Nibs on the frets, correct head stock, correct logo, correct split diamond, correct truss rod cover, correct non- mother of toilet seat block inlay, correct spray job, thin nitro coat, correct bridge pickup control in relation to the tail piece location, correct cutaway, arch top and bout.....looks genuine to me.
EMGs don't exert the same kind of magnetic pull as a standard pickup Dave, they're meant to be closer to the strings, Rob Turner recommends setting them as close as possible to the strings as you can get without the strings hitting.
She’s real, diamond on the headstock is legit size and shape. Bridge saddle is correct and the silver and black on the sides of the body is legit. I had a chibson and own a real one in silverburst and they’re not even close. Chibson also has a cheap looking silver metal flake finish.
Yep, the Chibson Les Paul Custom has the small Epiphone sized diamond inlay, and the stop-tailpiece on the Chibson's sit further back almost in line with the tone (?) knob. But, the Chibson makers are getting better at matching these small details to a real Gibson.
@@chroniclesofbap6170 It is easy as long as you know what to look for but the Chinese are becoming better and better at it because idiots keep buying the fakes. They want a Gibson but can't afford them so they buy counterfeits. And you guys are forgetting the main cost component in a Gibson.....or any USA made product is labor. It's amazing what you can do for cheap if you use slave labor like China does. I mean, if you can get American guitar makers to work for 75 cents an hour like the Chinese do you too can have a $400 Gibson. Also Chinese guitars tend to look OK at first glance, but if you actually examine them you see the cheapness. I bought a Firefly Thinline off of CL for $100 as a project guitar and it's the biggest POS guitar I've ever owned build quality wise, the tuners are terrible, the pickups were awful and the nut looked like it was cut by a blind person with palsy.
what kills me is all these guys buying Chibsons bitch about Gibson...."they cost too much"....."the QC is terrible"....."you're just paying for the name" blah blah blah. I could respect their POV if they bought some other guitar.....but after ALL their bitching about Gibson, what do those guys buy? Ghetto Gibson counterfeits. Total hypocrites.
@@dontderockmeriz4546 i disagree. Popular heavy metal was born on les pauls especially customs. Its thanks to that why ESP's eclipses and other brands have been able to make a profit off copying them.
Heafy, Gelotte, although theyre using Epi customs, use EMGs but there's Hetfield, Wylde... on and on. So really its just an opinion because those guys are monsters.
That's a legitimate Gibson. Silver burst have the finish on the back and sides of the headstock and on the neck. The fret nibs and the split diamond add up well. Usually the fakes are a bit crooked with the logo and look squished. And as someone said earlier, brand new Gibson needing tweaks, yup it's a real Gibson.
If it's a newer one there should be an RF tag somewhere in the neck. Not sure where you'd go to get it scanned though, but it's something they started doing to help identify fake guitars.
Oddly, Gibson did not mention this to me. After reading your post, I contacted their customer service ( again) and found out that it does in fact have an RF chip installed in it. Unfortunately, the only place that can scan it is the factory in Nashville TN
That should be skyrocketing in value right now, a nice silver burst like that with the burst on the neck, sides, and back. Plus the Adam Jones (Tool) model being anticipated for release, it should be worth at least $500 more than he paid for it atm.
I was actually looking forward to seeing what the electronics looked like, with the EMG's installed, which pickups, or pick up set they install? What did it sound like?
After all Gibson’s huffing and puffing about chasing down fakes & frauds they need to bring forth new ways to ensure Gibson purchases are legitimate, new or secondhand, some-kind of digital tracking, like pinksheets/log books with vehicles might be an idea (not very rock n roll but my guitars are worth the same as my car at this point of depreciation!)
Why is it "huffing and puffing"? Counterfeits are killing American guitar makers, not just Gibson. It's like in the 70s and 80s with the Japanese except the Japanese weren't making counterfeits but very close copies. Fender decided to make deals to have the Japanese make Fenders in Japan, Gibson did the same with Epiphone and Orville. But with the Chinese they are outright stealing IP. Not just guitar IP but they counterfeit everything. What needs to happen IMO is the govt needs to go after anyone selling counterfeits.
Why do manufacturers use locking tuners on stop tailpiece guitars and some harp style bridges? I don't get it. 75 plus years without locking tuners on stop tailpiece piece or harp style bridges with little problem and now they're a must. If the guitar is set up correctly and has descent tuners the guitar should stay in tune without locking the tuners. When a player bends a string they're only applying or creating a slight tension on the strings between two fixed points: nut and bridge. Am I missing something?
Dude, I have played guitars for years and until recently never had locking tuners. Locking is the way to go. Not only are they more stable but they make changing strings so much easier. I'm going to put them on all my guitars eventually. If you don't like them more power to you but it's like asking "why do cars need power steering......decades of no power steering but now people act like it's a must".
i have on that says Gibson Baldwin signature series . i paid $20 for it, not sure if it is a real Gibson but it says gibson baldwin music education on the neck plate
I think it’s a reissue, but real. If this is a 79 thru 83 it sure is clean wit no greenish tint to the silverburst finish, which usually happens to the older ones.
That LP definitely doesn’t look fake the bevel on the body the inlays look the right size diameter the fakes are slimmer the headstock logo/diamond positioning the truss rod position too fake truss rods are below the nut line usually the ABR bridge looks genuine the sustain sounds good too that’s definitely a genuine LP Custom
I, like you, have now seen a lot of fakes and real ones. You can smell the fake ones a mile away. Visual inspection usually what gives up the details. I would deem that guitar real in about 3 or 4 mins of looking at it and in it. Even small things like how the binding lines up at the heel or around the neck to the headstock, will give away a fake. But the finish, the finish is usually the biggest give away. Polly just looks different and thicker. Good call Dave!
Looks to be real deal to me, no slotted bridge posts, has fret nibs and the edge of the "G" in Gibson points down the neck not towards the 3-way....can't see a scarf joint because it's a solid color finish
You still have warm days there in Canada, we're in winter here in South Australia. Last week, some of the country towns in the mid north of our state, got some snow. This was the first time in 70 years, pretty rare.
Super question! Lots of confusion still going around on that. The magnets that usually reside in actives are a lot less powerful compared to most passives. Allowing for closer proximity to the strings, without the nasty side effects. That said, having used EMG and SD Blackouts, especially the latter, really benefits from being a little further off. More dynamics and much more natural tone. Too close sounds downright muddy and grainy. No matter what you do to the gain on your amp. I run about 4mm clearance with 'm. Passives are more like 2.5 mil. Doesn't seem much, makes a ton of difference! Hope this answered your question.
Frank Diehl My experience is similar to yours - make no special effort to get close. On my dual humbucker EMG guitar, if the neck pickup is too close, the guitar keeps wanting to jump octaves.
@@hubbsllc Yes, I have an Affinity Strat set up "Delonge" style. SD Blackout instead of Invader. When I first set it up I had it waaaay too close, and it sounded like poop! This was after some extensive fret work, to get her to play comfortably, without cutting myself. I was really miffed. Then it struck me to back that thing off. Rings like a bell now, and it sings beautifully! Zero string pull and a tight neck/body joint will do that.
When factory fakes vintage guitars , do they go as far as duplicating hard cases with all case candy including factory check list that are even signed?
I bought a white LP Custom and I was nervous about whether it was real or not when I first got it. I was 99.9% certain it was real but if there's any doubt you're going to worry about it. All these idiots buying Chibsons have encouraged the Chinese to get better and better at it and flooded the market with fakes. As big of POS the makers of counterfeits are the people buying them are even bigger POS. There are a million LEGAL LP style guitars to choose from.....decades worth of them. You can get a used Epiphone LP for a couple of hundred bucks any day of the week from CL or FBM. But nope, these idiots want the headstock to say "Gibson" so badly instead of buying a legal LP style guitar they'll order an illegal POS counterfeit from China. All because of the name on the headstock.
@@MrShadowofthewind Because before I bought my 2009, I asked Gibson if the Customs had the circuit board pots like the Gibson USA Les Pauls. They assured me they didn't and they weren't lying. It has the hand wired cts pots.
@@MrShadowofthewind And Custom shop is just part of the branding. It wasn't custom ordered. If you wanted to order a custom made guitar from Gibson, you might as well apply for a loan on a nice car.
@@tacoconch7678 Custom shop is not always accurate though, plus there is a possibility that someone added it themselves, doesn't mean it has to be fake.
@@MrShadowofthewind Where to start? 1. This guitar has EMG pickups so it has matching pots. 2. The circuit board pots were from Gibson but only on the USA models. 3. The main concern is if this is a Chinese knockoff. The Chinese wouldn't be using circuit board pots.
I feel you there! I like the silverburst LPs’ appearance but one I looked at in a GC a few years ago had a bent-over pot shaft and the finish on the back of the neck seemed off.
@@hubbsllc How did seem "off"? A lot of the "QC" issues Gibson allegedly has are people being OCD about their guitars IMO. The way some people obsess over every little flaw on a guitar is just baffling to me. I get if it was some major structural issue or a huge dent or something.....but if your new guitar has a minor finish flaw that you need a jeweler's loop to see........isn't how it sounds and plays more important? I actually play my guitars so I don't give a shit if it's got a tiny scratch or imperfection, it's going to get plenty from me playing it anyway. And the bent pot shaft probably happened in transit or storage. I worked at the GC distribution center in Brownsburg and Gibsons, all guitars actually but Gibsons too, are sent down a giant conveyor built and then thrown (often quite literally) onto trucks for shipping. They sometimes sent in those trucks on the docks waiting for a couple of days until they're full and ready to be shipped. I couldn't believe how guitars were treated at the distribution center but on top of that you have them being stored at the Gibson warehouse, shipped to GC.....then GC ships them to customers or stores. But if there's a bent pot shaft people blame Gibson QC.
@@Vichedges It was as if, after the guitar was finished, someone gave the back of the neck a quick burst with a can of Krylon lacquer. This was no minor finish flaw; it was a this-guitar-should-not-be-shipped flaw.
@@hubbsllc Bullshit. You're as bad as the "I played 10 LP at GC and they all had sharp fret ends" guys. I don't believe for one second that you picked up a new guitar that looked like it had been rattle can painted on the back of the neck. Why would the store have even accepted it in the first place if it were that bad lol? Let alone put it out for sale. Why? The anecdotes s you guys come up with when you bitch about Gibson are beyond absurd.
Dave, that particular pickup height gauge you're using in this video, where'd it come from? The other one you use on occasion that came from Beef Stew Mac and Cheese is over $30 once you double the price due to shipping.
I sincerely hate when I take a guitar in to be worked on and the "tech" tells me something is "too low" or "too high". It's adjusted to where the player wants it, it's the tech's job to make it play properly, not adjust it back to where he thinks is right.
I take your point, but where a player likes it is NOT where the guitar sounds as it is supposed to. Most guitarists I know love to get a lot more from their pick ups and so crank them right close to the strings. Does not always get the best out. It's no use taking an axe to a fixer if you are going to disagree with the fixers settings is it? Because you have already fixed it have you not?
@@MickyDee67 Well, let's say a guitar I have is setup for a certain string height off the fingerboard, but I want it lower-or higher. I't's not up to the repairman to set it back where he "thinks" is best, it's up to him to earn his money and do what it takes to have it play and sound the way I want it. Who's to say how my guitars play and sound best beside me? Many repair people only know one way of setting up an instrument, and 99% of those do a setup the way they think is right, in other words, to their tastes.
Fret nibs, ABR bridge, correct font and angle on head stock logo, can't see why they'd question whether its a fake. Also, though this is an area the Chinese copies have improved on, the spacing of the knobs in relation to the tailpiece looks correct. Finally, has anyone ever seen a knockoff that has a really great looking binding job done on the head stock? Usually they never go through the trouble, and if they do the end results tend to look like ass.
Looks original to me too, Dave. The most chibsons I saw had the typical custom headstock diamond badly shaped and the tuners cheap imitations. Also bridge and stoptail do look Gibson quality ABR , the bindings do look well made. if it's a "goochibson" it's the best I've ever seen.
I've had two Fender cases, one was two decades ago and I don't remember what it said, if it said anything. But I had a Squier MIJ Bullet, not the strat version but the smaller actual Bullet model and it came with a Fender USA Bullet case. I asked around on forums and people said it was probably original to the guitar. But it said "Fender USA" on it.
Pretty guitar. How about al the Les Pauls on Ebay from Japan? I was told they're all fake and they price them like they're authentic. Does anyone have an opinion on those? Thank you for the video!!
the Reverb crew caught on to Japanese lawsuit era knockoffs being decent instruments. Price shot up. I can't speak for the ones currently being made though. MIJ used to be a positive thing. Maybe still is maybe not. Fujigen guitars (non-blatant ripoff) are good but they're expensive now.
Hey y'all, New to this channel here. I'm sure this has been asked a bunch, but what tool does Dave use to measure the neck relief (the block looking thing that he puts in between the strings)? I'm looking to start setting up my own guitars and I'm looking for tools that can "standardize" the process in the way that Dave seems to do. Love this stuff! Thanks Dave.
@@onesandzeros You're awesome! Bonus question: when he changes out the nut in a guitar, he uses another block looking thing to measure how far down to file the nut (placed under the strings). Do you happen to know what that one is called?
Really weird with that bridge saddles at the edge of their seat. How can one screw up the bridge position with all the CNC machining? All the label and promo stuff in the case can be found on ebay, but it is a genuine Gibson. I had a Gibson custom-shop SG in hand about 2 years ago and it had fret ends...custom shop fret ends.
Hey Dave, I have an Epiphone Les Paul and a few weeks ago I went to change the strings on it and I noticed the fret wire at the 14th or 15th fret is like worn down in the middle pretty badly. If I bend the D or G strings there they choke out. A friend said I needed to take ALL the frets down to that level, but man that seems like a lot of to be taking off of all of them just because of one fret. I was thinking maybe of just replacing that one fret wire - which would you do?
Nice one Dave you should collaberate with Russ and do a 2nd album I realy like the first one and i want more!Cheers have a great weekend my friend,be safe and party like a Canuck!lol
Defs a Gibson. If they were going to so much trouble to use all the premium stuff to fool you, they wouldn't place the bridge randomly so you have to max out the saddles. That's a Gibson speciality.
Is that the same Trogly that let some dude steal a bunch of his guitars under the guise of "repairing" them? Trogly is a good guy but he seems like he could be scammed easily.
I’m willing to bet that medallion is fake. I got scammed on reverb over a year ago with a guy selling fake custom shop medallions. Basically if the entire rectangle that says “Gibson“ is all gold it’s fake. The real one has a gold rectangle but the inside of the word Gibson will be silver not all gold.
So far, I've never been wrong about it being a fake or not, which means there are still clear tell tale signs if it is real or not, this is a real one 100%.
If it's the same as mine 64ths are on one of the short sides. But FWIW 4/64=.0625 & 5/64=.0781 So you can use the thousandths side and shoot for around .060 or .080 Or even a nice happy place in between at .070
Now I actually went out and bought two chips and just to compare them to my high-end epiphone's in my Gibson and first glance they are getting better but they're not getting that good they might even play pretty damn good for the first month until the Press Start to wear down then you can tell a giant difference
You so funny 😂 But seriously, maybe it was another Make of guitar in the same colour?? Who knows? Who cares? Just keep on making me larf when things go goochy. 🤘🤘🤘
Many thanks for all your vids, they have taught me a lot. I'm have just build a thinline tele thing and used your suggestion of joining the grounds to one wire and running that to a pot. OMG How much easier is that! Thanks Dave.
A dilemma here. The manufacturer is clearly not making a forgery of a Gibson because he's selling it for peanuts. Who would buy a new guitar for change and believe that it's a Gibson? No-one. The buyer is perfectly aware that he's buying a 'tribute'. Somewhere down the line the buyer thinks I could sell this and not mention that it's a fake. That is where the fraud begins. Quality Chinese guitars are underpriced and Gibsons are overpriced. Me, I'm happy with Squiers and Epis. Great cost effective instruments with all the notes I'll ever need...
Dude, you're talking bullshit. If it says "Gibson" on the headstock they're breaking the law and it's a COUNTERFEIT. Do you not understand how the law works when it comes to IP? Try making a soda and calling it Coca Cola or naming your band The Rolling Stones and see how that goes for you. On top of that the original buyers of these ghetto counterfeits obviously knows they're fake......but when they get resold they next buyer might not, which is why so many people are being scammed and everyone is paranoid these days. Whether you think Gibsons are overpriced and Chinese guitars are great has nothing to do with IP theft. There are a million LEGAL LP style guitars out there made in China, starting with Epiphones themselves. The reason people buy these ghetto counterfeits from shady black market dealers on the other side of the globe is they want "Gibson" on their headstock. And you need to remember why your Chinese guitar is so cheap.....it's because it's made by communist slave labor. Those people have no rights and work for a fraction of what anyone in the West can. Congrats on your "undervalued" slave labor made guitars though.
@@Vichedges They also don't have environmental or safety laws there, making everything cheaper to produce from a manufacturing point and detrimental to the environment. I did read a bunch of your posts. You get it. A lot of people don't.
The only thing that gives me a clue that its a chinese gibson is the knob placement. The knobs on a real Gibson should be running parallel with the neck. ( if you run a imaginary line through the centre of the top knobs, that line should run parallel with the bottom of the neck) Hard to tell, but The knobs look as if they are set up too square . (Imaginary line would run not parallel to the bottom of the neck )