I Bought a SUHR Modern Pro! - Just One Problem...It's a FAKE 

So what do you guys think I should I do with this guitar? Enjoy :)

How to see if you have a fake Suhr: it won't stay in tune. How to see if you have a fake Gibson: it stays in tune.

Definitely don't destroy it. I'm sure there is a kid in a school somewhere that would love to play that guitar. Scrub off the Suhr stuff, fix it up and donate it to your local elementary/middle school. Just a suggestion.

I never understood how a “certificate of authenticity” is considered proof at all. If people can go this length to fake a whole guitar how can they not fake a little paper?

It stuns me that someone can produce a reasonable guitar in it's own right and then totally discredit it by deliberately making it a fake. Why not set out to make a reasonable guitar and market it for what it is.... a reasonable guitar.

This is why lately I only buy authentic Harley Benton ... 😁😁

Custom decal that says “NOSuhr”.

1. Fix it to your liking 2. Replace the Suhr logo with a DBG logo 3. Donate it 4. Be suhr to make a video about it

Give it to a needy kid that doesn't have much money...

Donate it to a high school music class! They would love you forever...

As a guitar player of 17 years, and someone who is getting into woodworking and has restored has also some antique guitars, I have to say the craftsmanship on this guitar is absolutely immaculate. That burst finish is incredible. The routing for the pickups is perfect. From seeing it in the video, the setup, neck, and fretwork are flawless. The imperfections you pointed out (the chipping around the neck screws and truss rod), hell you can find muck ups like that on Gibsons. This thing is insane for a forgery. One of you said it; this guitar, if they started their own brand and made something unique with this craftsmanship, you could easily stack it against Ibanez, ESP, and Schecter in the $700-1000 range. It's a shame so much attention to detail is put into a forgery. I'm going to guess in another 5-10 years (if it's not already happening now), there are going to be forgeries that are so good, that you won't be able to tell the difference anymore. If they're able to mimic things down to this level, they could easily pull it off. The people making these aren't stupid, and can easily access the internet to find videos like yours and figure out how to remove the clues. I think the only way this will end is (maybe) with the NFT market, linking guitars to a distinct, digital certificate of authenticity. It's starting to happen for other physical items in the world. Darrell, please do not destroy this guitar (if you haven't yet). That would be very wasteful. Despite being a forgery, it is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that some very talented people put together. I know another channel out there that finds forgeries, and they etch into the back of the guitar "forgery", so there's an idea instead of wrecking the nice headstock logo (even though it's a fraud). I'm with others to donate this guitar. Especially during this pandemic. I'm sure there's some kids and teens out there that would absolutely love this thing, and buying a new guitar seems out of the question for them now. What an awesome first or even intermediate guitar this would be for someone. That is my two cents.

After you remove the false logo and made in USA, make repairs to get it playing properly and give it to an underprivileged kids music program.

Of course it's not a legit one. It doesn't have a Suhrtificate 😎

Darrell: These are the red flags that this is a fake guitar Scammers: frantically taking notes to build the next one

Darrel, I’m so impressed with your honesty and integrity. Spending money to take a fake off the market and helping the guitar community At large by doing so.. Way to go man.

When you removed the neck, you didn't mention it but that top looks like paper thin veneer......

Get it playing well and call it the "NoSuhr"

I'd fix what needs fixing and enjoy it. It doesn't need to be messed with.

Man is so canadian he gets scammed and its happy it wasnt someone else

my take: rebrand it as "yeah, Suhr...", estimate the actual value + your time and send it back on the 2nd hand market... instruments need to be played, the poor thing holds no guilt for the forgery! :)

"And don't call me Surhly"

Even if it's a fake, you still go through every detail and make for a great showcase! Always good work!

Sad thing is, the guy that made that fake could make his own guitars and earn an honest living, still looks like its worth a grand of anyone's money

Darrell: You should do a build project with it and raffle it off. Give the proceeds to your favorite charity. I'll buy a few chances to win. Thanks as always for your genuine sincerity.

No reason to destroy a perfectly good guitar when it is so easy to remove the fake logos.

Imagine this guy was you neighbour and you had conversations with him over the fence, like on Tim the Toolman Taylor?!

Looks like someone's put a SUHR decal on a Harley Benton.

Reading the comments reminds me why I never, ever , EVER, hang around other guitarists.

Forger: makes noticeable fake stuff. *gives them a COA to fake* Forger: this is out of my expertise.

The guys who made this guitar: Thanks Darell for the pointers because we're gonna make fakes which are not distinguishable 😈😂

DO NOT DESTROY THE GUITAR! Mod it and make sure it will never be mistaken as a Suhr guitar and give it away! Win/win/win!

I got ripped off a few months back on a fake Glarry.

Also, do not destroy that guitar. Take the decal off and put "DB Special" on it. Fix it up. Then rock it out.

One big thing you missed- all suhr guitars have quartersawn necks. This one did not. Dead giveaway. Along with the string trees. Also, a suhr has staggered tuners as well. Along with everything else you mentioned.

Just a thought on what to do with the guitar: This seems like a great candidate for a repair demonstration. Since you know what the tuning problems are, you could do a video about how to rectify them. ;o) The bridge problem in particular is interesting. You could obviously do some woodwork by plugging and re-drilling the 'straight' knife side post, but you could also see if it's possible to do a little metal work on the bridge itself and leave the quilted maple unmarred. As for the nut, it would also be interesting to see a before and after intonation comparison with a compensated nut (such as Earvana). Either way, another great video!

“Does it feel like a high-end guitar?” Well, with that advice I’ll have to go and complain that all the gibsons i’ve ever held are fakes, because they are just simply not high-end even though they be pricey

Q: What guitar do you have?? A: Idk man. I'm not Suhr

Well, Let me share something. I believe this is NOT a made in Korea suhr guitar, mostly it's made in China, Shandong or Guangdong Province. The real suhr's SN number and "made in USA" parts looks like use laser to burn into the headstock, this fake one just print on it The fake suhr guitar use a thin wood top (like a paper) glued on guitar body and use another wood stick to make binding, you can see the grain is not match I know they can bend the body curve like real one whit 1/16 inch quilted maple but it will take more time and prime cost. They didn't use Gotoh 510 bridge. Actually the OEM version (whole sale from factory) is very cheap. Pickup looks like a Korean brand who provide pickups for some worldwide well known guitar brand made in China. The electrostatic spraying finishing for guitar body l can give a B+, average level any factory can do that So this is not a good copy :) and factory price I believe just around 200 USD. And SORRY for my poor English :(

I feel like I'm the only one that noticed that the quilt just looks like a photo because it doesn't move when he moves it

Also, the "Made in USA" is laser-engraved on a real Suhr.

Make it play well, put the brand out and give it to someone who really needs it

By the time the guys who built this have fixed everything Darrell points out, their counterfeits will be good enough and expensive enough that John Suhr can hire them to build real ones xD

What we learn?... we pay overpriced guitars just because of the "famous" brand. Greetings from Brazil!!! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

"If you spend $3k-4k on a guitar, you're most likely not going to mod it" Me who wanted to put different pickups in my Music Man Mariposa: 👀

This is just like prom night when I took my date's bra off and a bunch of wadded up Kleenex popped out.

Korean made + Fantastic attention to small details....🤔 wasn’t Suhr’s Discontinued import line Rasmus made in Korea???

Build project!!! why let a decently built guitar go to waste

Build it, one heck of a start to make an amazing guitar. Get rid of all the forgery markings, I would even stamp made in Korea. If your still concerned stamp it fake copy. If it was mine I paint No Sir on the headstock.

Not PRS, even the $2,000 price-tag guitars comes with a “gig bag”

Ditch the Wilkinson trem, route for a good Floyd Rose trem and locking nut, put decent pickups in it, do a video on how to install stainless steel frets, and by all means, put "No" in front of Suhr instead of just wiping out the logo! Maybe burn "FORGERY" on the back.

Darrel: make Sure that your high end guitar stays in tune and plays well Gibson: *sweating* I once heard that someone bought a Gibson and said it was perfect, played well and holds tune. Turns out it was a Chibson XD

Is not a bad guitar. AT ALL. It is just sad that people rather send off the production line a forgery than a Cool own brand. Anyway., Darrell, fix it and do some cool charity with it. This year was pretty rough, it could help someone.

It’s a fake for Suhr-tain! 😆🤙🏻

Do what needs to be done to get her playing right, perhaps even more, then give her away to someone who might be less fortunate, or perhaps to a viewer (always the possibility of killing two birds with one stone)

I still want to know why he throws that guitar to the roof..

I think it's funny they can forge an amazing guitar that looks almost identical to a suhr but a piece of paper that authenticates it, That's just not possible ha ha.

When you don't buy in a shop you pay a heavy price Darrell,you should know better!!

I would keep it, do away with the counterfeit branding and fix the couple issues. It seems like a very well built guitar that just needs a little TLC.

Auction it off for charity (after removing the whole Suhr branding of course)

Very difficult to have a trem setup floating, with no strings on it.

High Darrel, hope you are having a great day today. Destroy the Brandlogo, throw the guitar away and tell me the place you have thrown it to.

God job Darrel but a COA is no different than Obama’s birth certificate.

I had to inform an eBayer that the 10th anniversary Jem they were selling was a fake. He didn’t know and relisted it as such. I felt like I was telling someone their spouse was cheating.

Lots of fakes out there, but I bought a aliexpress stratocaster and after I got it set up it's an amazing guitar and I have $300 into and wouldn't trade it for a fender!

Get it up to snuff and rebrand it "DBG Sir!"

If the guitar is a counterfeit, what makes you think the tuners aren’t also bogus ?

Contact Suhr. Tell them the whole story and link them to this vid. Offer to send it to them, rather than destroy it. They may reward you in some way for your efforts and might even tell you to keep it, provided you do remove all the visual Suhr identifiers. Then you would have an intact guitar that is pretty OK and you could DONATE it to a school or charity. As for a potential reward, Suhr might give you a deep discount on a legit guitar. I have a Suhr and it is pretty much the finest guitar in my stable and I am a total Ibanez fanboy, specifically the top tier Satriani models and the S series guitars.

Ironically, the suhr modern pro comes with a gig bag

That is the main reason why I don’t buy guitar that cost over $1000 CDN (Especially when it says: *Made in USA*) *PS ... Godin guitars are 100% Made in Canada !!!*

Huh I don't think I've ever seen a Korean made fake. Its almost always Chinese.

Never destroy the wood bro, fix it up and give it to a kid before destroying it.

I once bought a vintage Vox guitar. Turned out it was counterfeit. But it eventually became worth more as a fake than the real deal and the Counterfeit ones developed a following. Who knew ?

When your guitars are so nice even the fakes are superior to most!

The fret ends on a Suhr are are some of the best I’ve ever seen

Its actually really nice how the guy was honest

Just make it a giveaway to some deserving, aspiring guitarist who can't afford a quality guitar. No, it's not a Suhr, but looks and sounds like a pretty cool guitar! The No Suhr giveawy!

This Maple top looks like it was printed

I've never seen COAs or case candy as any kind of sign of authenticity - easy to fake, and the first things to get genuinely lost if it's a guitar that actually leaves the house and gets gigged.

I would just remove the logo, replace the bridge with a hardtail, sort the nut and enjoy it. That is a gorgeous looking guitar.

The trem is wrong. I noticed that right away

I can't listen to you saying Sir all the time ! It is Soor ! Not Sir !

WHY IS THAT THE PROBLEM SIR? When Suhr import stuff and sell it as ''made in USA'' then all of you on YT are so quiet. God Bless Korea ☺

If I were you Darrell, I'd mod it to your liking, Put DBG on the headstock and keep it! It is a beautiful guitar and you can't really call it a cheap guitar either! In spite of it being a fraud, it's a keeper in my eyes!

A trem bridge will never "float" with the strings off. DUH!

I still don’t get it. They have all the means to make a guitar. They can even just market it as a small operation guitar maker. If it sounds good, i would buy it.

Never destroy a guitar! it make no sense. Just change/hide or remove the logo and fix it. It look like a nice guitar. A lot of peoples will be happy to use it. Me included.

In the same universe Gibson releases Slash signature while Slash's Gibson is a... copy (not forgery, right?)

"No-Suhr"

Haha him throwing the acoustic on the roof and falling in the snow made my day

if the people that made this would just have put there own name on it. it would be a good guitar at a $400 price. but people get greedy and want to pass off something to the un suspecting person that would be dumb enough to fall for it. shame over all not a bad guitar. you did not say darrell knowing it was a fake what you paid for it?

I'd refinish the whole thing to be matte white with black hardware. Just make a killer shred machine out of it without any branding or logos.

changing the pickups in $3500-$4000 guitar, that's a paddlin'

Cut the body into a teardrop shape and put “Vox” on the headstock.

Plot twist: seller is so loaded that he wanted to treat someone to a real Suhr so he passed it as Korean one for a half price.

If "Suhr" is still on the headstock, add "No" or "Not a" to the headstock - so it will become a "No Suhr" or a "Not a Suhr" guitar. And then either keep it as part of your collection, or donate it to me!!! I'm a guitarist who hasn't owned or played a guitar since 2014. It's a long story... But it started with my wife being diagnosed with cancer. I had to sell my setup. Lisa passed away at 44 years old in 2015 from brain cancer. I stayed by her bedside the last 5 months to take care of her and to make every moment count. I ended up losing everything and becoming homeless. In March of 2017 I was starting to get back on my feet and I did a cash job for a neighborhood church. The day I got paid, I was robbed and shot. I had 3 major surgeries to correct the damage from the bullet. I have a job now, I have an apartment and a car, but I cannot afford to buy a guitar. I long to play again!!! Please!!! LOL And by the way, if anyone wants to troll me, everything I mentioned above can be proved with pictures, receipts, logs, posts,etc....

I saw a Chinese copy LP hanging in a guitar store the other day. It was immaculate in every way and I’d have never known if the shop owner hadn’t told me.

What amazes most is such an effort to build a quality instrument at the moment we’re living just for piracy?! It could’ve just branded as a nice cheap guitar and sell tons of it.

I'm really impressed with the original seller, like you said he could have seriously scammed someone. Fascinating video, especially showing potential buyers what to look for. Side note: 70th Anniversary Surf Green Esquire...want it, bad, have you played one?

Why didn’t they just start their own brand of guitars, they could make some kickass gear and they use it to fool people

"No Sir/Suhr" HAHAHAHAHA. Very good!