Counterfeit Guitars Are Out Of Control.
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
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Good thing I didn't get duped; I'm happy with my 100% genuine Givson guitar.
Man you got ripped off, only look for chibsons or benders
It should be great if its named Givsom
same man Im so happy my 100% legit tender is not a fake
i actually bought a fake gibson lol, i really liked it xD It was actually much better quality for what I payed than I would have gotten if I didn't buy it from china. (and bought a legit crap brand imported by a guitar shop)
Play authentic
You won’t find me getting stung like that, I’ll stick with my Fender Les Paul
Omfg ;D
Eric B Jesus, do all jokes go right over your head? Mong!
@Eric B 🤣🤣🤣
@Eric B ahem. r/whooosh
@@slowdriver6868 Shoo, Shoo, go back to reddit you overweight neckbeard.
I just got a real les paul that I thought was fake due to the low quality. It's real.
You gotta burn REAL into it.
Hahahaha
@G L true, I still love my epi though don't get me wrong
@G L Nah, I would sell it first and buy 4 or 5 epiphones. Seriously though, I will hold it for a while until I can trade it for something a lot better.
My best guitar is a 95 les paul special. I wouldn't trade that one for pretty much anything. It's pretty sad the direction they at Gibson have gone.
Maybe it is a 98. I have to check.
Actually heard this one a few times, so I hate to say it's not just you. Love my Epi SG.
Darn, I just found out my used First Act Guitar is a fake. I knew $2.50 was too good to be true!
You're funny :)
😂
I've actually seen a couple fake First Act guitars. They were all rip-offs of that Volkswagen guitar they did in the 2000's for some reason.
@@bigted1953 What a weird thing to comment. Why are you so upset?
@@bigted1953 Sure, but someone posted a dad joke about First Act guitars being cheap, and themself being silly; you responded by saying that if a poor African child played a First Act guitar, they would be better than the person who made the joke if they played a Les Paul. You don't see how randomly commenting that to a stranger unprompted could come across as a little bit very, very bizarre and confusing? It's like if someone posted, "Oh boy, I sure do love fried chicken!" and I responded with, "I bet you could NEVER outrun a chicken, and even teenagers from Mexico can do that! Your comment was bad!" I mean, it's not offensive, or funny, or even sensical; it's just sort of confusing, and a little bit embarrassing to read. It's odd. I think thats the best way to describe it; it's just odd.
Mayonnaise IS an instrument
M M i got the patrick reference 😂😂😂
I'm almost positive that Mayones is actually how they pronounce Mayonnaise in Slavic countries as well XD
I would play a guitar like that with relish...
@@anvil777 In Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian etc. it does, it's very very close
Yes, but I think this is Miracle Whip.
Now the Chinese will start branding their fakes with a "fake" logo to copy your KYG guitars.....
😂😂😂🤣🤣
And then they'll be brought into the shop and branded FAKE FAKE...
At least they would be honest?
this is my Phillip McKnight Signature Edition Counterfeit Gibson Les Paul... i got a GREAT deal on it, dude...
I don't see why they have to, as some of the stuff is pretty good. I bought a Grote guitar for $250 and I think it's a fantastic guitar, has a nice finish on it and is I think very good quality. It's not a Les Paul, but it plays and sounds great (After swapping the pickups for Alnico II).
One way to tell if your Gibson Les Paul is real is if the G String won't stay in tune. :-)
mine does
It's true they don't.
@Jimmy Durex we are all wankers, especially the ones of us that are married.
不死川喜子 i got some news for you buddy
Put Big Bends Nut Sauce in the nut slot.
I got Steve Vai to sign my fake Jem. He did it with a smile too.
Haha
Did you know it was fake at the time?
He probably fake signed it...
I hope this is true, because that’s actually pretty funny lol
@ThePaul Steezo Actually it was a fake Vai~ It's Steal Five.
If you think about it, FAKE would be an awesome name for a premium guitar company!
The E is silent.
Why not they already make music books.
"Fake" guitars would be bought by wanna-be blues guitarists, resulting in "Fake Blues"....
@@goodun6081 this has officially become a running gag!😁
I approve this idea, and would play Fake Guitars.
Good video! You can tell he’s really passionate about this. It makes sense when you love guitar gear to be mad when you see someone have a bad experience with it, it would really upset you.
Beautiful top? - Okay, that's a matter of taste. To me it looks like a piece of rotten, moldy cheddar...
"The only free cheese is in the trap."
Yeah, I got trapped by quality.
This mayonnaise guitar doesn't pass mustard.
Lol
So it's not mayonnaise it's Miracle Whip
@G. V. Quinn "Pass" and "cut" can both be used interchangeably in that phrase. However, it's "muster," not mustard. But that'd ruin the joke
These fake guitars are not something you would relish. The quality will never ketchup to a real guitar.
@@markcheetah4960 its a condiment joke dude!😉
Buy an entry level Ibanez, Squier or Yamaha, dependable machines with great QC. You'll spend less and end up with much a nicer axe than you would if buying on Ali etc.
This. Exactly.
Today's Squire are amazing, good fret job, nice woods, beautiful series to choose 🤘Indonesian made are the best (for me) 👊
Pacifica 👏🏽👏🏽
@Richard Hodgson i love my Pacifica. I have an IBANEZ prestige and i can tell you that Pacifica is a serious vfm guitar
You could also save up and look for a good used guitar in great condition
Just last week I went to check out a Suhr Guthrie Govan Signature model from a Cragslist ad. We met at a Taco Bell near his house. So, the first thing I noticed when he walked in was it was in a gigbag. Red flag #1. The first thing I did was to loosen all the strings to feel the machine heads, which felt loose and cheap, Red flag #2. The fit and finish was worse than a $100 Epiphone. Red flag # 3. I then pulled out a screw driver to remove a pickup, he said no. Red flag #4. I asked to remove the neck, he also declined. Red flag #5. I asked how much he paid for it, he said he traded it for a motorcycle, no receipt. Red flag #6. I handed it back and went to the counter to buy a four pack of tacos, which was more valuable than the guitar.
Its always a slap in the face when someone makes a fake of such a niche instrument. I played both real and fake Shawn Lane Vigiers before and it was like driving a Ford Model T vs a Ferrari. Same with those Sterling JP 7 strings when compared to the EBMM JP 7s. (Disclaimer: sterlings are beyond fine entry levels)
You attempted to make a craigslist transaction inside the taco bell? What?
Was his selling price on par with what they go for used?
Sorry but you ended up buying fake tacos, I'm Mexican and I know a lot of tacos and those are fake 😳
@@iranhernandez6659 You should do a youtube channel about spotting fake tacos. I'd watch the hell out of that.
There’s nothing “beautiful” about the top. It looks like Kansas Pisswood.
Like gangrenous jungle rot. Not a fan.
It may be the camera.
Hey, Pisswood has some excellent tonal qualities.
Yeah looks like it's covered in green mold with guitars u get what u pay for it looks extremely cheap
I guess that depends on if you like the color green. I don't love that top but I certainly like it.
"Learn to recognize quality..." Best advice ever.
Western guit builders are pricing themselves out of buisness, I owned Gibson BC Rich, And Fender in the 40 yrs I've played, now its all Squires, and whatever plays nice
@Michael Miller Yeah, but still, the process is almost entirely automated due to advances in CNC machines- the first cars were unobtainable due to being hand crafted and expensive, but when Ford developed the assembly line prices dropped like a rock. Today Gibson shits out guitars faster than a race horse.
And figure this- a basic USA made car cost the same as a basic Korean/Japanese car, so why aren't our instruments the same way?
LTD/Shecter for me.
@Michael Miller why would i do that when i can buy a used USA strat for less than 800?
Agreed. Own all of those except gibson. Just waiting on tha right one
@@wyvern4588 Ford didn't invent the assembly line. The first assembly lines were set up to build military rifles in the 1800's once machining allowed gun manufacturers to produce interchangeable parts.
@@johnjriggsarchery2457 Interesting, I'm sure Ford was the first to build cars in that fashion though.
Through years of buying vintage and antique items, and now guitars, for my personal enjoyment, I have learned to never let anyone rush me. I take it as a red flag, then I walk away. There will always be another guitar. A better guitar. Great video, Phil. very informative. Cheers from Alberta.
Phil, i just felt the urge to tell you how much respect i have for you and your channel, your sense of fairness and responsibility, and your great choice of content for us guitar-geeks out there... keep doing your thing, please! I am finally "getting to know my gear"... thanks so much.
My favorite part is always the vacuum cameo.. "keep your work area clean"
Phil, you ever want to tend bar you got a job with me based on that principle alone!! That is so important.
Great content as always brother! Thanks for keeping us entertained and informed!
How do we know this is really you in the video?
There's no "FAKE" anywhere on his dome.
his appendages are functional when 3:06 he gets to work 😂
I have bought 2 really well made guitars from Ali. Both under 300, a Chibson and a Chender. I am a working father of 4 so my budget doesn't allow me to spend Gibson's ridiculous prices. So I bought 2 well made guitars, one of which needed zero upgrades, surprisingly.
Have you ever heard of layaway and financing?
Beware when sanding paint on these fake guitars because it may contain lead, thanks for the vid!
Ahmad Ghassan lead’s fake too. No worries mate
And new strains of Beastman AIDS
What burns me is when I see these guys selling Chibson Les Pauls at flea markets priced like real ones..and unknowing people get duped. I try to warn people when I can. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. Know your gear! And yes I know some China Les Pauls are okay for some people..but they should not be copying logos and brands. It's against the law. It's when they try to sell them as the real thing that gets out of hand. I've seen lots of people spend large amounts of money on fake Gibsons. Be careful.
I agree100% I seen my local guitar center selling a used fake LP for over a $1000 about a year ago, they didn't want to hear it when I told them. I was at another guitar center recently about 40 min from home and the had a fake Burton for $1699, I told them to call Ed and he'd confirm that it was indeed a fake, they actually actually asked me if I could leave the store. Dangerous out here in the guitar buying world.
I buy direct and make sure the paperwork proves it is real and not a fake. At least I do know my Kiesel is real since I bought it from the Kiesel factory. Bought my Suhr from dealer and had the paperwork and serial number.
Mythoillogical What a stupid fuckin comment!
@@jeffwyatt2256 You should report them to the police, it must be illegal to sell counterfit goods and present them as the real deal in the US, they even raid people selling counterfit goods in China.
The problem with Gibson in particular is that the real ones are so poorly made, how are you supposed to tell them from the fakes?
Thank you for posting this video Phil. Folks do need to be educated. I've seen the knock offs and even played a few and you can tell by poor quality, poor wiring and poor electronics/ pick ups.
BTW... You look great Phil. Keep up with the weight loss journey, I'm on one myself.
You'd think most people could tell by the horrid electronics. However I've seen people swear to me a $200 Dean sounded better than a custom shop Les Paul.
Many people have dead ears. People don't know what good guitar gear even sounds like around where I live. I've never even seen a tube amp in person or for sale. All solid state and cheap Schecters.
I say, buying fakes is fine so long as you dont try to resell it as a genuine
Exactly. NO one that has a clue is (a) going to be fooled by one or (b) think they're getting a Les Paul for $175.
I was at a guitar store in San Antonio checking out what I thought was an older Les Paul like 50's relic. And I noticed this little gap be tween the b and s in ths Gibson Insignia. Well it was fake and going for $500. It was made but a local guitar maker, very cool though. I paid $500 for '75 LP, but it was real, thank God.
Agreed... some of these Chinese made guitars are a steal at the price these days.
Eddie Perez wish I could have seen it. Sounds interesting
NO
Thanks for addressing this really serious issue ... always good info in your content !
You have a good heart, that’s why I continue to tune in. Love ya, Bro!
I've got a 1979 Fender Stratocaster that pretends to be a guitar.
What is it really? Boat anchor?
I had one too. Real POS. The neck would move sideways and the string would fall off the fret board. It makes me LOL when is see people selling them on line. I sold that guitar and purchased a 1973 SG which I still have.
@@stringspicksandfiddlestick6388 Yep. I always advise anyone who wants a good '70s Fender to buy a reissue - cheaper, better made, better sounding.
Mine's "worth" about £2k, but you can walk in to any guitar shop, pay £300 and get a 'Strat' that'll be ten times better in every way.
@@somebodyelseuk My Moto:"Just because it's old don't mean it's good."
I had a 1975- heavy as concrete. My friend had a $100 no-name strat that absolutely blew it away!
“High end guitars have quality detail work”? I’ve seen quite a bit of crappy fretwork on Gibsons over the past 20 years...
Gibson and Fender are not high end except in price anymore.
One thing no one ever comments on is that in their salad days American guitars were sold by dealers, usually at full list price, fifty per cent markup but for that the dealers were expected to set the guitar up and do whatever was needed. Most dealers would put an hour or two into a guitar when it came in from the factory or distributor. When mailorder and big box stores became the primary vendors that went away.
They did say high end guitars, so really, using Gibson isn't fair.
Jackson custom shop has been quite atrocious the last year or two also. They must have one guy in there that dgaf
Totally I see crappy fret work on expensive guitars all the time
FOR SOMEONE WHO WORKS WITH AUDIO IV GOTTA SAY THE LEVELS IN THIS VIDEO ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE !
Stuart White STILL BETTER THAN SHOUTING ALL THE TIME!
Also gotta' love how he fux up the intro with what sounds like 'clicking' digital dropout errors instead of typing or printing noises = what a loon. "Woo I'm so incompetent even my intro sounds busted" HAHA
I respect companies like Harley Benton because while they try to imitate more expensive guitars at least they have the integrity to use their name instead of Gibson Ibanez Etc...And some of them are decent guitaes.. just not quite up to par with the real thing
Harley Benton makes excellent low-end guitars. Like, if you want a beginner/project/beater guitar, they're totally the way to go. But they also don't advertise themselves as being a premium instrument.
@@Kylora2112 not my experience with them at all. I bought a multiscale 6 string that was completely unplayable out of the box. And being shipped in from Germany made it even more of a hassle to return. Maybe I got a dud. But it was a terrible dud.
@@ds97853 how dare people talk about imitation guitars on a video about imitation guitars
@@ds97853 anyone that likes anything you dont like is obviously a shill duh
@@ds97853 thats a very strange response coming from someone that unfairly deemed someone else a shill
I used to work for GC in a large city and we had some really good guitar guys who could spot fakes and would turn them away.... However, my local GC where I live now (much smaller store) keeps getting hit with fakes (I even tell them that they are fakes), not only guitars, but high end pedals as well (Klons)!! Of course when I tell them they are fake, they use the excuse that the serial number checked out... Ugh, the serial number will always check out because that's what they used to copy!! Buyer Beware!!!
@TJFriddell - So some GC stores are selling knockoff or "fake" high end guitars and gear ?
@@jasoncardona1799 fake that they aren't aware of.. i noticed it and they just brushed it off.. oh well...
@GretschDog ....LMFAOOOOO!
TJ Friddell yea not going to be buying from them. What a scam.
@@joerobinson6199 I believe we need GC. They keep prices in check for us... I make a point to spend in the local ones to keep them in business, mostly small stuff like strings. Sure they are far from perfect but so is all the other retailers...
So, Now I know what to name my boutique guitar company... FAKE.
I have your marketing slogan - "Fake it til ya make it". Cut me in for a percentage ha ha.
FAKE for the discerning consumer.
I saw a chibson ( a really bad one as well) in a pawn shop with a 2500 dollar price tag on it. I alerted the owner of the store, because I thought maybe he bought it from someone and didn't know it was fake, and he may have been out a bunch of money. His answer to me was, he knew it was fake. He was selling it on consignment for someone who would gladly take 800 dollars for it! But he told me he hoped someone who didn't know it was fake would just buy it, or maybe someone would pick it up and accidently damage it and he would be able to demand them pay for the guitar. There are crooks out there! Sad that nowadays the untrained eye can be fooled, even myself I wasn't aware the guitar was fake until I started playing it, and it didn't seem right.
sad, but nothing new. people have been selling knock-off instruments for centuries. just look at all the hype over stradivarius violins. keep your eyes open
People who knowingly sell counterfeit goods should be reported to ICE - Counterfeit Goods section.
why didn't you call Gibson? it's against the law , co assign or what ever he calls it, it's still breaking the law.
@@teemoleague907 didn't know it was.
I have a “Strat” I got on eBay that came packaged by a 3 year old and when I took it out the logo, serial, Made in, etc. we’re all stickers. I contacted the guy and he gave the run around to the point where I figured, “this is officially my mess around” Guitar. I did my first relic job on it and outside of a horrendous neck (which I’ll replace one day), it’s not the saddest day of my life. But you’re dead on that people have no issue ripping others off if there’s money to be made. I actually almost submitted it for a sharpen my axe, but it’s far from saving at this point, lol.
Damn!!! Doesn't eBay have any sort of recourse for you, besides just beingg able to give the guy a bad review?
you should have contacted Ebay and got your money back from that ass wipe
That may be a fake Mayones, but it is technically a real guitar. 😉
haha
True
tswc42 a genuine POS guitar! A good tech can often make a crap guitar play well so long as the neck doesn’t twist and bend like a pretzel.
tswc42 good job man what a revelation
Right. The title of this video is misleading.
After watching this video, I am now currently building a series of guitars called "Mustard'!!
Putting maple in a guitar ruins tone, especially a maple cap on the body. It's all a co$metic $cam. If they cared about tone it would B an all mahogany instrument =)
How I wish there`s somebody like you here in our country. You really do a good job sharing information especially on music matters. Keep it up!
Superb video thanks ! I have seen plenty of "Chibsons" & knock off Fenders but no idea they faked "boutique" brands . Makes sense & makes me very wary , potentially shopping for a used Fano or similar ...
I hear what you're saying, but when I was in Eastern Europe I went to this guitarist's house and he let me play his strat. It said Fender and looked right, except the side dots were a little bigger than usual. I played it for a while, examined it up and down and I'll be damned if it wasn't as good or better than my $1000 American Standard strat, both in feel and sound. I asked him about it and he says, "Not Fender...Chinatown. Two hundred dollars." That's like 100 American dollars. So there are good copies out there, and frankly Gibson and Fender get away with murder for what they charge. I don't like the idea of stealing logos or duping people into spending more than they should, but I also think there need to be more brands doing blatant Gibson and Fender copies with a different logo and the quality of that strat I played at that price point, because it can be done, apparently, and there's no reason to spend a grand to get a guitar like that.
Alex Hand I think the point is if you buy something thats pretending to be something else then its not cool because your are being deliberately deceived right off the bat. If they made their own brand that were copies of a Fender of Gibson style fair enough but at least then you know what you are buying.
I see a lot of comments about how USA guitars are just stupidly priced and I always think thats just how much it costs for someone earning a decent wage to make an instrument. Plus how much a guitar costs its more than just the parts its about the skill of the person making it and how much they get paid for their skills and how many they can make.
Yeah but I bet the pickups and wiring were dogshit.
DexterLlew true. Most guitars are made in Asia now, though I prefer to support local jobs. I wish Americans were making enough on average to buy American made stuff but that’s another story. Someday Asia will catch up and pay their workers similar wages to US, and then we’ll order our Somali strats to our apartments in Indonesia. In the meantime, right now there are excellent guitars coming from Asia whether we like it or not.
chaz32 if they were, I guess a Chinese company figured out how to make those pickups sound like what comes standard on a US Fender. I played it for 20 mins and I’ve been a professional player for 12 years. I know something about this.
For years, the Japanese did exactly that. Companies like Tokai built terrific copies of Stratocasters and Les Paul's and slapped their logos on them. Back in the late 70s, the lawyers started slapping them with lawsuits, and that brought an end to that era. But I would easily trade a 2018 Gibson USA Les Paul for a mid-70s Tokai Les Paul. They are awesome instruments.
Thanks Phillip, as always great job
Love this video. I'm glad your customer came away with a decent playing guitar after being tricked. Keep up the great videos!!
Finally know how to pronounce that brand! Cheers mate!
This is the first video I've ever seen about fakes. Great info, Phil. Thanks.
Hey man i appreciate this alot. You seem passionate about this and educating people on this can only bring good.
Very informative video my man. Thank you for all your hard work and time making quality videos for people like me to help us. I wish you all the success in the world sir.
I’m a much bigger fan of import brands just starting their own brand. Some of the fakes looked at as 200-300 guitar would be decent just not as a 1000 guitar.
Yeah... My air guitar... but that's just a knockoff Explorer
I bought an air guitar that turned out to be farts - not real air at all. What a rip off!
Is that the one that Joe Cocker once owned?
@A. Fox 😂
I got a low end Ibanez knockoff I modded with a high gain humbucking pick up (I do not need to use the other single coils), put Grover tuners, installed good quality hardware and electric shielding. I had a luthier to put it in its tracks with intonation and truss rod setup and pronto: best guitar any amateur would want.
This is the first video of yours I've ever watched, and I love your perspective. Thank you!
Great video. I like to look at used gear on Facebook marketplace, but I am still nervous about not knowing enough and getting scammed with a fake.
Yes, quite a few fakes on FB yard sale. No such thing as a Gibson replica.
Thanks for sharing. Even fake nice looking guitar but good no one else will be duped.
Excellent points, Phillip. I'd add that what I find, fairly often, with knockoffs, is not simply poor fit and finish, which is, sadly, more and more common on any big name, high production, factory made product, but, as you say, the details. I get a lot of offshore guitars in the shop, and do my best to bring out the potential, hoping the customer can end up with a great playing guitar that is still well under the price of a famous brand product. While I have had perfectly fine knockoffs, like an American Alder SX tele with 1/4 sawn maple neck, 2 way truss rod, great pickups, excellent fret job, fine tuners, excellent finish, I had to wade through a half a dozen to find this ONE good one. All it really needed was a bone nut and graphtech saddles, which I put on everything I can. But what I often find is the fakes cannot be intonated, accurately. The placement of the bridge, or the scale of the neck, or both, is just off, ever so slightly that it is impossible to ever dial in perfect intonation. Other details I find, fairly regularly, are the tuners may not be lined up; the nut slot may not be cut square; the access hole to the truss rod may not be large enough or may be off center or both, so you'd be looking at quite a bit of work to correct these flaws. Most of these details are not apparent to an excited buyer; they can only be found when it's on the slab, ready for mods and upgrades. American parts will not fit offshore guitars, and I often find expensive, quality parts on cheap guitars, and they do not help because they do not fit. I recently had to undo all of the rather expensive upgrades to a rare, badass, limited edition Indonesian Squier Strat. When I got it back to stock, it was perfectly fine, and still inexpensive for the playing quality. The last area that distinguishes cheap knockoffs from the real deal is the quality of the wood. The top name factory builders and boutique builders select the best grade, correctly cured woods. The cheapo brands don't bother; consequently that (now) great looking neck may warp or twist after a few years. (Got one sitting right here, now). Not such a problem with a bolt on, but end of the line with a set neck. All in all, I agree with you on the main points. I hate fake anything, and have never respected ripoffs. Building a reliable, stable, perfectly fine guitar shouldn't break the bank. You just have to consider what is worth while. By the way, my dear old friend, the late, great Larry Coryell showed up with a Cort guitar, once. I asked if he had fallen on hard times, and he laughed and explained that Cort had been around for a long time, building all grades of guitars for lots of brands, and that ALL of these big factories build guitars for all levels of players, from beginners to pros. His signature Cort is an example of the top quality products they can, and will, make.
I sharpened a mex strat from watching your videos. The guitar had scratches and water damage. Replace all the electronics with new loaded pick guard and Trem , Fender tuners and bone nut. I sanded the neck to almost bare and filed the frets. Decided to leave the Mexican decal serial number on it just because I think all I’ve done to it makes it more valuable and I don’t want anyone to think I’m trying to pull anything over on them if I decide to sell it
3:06 put a warning before showing such murder
That’s a legit jumpscare
Aaahhhhh.
I have a theory that many of these Chinese factories, at least the better ones from which I've seen some actually good quality knock offs, are the factories that have been the offshore places making the Epiphone line, LTD line, some of the Squier line and many of the budget line of the major brands, for years and we've all been duped by the big brands for years. They are now pissed off the cat is out of the bag and Joe Public like me or anyone can purchase direct and not get gouged anymore.
Similar in many ways to the old lawsuit era of Ibanez (Mann, Greco), Tokai to name a few.
A few years back, based on some info a friend in the business gave me, I bought a low priced SX Strat body guitar. When I got it, I pulled it apart to 'tech' it and make sure everything checked out. The guitar was $180 to my door. The wood was a solid piece of Alder, the Tobacco Burst finish, to this day, is as good or better than any Fender, when I popped the tuners out and took off the SX branded covers, surprise, they were Schallers, the three pots had the Fender 'F' logo on the back, the neck was a decent piece of Maple. I'll bet that factory builds stuff for Fender.The pickups were junky. Replaced them with some GFS Lil' Killer Humbucker Rails, put some 500k pots, and I had an Alvarez Ibanez looking Rosewood 22 (Jumbo) fret neck that I put on it and for about $350, it's a killer guitar.
Another friend who had been in the biz for years, manufactured guitars with their own company, knew people who worked at Fender, told him straight up, Fender Custom Shop are simply the best of the assembly line guitars, with 'flawless' bodies, aesthetically nice neck wood pieces, pulled from the assembly line, then given individual attention such as finishes, detailed setups, higher detail attention to frets, whatever other little features and BS they can 'sell' you and the prices are jacked up to $3k or $4k, or more. It's a joke.
MediaJunkie guitarfetish's Xaviere guitars are nice, right out of the box. I have three and love them. They come stock with the GFS pickups, already.
MediaJunkie, I think you hit the nail on the head, for the most part. Those Lawsuit-era companies didn’t cease making guitars, they just altered them. Many overseas factories build products for multiple markets in multiple nations. So it’s very possible that the same group of workers who built Squier a few months back are producing Cort products for the next town over this month.
Sneedy Ketler-Baumbach I was going to suggest looking at Cort guitars as a budget friendly way for people to get an excellent guitar. Cort makes guitars for many of the household brands. They also sell their own branded stuff. And they do build fantastic guitars.
100% Correct on the Fender part, PRS is the same way.
It's no secret that the custom shop guitars are cherry picked parts and given more attention to fit and finish. That's the whole point of buying one and everything I've seen or read about them points to that. It's not like they advertise that they have Leo Fender clones had picking trees in some forest, winding pickups by hand, and hand carving bodies.
Nice work and you actually made it look better.. Even branded fake the guy must have left as a happy customer.
I am learning so much from this channel. Thanks for a great site!
Dang, I don't know. That burned in fake makes the instrument look pretty ugly. Maybe it would make more sense to do it on a non visible place
@A D I've actually seen guitars branded fake in the neck pocket. I think in place of the serial # would make sense
If crap frets make for a fake guitar, then ALL Les Pauls are fake:)
FACTS.
Poor finish, too!
Nothing wrong with the frets on my 2014 Les Paul Studio. There's no sprout or dead spots. Didn't like the granadillo fingerboard until I realized it compliments the wine red finish. The only problem it had was the bridge pickup was a little microphonic, but I removed the chrome cover and it fixed the problem, plus I like the way it looks with an exposed bridge pickup.
You misspelled, "I'm an idiot who doesn't know anything about guitars.". Tried the 2018 Gibsons with the cryogenically treated frets? Touched a 2018 Epiphone LP Custom and checked out the fretwork? How can you tell a bad fret job with the neck binding up over the edges of them? Hmmm? Moron.
come and play the three ones that I own and tell me if they are fake....:)
subscribed. I've been watching videos off your channel for the past 3 days and I really enjoy them. Great care is taken and you are doing your homework. Appreciate the hard work.
Great advice. I've bought a lot of used guitars, and feel lucky to have never gotten ripped off like this.
Oh man Joe Bonamassa is gonna be mad that you got everyone popping their neck pockets!
After checking my neck pocket, I'm going to plug into my 19-pedal pedalboard and do a bunch of divebombs.
@@gdawgs101 yeah. he thinks guitars can lose their mojo if you take the neck off.
Also, he claimed people who use pedals suck at guitar for some reason
@@2beJT I believe he said pedals hide bad playing. For instance the Edge is labeled as a great guitar player although he uses about three or more delay pedals and power chords.
Yeah, but Eric Johnson can allegedly tell the difference in what battery brands folks use in their Fuzz Faces and what have you.
But JB is okay. Always the Pontiac of blues guitarist.
Here's how I look at bolt-on necks: those screws have to bite into fresh wood every time they're re-inserted, so either make a dedicated attempt to put it together and leave it that way, or use better fasteners like nice guitars are supposed to. If all your fittings are metal-on-metal, you could probably dismantle the guitar daily for years and still not have serious wear on the parts. If it's just wood screws straight into the neck, though, then yeah, it gets a bit sloppier, a bit less stable every time. (Of course it can be repaired but that's a whole different issue.)
I found this exact guitar on AliExpress for $430
Ouch, I'd rather have my $89 SX guitar...
Jeff Bradford that’s ridiculous. And you Chibson buyers are at fault for bringing them into the country and some of you dare to sell them as the real thing. Not just Chibsons but a lot of brands.
Joe Robins I don’t own any fake guitars. All I said was I found it. I wouldn’t buy anything from AliExpress. When Phil said it was fake that was the most common place I’ve heard to look
so must be about a 3500-5000 guitar judging by that price.
I guess it’s sometimes cheaper to buy a fake guitar than it is to source the parts locally. If guitar companies stopped ripping people off they wouldn’t have this problem !! Brands like Schecter deserve to survive as they offer incredible value compared to Gibson and Fender.
I have watched lots of your stuff and find it all interesting and well-though out. I made videos professionally so I can see the preparation behind the result. Well done! Keep it up!
Another great video 👍 from what I’ve seen generally the attention to detail on fakes is usually focused on the things you see - the shape/colour etc. So if in doubt look at the less obvious things
- fret ends
- truss cover
- nut
- control cavity - looking inside might reveal a lot.
Even really small things like the screws used - do they all match?
- are they placed correctly relative to each other.
I know sometimes its easier said than done to not be fooled but if in any doubt don’t buy it. If its bugging you before you’ve bought it its not going to go away.
The scams are really out of hand these days. I've gotten to where I don't trust anything I see online and I'm becoming suspicious of things I see in stores. I recently was looking for a rental property and most of the craigslist ads I called about were actually scams! I don't remember ever experiencing that before.
That's a big thing in the northeast, some rental ads are even fake without even having a scam associated to it lol
I’m planning on getting a strat from warmoth and slapping fenders logo and hardware on it. Just to have my own signature “fender Stratocaster”!
Wilhelm The Conquerer I had Warmoth make me a neck for my homemade Broadcaster. If you do that you will end up with a guitar of a quality that fender doesn't do. If you put the Fender name on it people will know it's not a fender because it is built too good and feels better. Here's a tip. US made Fenders use the same electric as Mexican Fenders. But what you will pay for Fender pickups you can get hand wound pickups that are sweet.
I think they actually pay Fender a licensing fee to use their designs. Honestly though, I'd be willing to pay more for it if I knew it was Warmoth parts, lol.
Just be aware that if you do end up getting rid of the guitar, someone might sell it to someone else as if it were the genuine article.
@@startrekmike first of all, let me just state that my "signature" Strat won't use Fender hardware, or even a Fender logo.
That said, I will eventually build my self the most vintage correct '59 Strat possible using an unfinished Warmoth neck and body, but that's just because I'm not willing to pay 1-2 grand extra just for Fenders custom shop to make it for me, not because I'm planning to sell it.
All that aside, a counterfeit Fender using Warmoth and genuine Fender parts will cost you about as much as an American Fender anyways
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 Well. There is nothing wrong with building your own partscaster using whatever parts you wish but the moment you put a Fender decal on the headstock is the moment you have to be pretty careful about not contributing to a very real counterfeit problem we have in the guitar world.
To put it another way. What steps would you take if you did end up needing to sell it in the unforeseen future? Would you remove the decal since your guitar (made with Fender or Fender licensed parts or not) isn't really a Fender product?
Just ordered a shirt from your actual store.......Love the channel....keep up the great work! Thanks.....
Hey Phillip great video. I learn something every time I watch! Thanks.
Also the big companies are over priced. Got a old 60s Japanese Teisco that feels and sounds amazing ya don't need expensive to sound great
Great video. It's sad seeing how many fakes are all over the internet for sale.
Thanks Phillip for keeping us alert! And that axe now looks awesome
I have always felt that you really love doing these productions and it shows. Keep it up! Send Timmy down to me and we'll jam.
I own a fake strat, i built it ,painted it, did the electrical, the whole 9 yards, its modded to witts end.
Its a fake but its better than the real thing, honestly.
I put my own blood, sweat, and tears into it, its 11 years old this year and its my main axe
it's only fake if you put the fender logo on it and tell everybody is a modded fender, otherwise, is just a badass partcaster!
Doesn’t sound fake to me brother! Sounds like you built your own custom guitar. To me that’s bad ass! Probably better than an official Strat! Lol
@@betty4774 This if it has a Fender logo then it is fake. If you put your own branding on it then it isn't violating any copyrights and can't be considered a fake.
I have a pretty badass Frankenstrat also but I don't consider it a fake at all. All hand built and hand picked parts etc... No logo on it. Not passing it off as something it's not.
It is if it has the same body shape and neck shape just saying if everyone is gonna bitch about it then you gotta go all in .
I didn’t know Mayonnaise even made guitars.
Great video Phil! I’ve seen these on aliexpress along with a whole bunch of other knock offs. Thanks for the insight and info! All the best!
Thanks for this, good info. I buy allot of stuff from reverb
I would like to see a video like this on american "champagne" and "whisky"
Fake alcohol is such a scummy practice, the same with the marijuana and cigar market.
you should do a sharpen my Axe episode on this guitar to soften the blow of finding out their guitar was a fake.
I recently bought a mint condition Samick Malibu MB1 which looks identical to the PRS Strat clone. I only paid $60 for it and it's actually very good quality except for the edges of the frets. It actually comes stock with Grover tuning pegs and it has a sick metallic blue finish. I'm replacing the pick guard with a black pearl SSH one and filing down the frets.
I think this was one of your absolute best vids! Good job here!
They may not have a market if companies like Gibson didn't charge 3K for a Les Paul bass..
Stop whinging. Don't buy a gibson if you don't want to. Nobody cares.
Wow that is a fake one!?
Edit: OH, if you play one it should instantly be noticeable.
A mix of honesty, passion for the guitar and players and skills, even without considering the other content you put online, you're the hero we need
Hey man, really appreciate your videos, getting back into guitars again after a few decades off the sauce, counterfeit guitars weren't an issue before, and imitations were usually identified by their fake sounding name and clearly inferior components. Appreciate the heads-up on these, as I'm looking to spend money on guitars again and dont want to end of being ripped off.
I feel bad for the newbies that may get ripped off buying fakes. That being said, I feel bad for the players who've been around for awhile walking into Guitar Center eyeballing a standard Stratocaster at $800+ that was made in Mexico. Don't hand me the excuse of "Oh, the parts were made in the U.S."; I don't buy that shit! And Gibson's cheap-ass move with that horrid satin finish charging big bucks is nothing less than revolting. People will not pay big bucks for crap and that is why the U.S. big guitar manufacturers are winding up with their dicks in the dirt! People are willing to take a $300 dollar chance, not a $3000 dollar one.
I think, now this is me personally, I would have stained the headstock to match the mahogany body. Make it balanced.
... as all things should be.
ANY guitar where the head does not match the body or the fingerboard should be banned, & the back of the neck should always match the body if the body is painted. The fact guitarists R such foolish retards that they would pay thousands of dollars 4 krap that looks like random spare parts slapped together (most Fenders) speaks volumes about their absurd pothead alcoholic lib-tard nature =))
Your comments certainly make a lot of sense through knowledge and experience. Excellent advice from a pro.
Excellent video. Thanks for watching out for us.
I just bought a 2017, fender Stratocaster, American professional HSS, 20 bucks. It's real!!!!
"Routering" lol
"Furuls"
@@North_9 Sodder
I like that you sanded off the logos and improved it instead of just binning the guitar. At least the owner might get some use out of it.
Wow that's great that you make those guitars play well for them, that's very generous.
Someone is gonna catch one of these guys that will deal with them harshly.
I have a $400 guitar with Seymore Duncan's and locking tuners and it plays and sounds better than a Fender or Les Paul. I changed the strings and pots as well and it's sweet. $4000 ??? Nah!!
Same...It's all in the setup and wiring..
That's cool. I have a Schecter that I gave 700 for with a gator case. It's got Seymour Duncan's on it and it's amazing for the price. All the so called high end guitars are way overpriced.
The thing with cheap instruments in general (not just guitars) is an utter lack of quality control. You may get a really nice one. More likely, you'll get something reasonable, but with one major flaw you have to fix if you want to use that instrument seriously. But from time to time, you'll get something that is just utterly unplayable and should be harvested for parts. When you pay more, you damn well expect NOT to get one of those (although occasionally you still do).
@@mal2ksc There's really no substitute for playing and/or inspecting a guitar before you buy it. Buying stuff online is definitely convenient, but it's impossible to know if you're getting a good one or a dud unless you actually play the exact guitar you are buying.
I have a Schecter $700 guitar and I have an Ibanez $2000 guitar and I can tell you that it’s night and day difference. The Schecter is still very good for the price. It’s just not as good neck action but close enough to be very playable.
Great stuff, thanks very much.