to believe that's what is (or isn't) going on… just saying. I 

              guess time will tell… honestly I'm in no huge hurry. I'd think 2 or 3 weeks would 

              be a normal time to wait between being shipped from China,clearing customs,

              and arriving in the States. 

UPDATE: As of this evening the tracking number is now working on the official EMS site, 

              just not via the DHgate site… a reassuring development. 

2/20/14 - Guitar has shipped from China... 

2/21/14 - Guitar has arrived at U.S. Customs in San Francisco... DAMN, things are moving

               along quickly. I have to say, I'm getting pretty excited to get my hands on this 

               thing and begin the upgrading process. I've been scouting for parts on ebay and

               elsewhere. In any event, something tells me it may be at Customs for a while

               but I really don't know what the process of packages moving though Customs

               is... maybe they'll irradiate it for bird flu for me? I've heard that they do

               actually irradiate some wood products upon arrival but I'm not sure why.

               Depending on how long it's there, shipping to Southern Oregon should be pretty

               speedy as we're only five hours north. So far so good... if this sale works out

               well, I'd be happy to provide the seller's store name if you PM me. I've actually

               already looked at purchasing a 335 model but we'll see how this goes first.

2/22/14 - Wholly crap... the guitar cleared Customs today! Quite a surprise that anything

               related to a government agency could work so efficiently... for a package to

               arrive in Customs one day and leave the next. I'm stoked the guitar is almost

               here! The rate at which things are moving are truly amazing... I'm both

               surprised and pretty impressed.

2/24/14 - I'm awestruck... the guitar left San Francisco shortly after midnight last evening

               for Portland, and has already arrived and been processed through Medford... it's

               quite possible it could be arriving later this morning. I'm looking forward to the

               unboxing party. At this rate it's been a total of 11 days from ordering to

               doorstep... I've ordered stuff from Musician's Friend that's taken longer to arrive

               than this.

UPDATE:   Out for delivery. Tick tock, tick tock...

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

Well the guitar has arrived... if I were to give it a grade right now I'd say it's somewhere in the C range. Elements of it are surprisingly great, other elements are straight up bad. The good stuff first... the finish is gorgeous shiny black and really stunning looking. It's on par with anything with Epiphone on the headstock. The binding is also great looking and on-par with Epis. The width looks relatively true to Gibson/Epi thickness too which is nice as some of these knock offs. The bridge and tuners are actually surprisingly nice... the tuners in fact, are working as smoothly as "nice" tuners. Hmm, what else. Oh, the pickups do seem like real Epiphone pickups, not that that's anything to celebrate. They are engraved on the bottom and the wire seems to be just like the real deal... I've seen enough of them to say with some certainty that they're actual Epiphone pickups, though not wax potted. All the wire colors and thicknesses seem to match real Epiphone pickups.

Well, that might be the best of the best... things go down hill from there. The first thing I noticed when looking at a real gibson headstock inlay is that the font is slightly chubbier than the real deal... but the font looks right on otherwise and it's VERY close. You'd have to A/B it with the real thing (unless you're a total nerd for details) to tell the difference. The other thing I noticed right off the bat was the body shape on top... it's a little flat but not that big a deal for me, though not particularly accurate. Real Les Pauls feature a much more beautifully sculpted top... and god only knows what this thing is carved from. Of much more serious concern was that the case is also a bit flat and hence, the toggle nearly poked a hole through it during shipping. That also speaks to the overall quality of the case. The case reeks of chemical glue, toxic fuzz... who the hell knows, but it's airing out on the porch. Also, the pictured case was brown, the one they sent was black. 

Maybe I'll just get some bullet points going and simplify this process...

* The hardware is decent but some is already tarnishing... personally I don't care.

* The binding (in places) is a little rough... but not on the body, it's perfect. It's mainly on

  the neck in spots.

* The diamond inlay looks pretty good.

* Serial number and font are off... a dead giveaway when spotting a fake. It's too deep, all 

  the way down to the wood and too cleanly stamped. 

*The headstock shape is a little off and the top back of the headstock is slightly rounded

 at the back corners... strange, and not true to Gibson form.

*The nut is shit and really not spaced as well as it could be but it's functioning OK for now. 

*The truss rod works great and the guitar came perfectly intonated. However, the truss rod needed some adjustment 

* The control plate screws (and some others) are shit... they have sharp tops and don't

  match a real Gibson as correct size or shape.

* The truss rod cover is attached with tuner screws and is the same as an Epiphone TRC.

* The electronics (with exception of the pickups) actually function rather well... the

  toggle is beefy and not scratchy, the pots also function and aren't scratchy, and after I 

  sorted out a problem with the wiring (a ground wire touching something it shouldn't have

  been and shorting out the whole thing) it actually sounds pretty good. The input jack

  and plate are about as cheap as cheap can be but they work.

That's about it for now... I've spent some time adjusting the action and fiddling around with it and it's playing and sounding pretty good. Here's a short video of it in action...

 The verdict... don't buy one unless you're prepared to do some work on it. If you're an experienced player used to high quality instruments you're going to be bummed out until you fix it up. You'd be much wiser spending your money on one of these Ibanez pictured below... the quality is awesome and you won't need to touch a single screw on it. They're $500 bucks and look stunning. I won't be purchasing another Chibson, Fibson, fake, counterfeit... it'll be a fun project but it'll never be a real Gibson. 

 

Here's a good look at several close-ups and a few shots at a distance... from afar, it looks the part... close up you start to see where this is obviously a fake. I did black out the serial number with a fine sharpie so it wasn't so obvious... again not to try and pass it off as the real thing, but so it looks a little more accurate...