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"Gibson" Les Paul Custom

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:42 pm
by Thom
So I have been looking for an electric here in China for a few weeks and it had not been the most fruitful search. Seems that there are very few left handers in China and none of the legitimate music shops stock lefty guitars.
Anyway, I have seen loads of fakes available on websites such as Trade Tang and heard good things about them from some people who have ordered them from there (mostly on fuckoffsetguitars). Trouble was that those sites are strictly export - cannot get shipping within China. Balls I thought. But I messaged one of the sellers anyway and luckily enough he mailed me and said we could do a deal directly. Even better, he lived about 20 mins down the road from me.
So a couple of days of emails and this evening he drove over to deliver my guitar. Brought a little practice amp with him for me to try out as we did the dodgy deal out of the back of his car :lol:

I have to say that I am more than impressed. I had pretty low expectations, but as long as it worked I was happy to just have a guitar. Turns out that it's faultless. The fit an finish are superb, seriously cannot find fault with it at all, from the binding, inlays, fretwork, tuners, finish, all as good as anything I have seen. In fact better than quite a few genuine Gibsons I have played, but we all know the great QC that they have.
I've only played it through iRig as I'm yet to get a proper amp over here, but it sounds great. Until I plug in properly I won't be able to tell how good the electronics/pickups are, but no complaints so far. In fact they actually have reverse log pots, something neither Gibson or Fender do on their lefty models (have actually only seen it on my also Chinese made Squier CV Tele).

I've always wanted a Custom but the price vs quality has always put me off a genuine Gibson. In this case I honestly don't think I could tell the difference between the two if you were to line them up in front of me.
And the best part of all this...tweed hard case, strap, spare set of D'Addario strings, allen key, and guitar all for approximately £190. Fucking score.

Image

A couple of shitty night-time camera photos followed by the seller's pics:
► Show Spoiler

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:53 pm
by NickD
Looks lovely Thom, and it looks to be really quite a convincing fake - it looks like they are getting so good that you'd want to be careful buying a secondhand Gibson!

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:01 pm
by Thom
NickD wrote:Looks lovely Thom, and it looks to be really quite a convincing fake - it looks like they are getting so good that you'd want to be careful buying a secondhand Gibson!
Cheers Nick. And absolutely - I really don't think I could tell the difference. No doubt you could pass this off as genuine to 90% of people based on surface looks and feel alone.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:05 pm
by Gabriel
That does look nice, apart from the knob and tuning peg placement being a bit off you really wouldn't tell the difference from a genuine Gibson (and with the QC issues with the real deal like you mentioned, it'd be even harder telling).

Looks like a nice deal you got yourself. I've been eyeing up some of the Yuhnzi archtops myself, not quite so cheap but for their spec they are good value.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:22 pm
by rps-10
Looks lovely, even more so with case and stuff. If you ordered off the site for export would it come with the tweed case or just cardboard packaging, or did the selelr chip that in for a local sale?


One dead giveaway of a Chinese guitar, they always come with those nasty cheap leads :lol:

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:30 pm
by Fran
I'm disappointed it doesn't say 'Gibbo' on the headstock :wink:

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:45 pm
by James
Fran wrote:I'm disappointed it doesn't say 'Gibbo' on the headstock :wink:
or 'G*BS*N'

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:47 pm
by Thom
Gabriel wrote:I've been eyeing up some of the Yuhnzi archtops myself, not quite so cheap but for their spec they are good value.
I've been eyeing up loads! At this rate will need an extra shipping container for all the guitars :lol:
rps-10 wrote:Looks lovely, even more so with case and stuff. If you ordered off the site for export would it come with the tweed case or just cardboard packaging, or did the selelr chip that in for a local sale?
You can choose on the site whether you want a case or not I think. I basically got it for the same price minus the shipping costs that they usually bundle in.
Fran wrote:I'm disappointed it doesn't say 'Gibbo' on the headstock :wink:
Have got a marker pen to rectify that ;)

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:48 pm
by Concretebadger
Gabriel wrote:That does look nice, apart from the knob and tuning peg placement being a bit off you really wouldn't tell the difference from a genuine Gibson (and with the QC issues with the real deal like you mentioned, it'd be even harder telling).
I'm not sure what's responsible for that in cases like this: Gibson's patchy QC/build quality, or the improving QC/build quality of Chinese copies. Probably a bit of both!

The fact that it's an obvious fake would make me a bit uncomfortable, but considering how hard it is to find gear generally where you are I can't say I blame you. It looks like a really nice guitar though...especially at that price!

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 2:59 pm
by Noirie.
Holy fuck they even make Trini Lopez and ES-330 copies :o

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:19 pm
by Fran
The RIC copies looked good last time i looked.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:49 pm
by HNB
Only thing I notice is the neck pickup is upside down? I thought the poles showing were supposed to go towards the neck? Looks GREAT though. I have a Rhondo Les Paul style guitar. I had a friend play mine and his and he actually liked mine better. (Mine is the non chambered one with the real 59 in the neck and JB in the bridge.)

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:07 pm
by Joey
Yeh the neck pickup should be reversed

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:25 pm
by TheBurbz
That looks great! The case especially looks magnificent.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:45 pm
by paul_
Doesn't look much like a Gibson up close, more like an Epi with the wrong headstock. No binding nubs, import bridge/switch, etc... it is really nice looking though.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 6:26 pm
by Simon
Looks decent for a copy, although it's like Paul said, looks more like a Epi body with a Gibson headstock. You'll have to let us know what it sounds like through an amp.

Just looked on their site and a little concerned at this - http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Whole ... 90749.html :shock: :shock: :shock:

Upside down Bigsby anyone?!?!?

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 6:43 pm
by rps-10
Can top that wit a Bigsby on a frankenstrat!! :shock:

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Joey wrote:Yeh the neck pickup should be reversed
Thats the seller pics, not actual Thom's guitar. on the seller pics the labeling of the switch is upside down as well :D



Should never have looked, I knew about Chibanez's, but one seller is dishing out copies of the new style FP JEM for £169! and they have up'd the ante, copy Edge trem on it not nasty Floyd copy so at first glance it looks almost genuine. (How much is import tax..?)

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 7:32 pm
by westtexasred
Congrats!

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:18 pm
by hotrodperlmutter
Simon wrote:Looks decent for a copy, although it's like Paul said, looks more like a Epi body with a Gibson headstock. You'll have to let us know what it sounds like through an amp.

Just looked on their site and a little concerned at this - http://www.tradetang.com/for-sale/Whole ... 90749.html :shock: :shock: :shock:

Upside down Bigsby anyone?!?!?
Left harded.

Grats, thom.

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:06 am
by Thomas
Does it have a truss rod Thom? I know that a lot of them don't but this seems to be much better quality. I've heard that the more recent ones are much better quality.