Is this guitar a fake if so whats its value?

Outkast_IRE

Basically a friends guitar given to him by a relative trying to figure out is it a real or fake or what as the gibson papers look like they were filled in by a child and there no number on the neck .

nickcave

I'd say it's certainly not a Gibson. Others will no doubt be able to fill you in on more details...

slavetothegrind

seems not to be, grover tuners are much later than that body shape, but i'm far from an expert.

http://www.flying-v.ch/

have a look here and see if it helps!

main thing is does it sound good and play well?

Outkast_IRE

it plays well, it came in a gibson brown leather hard guitar case in all

Squidgy Black

It's a fake, there's so serial number or made in USA stamped on the headstock.

The B and the O in gibson are closed, whereas on the real ones they are open, kind of in-complete.

I have to say, it's a good fake. V's are a lot harder to spot than les pauls.

It wouldn't be worth much though, maybe 200 max, as you can buy them off tradetang.com and other fake dealers for around 250 dollars new with the hardcase.

If you're selling it, make sure to clearly state that it's a fake to the buyer.

Dublin Guitar

There's a lot of fake Gibsons floating around, particularly on sales sites other than adverts.ie

I've seen a lot of them in the last five years and 90% of them are purely for decorative purposes. Any decent copy for over €200 is twice the guitar these Gibsons are. A customer of ours bought one for their son on the site mentioned above, and was shocked to discover it was a fake. A lot of adjusting, and euros, later it is still borderline unplayable. Be warned, these things are most of the time atrocious.

punchdrunk

that has the very distinctive neck inlay of a Gothic V,if you were going to clone a V to pass it off as anyway valuable,the last thing you'd clone is a Gothic one!

I'd say this is a Gothic V that's been sanded down and had a pretty random truss rod cover added to make it look more "vintage"

Doc_Savage

+1 with punchdrunk...
i'd say it's a sanded down epiphone gothic v, badged as a gibson!

compare the pickguard shapes carefully and that may be a give-away!

edit, the gothic gibsons have grovers.... definately!

darrenw5094

Post the thread on http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/

Plenty of experts on there.

kranog

This looks like a sanded down Gibson Gothic V
http://liveassets.rationalpathinc.netdna-cdn.com/usercontent/gear/2828827/p1_ujbemcmjw_ss.jpg

Outkast_IRE

emalied the guy off this website http://www.flying-v.ch/

this is what he said im quoting here "Looks like somebody transformed one of the earlier faded cherry V's. Nice job "

i emailed him asking why no serial number and about the gothic v connection i will leave ye know what he says back.

Squirrel

It looks like the bridge posts aren't metric on it also. Based on that and the Gothic inlay I'd say real

Outkast_IRE

we should have a poll

wild turkey

I say fake!
theres no serial & all the gibbos ive owned have had it stamped fairly deeply into the timber a lot deeper than you would sand off
lift the pickguard & see what pickups, pots switches are in it & any marking on the pots & have a look at the neckjoint !
Post a few pics of it

RC88

+1 for what wild turkey said

i say its a cheap copy someone sanded down and stuck a gibson logo on

course ya could bring it in to a guitar shop and they could prob tell ya more by looking at it up close

punchdrunk

most epi's don't have the stamped serial number

Doc_Savage

but if it was a real one that was sanded down then most of the stamped serial number would disappear if not entirely!
not conclusive!
i still say a gothic gibson or epiphone at least!

my explorer has thick paint and most of the serial number is in the paint not the wood!

my 0.02!

Squidgy Black

Well it can't be a gibson anyways due to the fake truss-rod cover, who'd replace a real one with a fake?

Actually, it can't be an epiphone either, the epiphone gothic v was string through and had a longer, less rounded headstock.

Doc_Savage

i don't understand what you're on about with the calls on fake truss rod cover?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/20/guitar011in2.jpg/

no open b or o there... many other images at the end of a google search that knock that on the head.

so it must be a gibson! as its too strange to copy all the details of the gothic series for a fake thats not finished like a gothic series... you said yourself that the epiphone is string thru body, and as this a stop bar. i've already explained how the serial number may have disappeared during the sanding... so it seems most probable that it is a gibson!

Squidgy Black

Doc_Savage wrote: »

no open b or o there... many other images at the end of a google search that knock that on the head.

There should be http://www2.gibson.com/files/Acoustic/Modern-Classics/J-185_EC_Maple/J8J5ANNH1_J-185_EC_Maple-Logo.jpg

I've had 3 gibsons, and played many, and all authentic gibsons have an open b and o.

http://www.freewebs.com/groovymusiclessons/gibson_logo_pearl.jpg

Doc_Savage

the images you replied with there are logos that are directly inlaid to the headstock... not applied to a truss rod cover!

check the pic i linked again! When printed onto a truss rod cover they seem to have closed o's and b's!

i also own 2 gibsons... one of them is a gothic explorer, and the logo on it doesn't look anything like the two pics you linked to, does that mean it's a fake?

Outkast_IRE

so would taking off the cover and having a look at the inards help resolve this , if so i will try to do that in next few days.

Doc_Savage

if it was stripped then any evidence in cavitys may have been removed too... but look for stickers and quality control marks under the pickguard... also anything on the electronics themselves may be helpful!

take pictures and put them up!

Squirrel

I say real and serial number gone after sanding.

The bridge posts look right, and most, if not all, the fakes use metric bridge posts.

Here's metric posts


Here's standard


The one in the first post looks like it doesn't have the screw driver slots. If not real it's a good quality copy like a Jap Tokai or similar but don't know if they had a Gothic version