How Do You Spot Fake Guitars?

[jwellsy]

I think pawn shops and Craigslist can easily advertise knock offs as originals. Like if they have a new Les Paul for $750, I doubt that it's a real Gibson. I've even seen Esteban guitars disguised as other things.

One of my favorite things to look at are the grain lines in the sound hole to see if it's solid or laminated.

I'm wondering what you look at to spot fake guitars.
Misspelled logo stickers?

[Bowie]

You really can't rely on misspelling and obvious things. When you have owned enough instruments you can tell what looks right and what doesn't. Fakes need to make a profit to be worth making so they are typically pretty bad in terms of craftsmanship. All the ones I've come across have been cheaply made guitars with a popular maker's label on the headstock. And, it's just obvious because I've owned the real thing. Before I had that experience, I wouldn't have known what to look for.

They aren't a big problem in the acoustic guitar market because the limiting factor is labor. If you paid someone enough to make a fake that's comparable in quality, then there's no point in making a fake, you just make your own line of guitars.

[jim1960]

If a deal is too good to be true, it's likely a fake.

[warfrat73]

Depends on the guitar... wrong font or placement of the headstock decal/inlay, poly finish when it should be nitro, trussrod placement in the wrong spot (e.g. a "Martin" that adjusts at the headstock), paper label where there shouldn't be one (fake Martins in particular), wrong model number for the features, wrong or incorrectly proportioned inlays, wrong tuners, volute when there shouldn't be one or vice versa, wrong bridge shape or proportions, wrong bracing... i could probably think of a couple more if I were to put my mind to it.

[TheGITM]

Pretty easy, really.

[tinnitus]

Originally Posted by TheGITM

Pretty easy, really.

Great post GITM! lol

1978, drunk as a skunk at midnight and stumbling around in the streets of Olongapo, Philippines, I stopped in front of a music store window to goggle at some really shiny Fenler Stratocasters. Through the glass (the place was closed) they looked okay, though I never went back and put my hands on one.

Recently googled Fenler guitars out of curiosity and didn't find any. But there were some amps, typically sold earlier in the 70s to GIs on leave/heading back to the US from Vietnam.

https://reverb.com/item/2460648-fenl...s-black-silver

[Colin_Mac]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

One of my favorite things to look at are the grain lines in the sound hole to see if it's solid or laminated.

The layer of wood under the sound hole is there to add protection, and the grain lines won't typically match those on the top. Doesn't mean it isn't a solid top guitar though, or a fake.

[Silurian]

I would be fairly confident about spotting a fake acoustic. I wouldn't trust myself to spot fake electrics though, there are some convincing fakes of vintage Gibson and Fender models on the market.

[JKA]

A good indicator that a guitar may be a fake is the truss rod. Of course you would need to know what the genuine article looks like in the first place. It's unlikely you will be able to tell without inspecting the guitar physically, unless it was blatantly obvious from a photograph.

[warfrat73]

Originally Posted by Colin_Mac

The layer of wood under the sound hole is there to add protection, and the grain lines won't typically match those on the top. Doesn't mean it isn't a solid top guitar though, or a fake.

There are some guitars that do have a soundhole reinforcement on the underside that could potentially be confused with a plywood top... like the of the top like this recent Oska Burman build in the custom shop thread (not that people are likely to mistake the top on a high-end custom as being laminated... I just used this example because I remembered seeing it last night):


But those aren't terribly common.

On the other hand, the layers of a laminated top are also plainly visible on many guitars.

Originally Posted by JKA

t's unlikely you will be able to tell without inspecting the guitar physically, unless it was blatantly obvious from a photograph.

Many of them, of course (particularly acoustics), are blatantly obvious. There are periodic threads here inquiring about fake Martins in particular. There's frequently little doubt for someone with even a fair amount of experience, and people on the forum are usually all over it...

[jwellsy]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

1978, drunk as a skunk at midnight and stumbling around in the streets of Olongapo, Philippines,

They certainly had some great sounding bands in the bars there.
In 78/79 I had many missions across the river and drinking orange soda on the way back the next morning.
Were you part of that hostage rescue attempt?

[difalkner]

A guy I worked with in the early 80's asked me to go to a pawn shop and check out a D-28 to see if it was a good deal. I walked into the shop and asked about a few guitars but didn't see a D-28. When I asked about the Martin hanging behind the counter he handed it to me and told me it was a great deal on a D-28.

I played it for a few minutes and looked at the neck block to confirm what I knew it was, a D-18. It also had the serial number gouged out and when I pointed out these two glaring issues to the pawn shop owner he took the guitar back and told me to leave his store. My friend didn't buy the guitar, btw.

_________________________________________________

In the mid 70's a guy I worked with came back into the plastics plant where we worked and said there was a guy in the parking lot selling Bulova watches. My co-worker had just bought one for $25 and when he showed it to me I told him that the watch said 'Bolivia', not Bulova. He ran outside but the guy was gone. I got a good chuckle out of that one!

[Colin_Mac]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

There are some guitars that do have a soundhole reinforcement on the underside that could potentially be confused with a plywood top... like the of the top like this recent Oska Burman build in the custom shop thread (not that people are likely to mistake the top on a high-end custom as being laminated... I just used this example because I remembered seeing it last night):

Here's a close up of the sound hole rim of one of my Lowdens:


They have done a good job of matching up the two pieces, but it is clearly not a single piece of wood.

But that makes sense. If a guitar has sound hole reinforcement then leaving the top thicker in that area, to provide reinforcement, means throwing away a lot of premium wood from the rest of the top where it is the normal thickness.

It is true, though, that if a guitar doesn't have reinforcement then it's relatively easy to spot a laminated top.

[tinnitus]

Originally Posted by tinnitus

Great post GITM! lol

1978, drunk as a skunk at midnight and stumbling around in the streets of Olongapo, Philippines, I stopped in front of a music store window to goggle at some really shiny Fenler Stratocasters.
...

Originally Posted by jwellsy

They certainly had some great sounding bands in the bars there.
In 78/79 I had many missions across the river and drinking orange soda on the way back the next morning.
Were you part of that hostage rescue attempt?

Nope, I was an Air Traffic Controller on fixed-wing aircraft carriers, and mine was out of cycle (back in San Deigo) during Operation Eagle Claw.

Yes, the Sierra Club on Magsaysay Blvd. had some crazy-talented bands. To my knowledge, they weren't playing on the counterfeit "Fenler and Gibson" junk that a plastered Sailor or Marine might buy next door.

Though legit gear was probably out of the financial reach of those players, the big club owners could easily cough up a few thousand for real Strats, Les Pauls and various tube-powered stacks. This might keep a smokin' hot house-band in months of indentured servitude, serving up note-perfect Foreigner, Eagles, Boston, Aerosmith, BÖC, Zep, Floyd, Skynyrd, Sabbath concerts every single night in packed clubs (that would give any American fire marshall PTSD).

I'll never forget a skinny 5-foot-tall fellow at the Astro Club in platform sneakers playing some freaking serious Daune Allman slide guitar, note for note, adding extended improv solos.

I saw all the huge groups that toured in the US back then, and those Olongapo club bands performed some of the tightest live music I've heard anywhere.

[stormin1155]

If you look under the truss rod cover and there is no truss rod... probably a fake.


If Quality is spelled wrong... probably a fake.