Chinese guitar knock-offs... opinions?

Dpoirier

Dpoirier

Fractal Fanatic
My brother was given a xmas gift by his brother in law - a 1959 reissue Les Paul custom. He showed it to me and I was in awe. Perfect neck, perfect fit, perfect guitar. I could not plug it in and try it out in an amp (we were at a family reunion), but other that the amplified tone, this guitar is the nicest custom LP I've ever laid eyes on. Then he gave me the punchline: it's a $350 Chinese clone. Illegal, surely, because it has the Gibson logo, a serial number, and made in the USA in the back of the headstock.

Illegal? Maybe... Immoral, absolutely... Would I buy one? I used to think "no, absolutely not, never"... but after seeing this one, I have a moral dilemma and $350 in my bank account that is itching to get spent.

What are your experiences with Chinese fakes? What are your opinions on the moral aspect (and please, pretty please, let's keep this thread free of insults and name calling, it's ok for people on the forum to have different opinions).

I was firmly on the side of those who think this is just wrong and shouldn't be encouraged. But now, I'm on the edge. I'm tempted to buy one and somehow remove the Gibson logo to make my moral position feel better about it, but it would be a shame to deface this beautiful piece of art.

China has come a long way in product quality (some of the time... there is still tremendous junk being exported out of China).
 
I know a guy from where I used to live that picked these up on a regular basis. *most* of the time they came out of the box only needing minor adjustments and/or relatively inexpensive replacement parts (nut, tuners, bridges sometimes) or the stuff you'd swap out anyways (pickups, pots, caps).

He'd put forth a little effort and made them really great, inexpensive players' guitars. Then he got into selling a few to friends and friends of friends, and was always up front about what they really were... still didn't stop me from eventually seeing a few of them in local pawn shops with $2K+ price tags.

I had one of his counterfeits for a short time, a PRS model that no one in their right mind would mistake for a real PRS. Played pretty dang well, nice feel, pups were pure garbage, so was the finish... for the $250 I picked it up from him for (and for not having to gamble on whatever I might end up with if ordering directly from one of the Ali Express type places), it was money well spent. I ended up flipping it (got my $250 back, nothing more). I think mostly I just wanted to know for myself what they were all about.

I take the stance that, yes, it's immoral/unethical/illegal, but at the same time a lot of these builders (the legitimate ones) are targeting the $3K+ market of would-be buyers, not the guys looking to spent 1/10th of that amount... the 1/10th guys aren't looking to drop that kind of cash on a legitimate [insert brand] anyhow. My only real beef with this is when they're resold to unsuspecting buyers at the authentic prices.
 
I gotta say, I'm in the "hard no" section, but mostly for the personal need to get an authentic guitar of my brand choice. It just feels like cheating, on some level, to me. I'd personally rather buy an authentic $600 PRS SE model, than some knock off of a USA PRS, that I'm still, potentially going to have to put proper hardware, and electronics into.

I also feel it's very immoral, and illegal, but unfortunately, the reality is that's just not enough to deter some people these days. Not that I blame anyone for that, it's just the way things have become.
 
BrainalLeakage said:
I gotta say, I'm in the "hard no" section, but mostly for the personal need to get an authentic guitar of my brand choice. It just feels like cheating, on some level, to me. I'd personally rather buy an authentic $600 PRS SE model, than some knock off of a USA PRS, that I'm still, potentially going to have to put proper hardware, and electronics into.

I also feel it's very immoral, and illegal, but unfortunately, the reality is that's just not enough to deter some people these days. Not that I blame anyone for that, it's just the way things have become.
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Since you're down in Conroe, be veeeerrry wary of Chibsons in pawnshops around B/CS.
 
Not sure about US Law, but in UK, the law regarding counterfeit guitars (the one the OP refers to is clearly a counterfeit, not just a 'copy single cut' etc) is that it's not illegal to buy one, but it is illegal to sell one
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Additionally, the more people buy, the more they are supporting the illegal racket too... how that sits with you is of course completely your choice
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I'm in the "no" camp (though I have to admit to being just a little tempted), but if they play so nice why the bloody hell is an actual Gibson so expensive? For a Les Paul, I'd rather go the UnsungHeroGuitars route, ie. a souped up Epiphone.
 
Rook said:
I'm in the "no" camp (though I have to admit to being just a little tempted), but if they play so nice why the bloody hell is an actual Gibson so expensive?
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Because of six little letters- G-I-B-S-O-N. Some people are just addicted to perceived high-end brand names. As a former Gibby junkie, I understand it but fortunately was able to kick the habit a long time ago.
 
Ok....I'll confess, I bought one of these once.
I wanted a Silverburst Custom that I could beat the crap out of.....and honestly, I was just really curious because they looked nice.
I ordered for $350....and was 50/50 that I would even get a guitar in the mail...I figured they may just steal my money.

The guitar came, and was 'very close' to Gibson specs. It looked great, except for one small flaw in the finish.
The only thing that was wrong was the pitch of the headstock. Other than that, they did a good job knocking off the specs.

At first I would have compared it to Epiphone quality....but after keeping it for a short period of time, I found it to be too cheaply made to even use.
The gold was an odd tint and looked very cheesy. The electronics (no surprise) sounded like crap.
The nut was like a cheap plastic from a kids toy.
I set it up a couple times and the thing just NEVER stayed in tune. It was like it had a rubber neck.
Chances are, a new nut would have helped....but I just didn't like the guitar.
It's one of those things you own for a couple days and think.....this is lame....I should have just bought a Gibson. (which I actually did end up doing....1982 Silverburst :) )
A buddy of mine liked it and wanted it as a 'beater'....so I sold it to him for $250.

Lesson learned, experiment over.
I'd take an Epiphone any day over these.

Just my 2 cents....
 
That very much echo's my feelings of a guitar that a customer sent to me for a work through BBN...

When it arrived, I opened the case and immediately knew something was wrong - it just didn't look right. I picked it up and no, it felt all wrong too. Closer inspection revealed that nothing was right at all and indeed, it was a fake Epiphone.

I had the unfortunate task of breaking the news to the guy - he was more than a little bemused, but asked if I could at least weave a little magic to make it a useable guitar..? I advised him not to spend another penny on it as it will never be anything more than an awful, plywood POS
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I'm in the "Yes" column. I might feel a bit bad about it if the U.S. manufacturers didn't do it to themselves, but they all sent master luthiers over there and taught the Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and others how to build great guitars, so that they could compete with each other on price. I have a ton of guitars including a bunch of PRS, Gibson Custom Shop and Fender Custom shop guitars. I also have a Brazen Caleb Quaye model built in China. The Brazen isn't a knockoff in that it doesn't look specifically like any of those guitars, but it is phenomenal, and it is equal to or better than any guitar I own, in every measurable category except price. And, for under $1000, I got a guitar with a Brazilian rosewood neck, which is about a $3000 upgrade on a PRS last time I checked. And, while the Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese keep improving quality, it seems that the big U.S. manufacturers continue to get worse. It's painful to watch their demise, but again, they did it to themselves, IMHO.
 
I think most of the sellers will change the logo on the head stocks for you. I have a couple friends who have bought from aliexpress and here is what they had to do. Change out pick ups and all the electronics. Change the nut, and level the frets. But for $300 to $400 bucks plus the new parts you can get a decent guitar that if it gets kicked over at a gig it won't make you cry to much.

I'd buy one only if I could get a custom logo on the head stock. I have plenty of real guitars. Real PRS and real Gibsons, and to be very honest once these fakes get fixed up they play and sound just as good. In fact my buddy's fake Paul has better action than my 2010 standard. And his total cost was less than $600, $350 for the guitar and the rest in upgrades. By the way he had a custom logo and no made in the USA removed. So if your only issue is the logo for copy right infringement you can get that fixed. Do a search on YouTube there are plenty of guys who have bought them and give a video un boxing. Search for Chibson.
 
I think this is the $64 million question.
If you can get a guitar that looks ( and more importantly, plays and sounds amazing ) why pay more ?
I spent a fortune on a legit Gibson guitar but sold it later on after finding a cheaper guitar that for my purposes did a better job for my style of playing.
The percentage of people who can spend that kinda money on a guitar certainly isn't the majority and it does bring around a valid point - counterfeit or not, can companies really continue to justify the huge amount of money ?
I've been jamming away on a very cheap ( but legit ) Dean V neck which plays like a dream and the pickups sound great too ( and I've played PRS's / Gibsons / Ibanez / Godins and some very pricey guitars over the years ).
I can't fault the pricier guitars, they rock but the price difference is staggering compared to some guitars I've played which despite being in some cases 90% cheaper, still played and sounded fantastic !
Food for thought for sure.
 
wcfieldskx said:
@unsungheroguitars - can you explain what modifications you did on it from stock?
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That 1959 Standard came very well specced from the factory. It has Gibson BurstBuckers, a Switchcraft toggle & Mallory Tone Caps and is also one of the long neck tenon models. So it didn't need much in terms of upgrades, however, I still take out the stock multi-core wire and replaced it with some nicer cable and some other pots - just makes for a better job all round
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Despite being in pretty good order for a four year old guitar, I still completely stripped it down, sorted any light scratching, removed the coating that Epiphone put on the fretboard and re-nourished it, polished the frets, cleaned and polished 70 (yes, seventy) individual pieces of chrome hardware, restrung it and gave it a comprehensive set up to make it 'better than new but for less money'. Everyone's a winner
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DavidN1978 said:
I can't fault the pricier guitars, they rock but the price difference is staggering compared to some guitars I've played which despite being in some cases 90% cheaper, still played and sounded fantastic !
Food for thought for sure.
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I'm the same David
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I would never question the iconic status of a Gibson etc, but when an Epiphone gets you 90% there for 10% of the money..? Sheesh, that $64m question gets an awful lot easier to answer for me
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