3000 Fake Gibson guitars seized by US Customs in California.

jimintoronto

Well-known Member
Fake guitars, made in " Asia ". A whole shipping container full of Gibson guitars was seized by the US Customs service recently in California. A spokeswoman for Gibson said these were going to be sold on line, to American buyers. Genuine Gibson guitars are made in Nashville, and Bozeman, Montana. link.

MSN

JIM.
 

Crime is increasing because our laws are a joke. Politicians only want their jobs so they can collect fat pensions.

With weak "gutless" laws that are weakly enforced crime will just continue to increase. A local drug dealer where I live walked into our local casino with 3/4 million dollars in cash in a bag. I wish I was joking but I'm not.
 
Fake guitars, made in " Asia ". A whole shipping container full of Gibson guitars was seized by the US Customs service recently in California. A spokeswoman for Gibson said these were going to be sold on line, to American buyers. Genuine Gibson guitars are made in Nashville, and Bozeman, Montana. link.

MSN

JIM.
I am hoping that Donald Trump will do something about these borders. Law enforcement around here is a joke! It's not the police because they try but the court system just keeps releasing the bad guys and they keep committing crimes. Of course, the lawyers are laughing all the way to their banks and smiling all the way back home.
 

They most likely are made with fake tone woods, but probably would do as a starter but certainly not $3000+
Hope they find the Agent at the desk who was pulling this scam.
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Les Paul is most likely on the march up and down the City Halls.
 
Crime is increasing because our laws are a joke. Politicians only want their jobs so they can collect fat pensions.

With weak "gutless" laws that are weakly enforced crime will just continue to increase. A local drug dealer where I live walked into our local casino with 3/4 million dollars in cash in a bag. I wish I was joking but I'm not.
Here in Califonia we had an outrageous law that defined theft valued at less than $950 to be a misdemeanor, a crime on the level with Jay Walking. People could rob stores for merchandise valued at less than $950, forge checks for less than $950, etc. A change to this law finally got on the last ballot. Exactly where we stand now I am not certain.
 
Funny because trump himself is selling fake, Chinese made Gibson ("Chibson") Les Paul copies with some American eagle decal slapped on, the MAGA slogan on the fretboard and his autograph for something like $10,000 each.

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With an acoustic guitar, the wood and finishes do contribute to the sound, But I doubt with an electric guitar that amplifies only the frequency of the strings, the wood, finishes would matter.
One thing, everybody wants to get "tougher" on crime, but nobody wants to pay for it. We want to "lock 'em up", but we balk at spending billions of our tax dollars to do that. NO NEW TAXES!!!! NO NEW TAXES!!!!
 
Sure, to trained ears. Or studio musicians. BUT, for a regular dude seeing a Gibson for THAT price! I bet they sell like hotcakes. :)
Listening again, I like the sound of the fake Les Paul a little better. It's mellower because of the P90s.

But, $500 is still a pretty good chunk of change. If it was $200, I might be tempted, but for $500, I'd go with an Ibanez or something along those lines. Sure, it wouldn't look like a Gibson, but it would have better hardware and electronics than the fake Gibson. And it wouldn't violate copyright and trademark laws.
 
Funny because trump himself is selling fake, Chinese made Gibson ("Chibson") Les Paul copies with some American eagle decal slapped on, the MAGA slogan on the fretboard and his autograph for something like $10,000 each.

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Infringement is not acceptable, but:

https://www.kxan.com/news/maker-of-trump-guitars-reportedly-sent-cease-and-desist-order-by-gibson/
The website selling the guitars does have a “notice of non-affiliation and disclaimer” as of Wednesday: “GetTrumpGuitars.com is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with Gibson Brands Inc., or any of its subsidiaries or its affiliates, nor does it represent itself as a dealer, manufacturer, or distributor of Gibson, Les Paul Standard, Les Paul Custom, or any of their products.”
That news report also said that Gibson had no comment on the matter.
 
It is hard to tell the difference. Listen.


One has P90s and the other has humbuckers. There will most definitely be a difference in sound for that reason alone.

Sure, to trained ears. Or studio musicians. BUT, for a regular dude seeing a Gibson for THAT price! I bet they sell like hotcakes. :)

Listening again, I like the sound of the fake Les Paul a little better. It's mellower because of the P90s.

But, $500 is still a pretty good chunk of change. If it was $200, I might be tempted, but for $500, I'd go with an Ibanez or something along those lines. Sure, it wouldn't look like a Gibson, but it would have better hardware and electronics than the fake Gibson. And it wouldn't violate copyright and trademark laws.

But what about the playability?

I think that's as big of an issue as sound and tone.
 
Gibson's issue is that the shape and dimensions of the body are too much like their Les Paul.
Well they have a point. I'm a little reluctant to accept monopoly positions out of hand though.

How many practical shapes are there, considering that a lot of it is simply the ergonomics of the human body? Who gets a free pass and who get steamrollered by a corporation?
 
But what about the playability?

I think that's as big of an issue as sound and tone.
Definitely!! I am a guitar player, for 50 years now. I have seen the knock offs improve their playability through the years. The last knock offs I tried were probably 20 years ago. Then, you could find one for a third of a pop brand that played about the same. You are looking for good action all the way up the neck. Any buzzing frets, octave accuracy, . They will all be slightly inferior to the brand names, BUT they fill a larger market than those who can afford the best. With modern recording devices, and guitar gadgets, you also can create some very special sounding guitar stuff. Everyone is a music producer now, if that's their thing. :)
 
Definitely!! I am a guitar player, for 50 years now. I have seen the knock offs improve their playability through the years. The last knock offs I tried were probably 20 years ago. Then, you could find one for a third of a pop brand that played about the same. You are looking for good action all the way up the neck. Any buzzing frets, octave accuracy, . They will all be slightly inferior to the brand names, BUT they fill a larger market than those who can afford the best. With modern recording devices, and guitar gadgets, you also can create some very special sounding guitar stuff. Everyone is a music producer now, if that's their thing. :)
Yep, unless you're rich, you need to know how to do your own basic guitar work such as fret leveling and setups to make the guitar easy to play. And that applies to brand names as well as cheap copies.
 
For a number of years now China has been flooding the U.S. with Martin acoustic guitar knock offs. China has no respect for U.S. patent protections. I have never seen or played one but have read they are well made for the price.
 


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