CHINESE LES PAUL COPIES

wwrrss · Post by **wwrrss** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:13 am

Been offered this little fella 3 pickup chinese Les Paul copy labelled Gibson. No other info unfortunately.

The headstock is a Joe Perry Boneyard but that didn't have 3 pickups.

can't tell if the colours match, it looks like something i'd eventually respray in a boring colour, change the knobs and pickup rings etc.
Haven't had a go yet but for Â£120 it might be the cheapo les paul i've always dreamed of.

Anyone had any experience with one of these? anything I should look out for?

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:20 am

Hmmm.

So we all know that Chinese guitars from your average big maker are now very, very good; Squier, Cort, all that lot. HOWEVER: I've heard extremely bad things about Chinese "knock-offs", by which I mean copies of actual models from Gibson and Fender. This could be because they're made to take advantage of silly old people who don't fully understand eBay, never designed to be a slavish copy, just good enough to pass muster on a bunch of fuzzy auction pictures.

Odd that it has three pickups. A common complaint is that there are certain little inaccuracies like top-horn binding, slightly over/undersized pearloid markers and so on, but not that they've put in too many pickups...

So I dunno. The fact that the people complaining about these copy guitars are those who bought them in error believing them to be what they were stated to be might have coloured the complaints a little; maybe they're actually decent Chinese guitars, but not if you paid Â£350 believing you were getting a bargain Chad Kroeger Blackwater signature Les Paul.... douches don't like being taken for douches, after all.

If you can try before you buy, do so. For 120 smackers if the guitar is fine then dew it.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:32 am

I'm about to pick up a Chinese "Gibson" and it will be Â£165 new...just need to arrange a time to go and pick it up.
Check out Trade Tang and you can see a shed load of copies. Someone on fuckoffsetguitars ordered a few and siad they were decent.
For Â£120 I'd go for it.

cur · Post by **cur** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:19 pm

When the guitar shop down the street get these as trade-ins, they drill a 1/2 inch hole through the Gibson on the headstock. Then they put them on the floor for sale as used. I strummed on one time and it was fine.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:50 pm

There was one in my local shop (lol) that was poor quality. It looked the part but didn't play great. I'd rather go for something like an old Hondo II than one of them, similar price.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:12 pm

Fran wrote:There was one in my local shop (lol) that was poor quality. It looked the part but didn't play great. I'd rather go for something like an old Hondo II than one of them, similar price.

I've had about the same impression of an Gibson Ultra copy I came across in a pawn shop. It looked alright but after playing it, it became clear that the bridge posts had been drilled in crooked and the fretwork was all sorts of wrong. It was bad enough for me not to even bother paying the $100 they were asking, even if I was going to just strip it for parts. On the other hand, I found a LP Custom copy that was alright, save for some minor finish issues and blatantly wonky headstock shape.

I think your mileage is going to vary a lot with these. I would not pay for one without seeing it in the flesh.

If you do go for it though, you're aware that the 'Y' in yard is going to have to change to an 'H', right?

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 5:08 pm

I got one as a trade a while back, and it was a decent enough guitar. Put some random electronics (GFS LP wiring kit, and 2 random HB's I had at home) into it. It sounded nice enough, but I couldn't get along with the fact that it was a fake, so I sold it for $250 and moved on.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:23 pm

Picked mine up today and it's awesome.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:44 pm

THAT LOOKS THE BUSINESS! Is this a solid one or one of the hollow ones with the cap steam stretched over? When you change strings have a look under the pickups. How's the wiring etc? Would like to see pics of the details (wiring, break angle of headstock etc).

Looking forward to a full review, should you wish to do one

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:51 pm

It's solid because it's heavy as fuck!
Just posted a thread about it - haven't opened it up yet but will post pics when I do