Chinese guitar knock-offs... opinions?

I only bring up the "copying" thing, because there are so many people saying that some of these guitars are "superior" in some respects to the "real" things. If this is true, then they aren't just coping, they are making subtle improvements, which would imply they know a bit more than they are letting by not creating original guitars.

I think it has way more to do with the built in buyer aspect than the ability to manufacture an original guitar. That, in and of itself, to me, is dishonest.

Like I said before, though, I'd rather have a PRS SE, or an Epiphone, or even a Gibson PL Jr. over one of these copies. An honest $600 for a decent guitar form an original manufacture sits way better with my conscience.
 
I have a friend who looked into tithe Chinese factories. They said "we can make anything you want" . He asked for a double neck with electric on the bottom and a classical guitar on top.

Damn if they didn't make it for him. And it was... not bad at all. Not perfect, but it was $600. In a giant custom case. For a custom made unique instrument.

Damn!
 
It's tough to ignore, eh Rook..?

(Removed beautiful pic for bandwidth)

By the way, congrats on the 1k
thumbsup.gif

Cheers, mate! I feel like a toast or three is in order. Here's to Cliff and the Fractal Team, here's to this awesome community and here's to the magic box we all love :)
 
not when the ad says its a copy and they show photos of it being made in their chinese factory. many sellers disclose this. many don't. so if the seller is saying its "made in usa" by Gibson and authentic in every way and you receive a knock-off then its counterfeit.

Thanks. Wasn't aware that some actually do go so far as to say they are doing something as questionable as building their knockoffs with the Gibson, (etc.) logo on them and fessing up that it's not the real deal when they sell them. That will certainly stop someone else from buying it and trying to pass it off as the real deal on the used market.

And to clarify what I said... I don't really know the letter of the law in this respect. I'm just stating that in my own opinion it is unethical and should be illegal for a manufacturer to use another companies logo for their knockoffs. To me, it's kind of like releasing an album under the name Led Zeppelin and using the disclaimer, "Not THE Led Zeppelin you're thinking of" or something like that.

I don't have a problem with knockoffs in general as long as they don't copy things right down to the company logo. That crosses a line in my opinion. I have two Warmoth Strats and I'm not putting a Fender logo on those. (Partly because I like them better than any Fender's I've ever owned or played, and partly because it would just seem wrong.)
 
How would you like to find out that your Axe-Fx-II Mk II that you bought used was in fact a copy? Fraudulently created, with inferior parts by a bunch of reverse engineering crooks. I won't accept stolen music, software or Liar guitars. Period.

It is very different when it says "Gibson", has a bunk serial number and claims to be "Made in the U.S.A." This whole thing is 100% wrong. There is no thinking here, just rationalization. Either you willfully and knowingly participate as an accomplice to intellectual property theft, or you don't. (Some will have no idea, and they are victims of fraud) Like has been said before, now we have to assume every Gibson is a fraud (As well as all of the other brands as well).
I despise cheaters and crooks. - IMHO
 
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.
The other issue is that the knockoffs tend to diminish the real brand's reputation when people see a guitar that falls short of the quality expected from a pricey instrument.
 
The other issue is that the knockoffs tend to diminish the real brand's reputation when people see a guitar that falls short of the quality expected from a pricey instrument.

Not a concern here, the quality difference with a real Gibson is immeasurable.
 
Here's a decent video outlining what to look for to avoid getting ripped off by chucklehead bogus guitar makers:

 
The other issue is that the knockoffs tend to diminish the real brand's reputation when people see a guitar that falls short of the quality expected from a pricey instrument.

Not so much to those that know better.
 
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.

Personally I think the world in general gives a lot (perhaps too much) [of] credit to China and their exports. They have significantly improved their manufacturing processes and upped their quality, but, they are not supporting your cyclical economic bottom line.

I'm a PRS guy and would rather buy a $2,000 hand made piece of art designed in the US by an American to be shipped within USA. Buying MORE Chinese garbage that funnels our resources to their country, which is communistic in nature, may not enrich their culture and could be interpreted as 'dishonorable' in the world of musicianship. That last comment was not meant to be political but rather just identifying that we have lost perspective as guitarists on what true quality is from a holistic approach.

I would say no homey but ultimately the $350 decision is yours mate.
 
A few players you might recognize, lol.
List of Epiphone players - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Throughout the years, a lot of pros have used Epiphones.

I didn't say "Epiphones", I said "Budget". And FYI a Epiphone Custom is hardly a budget guitar.

Spending 10 seconds just looking at that list, it's apparent that those players are not using budget Epiphones and also many of them used those back when there really was nothing else readily available (1960's). So in that respect, since the ESP LTD (Budget) line makes factory assembled $200 models up to $1500 models too.... The mentality is that these are all equal to a handcrafted ESP E-II ($2000) ESP E-III ($3500) and ESP-USA ($5000)?

... :roll

I own both High and Low end from several brands and just like everything else in this world, a polished turd is still a turd.

PS, a G-string not staying in tune is either from binding in the nut, or a bad tuning peg, not from the selection of wood, the Neck, the fretboard, the binding, the fretwork, the finish, or the electronics. 9 times out of 10 it's because the end user put a different gauge of strings than what the nut was cut for at the factory.... the other one time is because the tuning peg took a hit and it's broken just because of it's position on the headstock.......so instead of calling a $4000 guitar "garbage" because of a $10 nut or a $25 tuning peg issue, get off your soapbox, smarten up, and replace it.

PSS... Gibsons are also not really shredder, prog, djent, industrial, screamo metal guitars so it's not really surprising that many here don't like them. While there have been a few guys that do use them, it's been my experience that it's mostly for rhythm stuff, but since the rise of 7 and 8 strings this is far and few between these days. Right tool for the job people...., sadly so many pick the wrong tool and then call it a piece of garbage...

PSSS...Another major part of owning a Gibson is breaking it in to oneself by playing it. Just ask any of the Pro's like Doug Aldrich for example...

PSSSS... I'm not really even a fan of Gibson's so that's not why I am "defending" them. I just know from first hand experience that many of the assumptions being made in this thread are complete hogwash, and it's not just about Gibson, it's about quality across all guitar companies.

At the end of the day. You get what you Paid for.
 
Lots of great opinions here. Here's my take, if companies like Ibanez and ESP can have their guitars made in Asia (including China) then there's got to be some quality factories out there.
Comparing a $226 knock-off to a $2500 authentic LP may be apples and oranges to a seasoned vet but not necessarily to a newbie.
My first guitar was a Mansfield (copy of a LP Custom) and I thought it was amazing!
As a newbie, if you gave me $2700 to spend on guitar gear I sure as hell wouldn't spend $2500 on a LP and $200 on an amp.
I'd buy the LP knock-off and an Axe FX! :)
 
no one should be buying or selling counterfeit guitars period, end of story

It devalues the brand, it devalues country of said brand, it devalues the industry, these guitars / products and generally seriously flawed, and worst of all you are funding the criminal element in an already dodgy country (china)

In fact (and this is only my opinion and can be taken with a grain of salt), china and its manufacturing machine has created more problems around the world economically then they have solved, every dollar spent either legitimately, or illegally through this country will continue to create more and more problems for the global economy and global security, best to buy local or at least from another similarly democratic country, no matter what the cost .. rant over
 
nobody wants to buy a counterfeit guitar. once again, counterfeit implies that you intended on purchasing the real deal and were duped by paying for a fake.

if nobody should make, sell, or buy knock-offs then this should hold true for all products tangible or intangible. There are many hypocrites preaching "don't buy Chinese guitar knock offs" while they walk around in some fake Crocs they picked up at the local dollar store. These same are playing "copies" of other artists songs in their cover bands and making a living performing other peoples music without paying royalties.

rant not over. lol
 
nobody wants to buy a counterfeit guitar. once again, counterfeit implies that you intended on purchasing the real deal and were duped by paying for a fake.

if nobody should make, sell, or buy knock-offs then this should hold true for all products tangible or intangible. There are many hypocrites preaching "don't buy Chinese guitar knock offs" while they walk around in some fake Crocs they picked up at the local dollar store. These same are playing "copies" of other artists songs in their cover bands and making a living performing other peoples music without paying royalties.

rant not over. lol

Cover bands are duping people?

Or are you saying the opposite?

Sorry, I didn't fully understand the post.
 
PS, a G-string not staying in tune is either from binding in the nut, or a bad tuning peg, not from the selection of wood, the Neck, the fretboard, the binding, the fretwork, the finish, or the electronics. 9 times out of 10 it's because the end user put a different gauge of strings than what the nut was cut for at the factory.... the other one time is because the tuning peg took a hit and it's broken just because of it's position on the headstock.......so instead of calling a $4000 guitar "garbage" because of a $10 nut or a $25 tuning peg issue, get off your soapbox, smarten up, and replace it.
Just a little FYI, I owned a 2001ish Les Paul Standard, I bought it new, never put anything but 10's on it, had the nut, and bridge replaced, and recut, put on locking tuners, and had the frets leveled, truss rod adjusted, intonation set, the works. The G string would not stay in tune, ring out, or sustain. I had more than one guitar tech scratch their head at it, and suggest the wood may have had a knot. It was ebony, so there's no way you would have been able to see it if there was. Mind you, I'm very well capable of doing all of those things myself, but after I couldn't figure out what it was I went elsewhere. I must have spend an extra $1000 just trying to fix that guitar.
 
Just a little FYI, I owned a 2001ish Les Paul Standard, I bought it new, never put anything but 10's on it, had the nut, and bridge replaced, and recut, put on locking tuners, and had the frets leveled, truss rod adjusted, intonation set, the works. The G string would not stay in tune, ring out, or sustain. I had more than one guitar tech scratch their head at it, and suggest the wood may have had a knot. It was ebony, so there's no way you would have been able to see it if there was. Mind you, I'm very well capable of doing all of those things myself, but after I couldn't figure out what it was I went elsewhere. I must have spend an extra $1000 just trying to fix that guitar.

That sucks big time. However to imply that this is a normal experience with a Gibson guitar is just silly. ( I'm not saying you are implying this, but it seems like some others are).

So what did you end up doing with that guitar?
 
If these companies are so good, why don't they make their own, original guitars? Is it because coping is all they know how to do? Just food for thought.

I suspect they can make their own original guitars, but no one would buy them. Gibson is in the same boat. Improve/Change an LP and people won't buy it.
Seems to be more of a buyers are sheep issue. Or are we are all chasing labels instead of quality?
 
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