How to identify fakes guitar

How to identify fakes guitar

Every musician has their own dream instrument no matter if they’re professional, intermediate or beginner. It’s very important for us to elevate our interest or passion by having or playing the brand or model we love but there is some people taking advantage trying to fake our dream instrument and irresponsibly sell to the market. As a musical instrument seller, guitar repairer and musician myself, I wish to share my view to every other guitarist about how to indentify fake guitar so that we don’t fall info commercial trap and make ourselves stupid.

Basically there are two types of fakes guitar available or sneaking to our market these day, begin with faking the brand and model but selling it really cheap compare to retail value nor faking the brand, model and sell it accordingly as the market price. Below are the listed guides for us to discuss: -

 

1. Friends Accompaniment If you’re beginner and not really know about guitar, we suggest you to be accompanied by any friends who is knowledgeable about guitar or familiar to certain brand at least, and it’s such a pleasure for you if can be accompany by a friends who really care about this topic ‘how to identify fakes guitar’ (maybe you’re the one after reading this) and able to identify the originality of certain brand or model. An experience guitarist usually can tell how good or worth a guitar are.

2. Online Information Don’t rush. Try put enough time to look for online info of your dream guitar to be, even if you’re having enough money to grab one already, chill and don’t be too eager, check the official brand website or familiar forum to know more about the specification such as model availability, color, type, brand of hardware and etc. You can email to the brand from their official website, tell them what you saw in the market and ask them if it’s real. Hopefully they will reply you promptly.

3. Price comparison Normally guitar selling cheaper on the net compare to any retailer but if the guitar price stated is unbelievable lower, then it mean something wrong. Usually manufactures reveal their price for a guideline to the distributor, re-seller and end user for comparison. Usually the companies that clearly reveal product prices means they are clean from country taxes, trade law and certainly not selling fake products. But that does not mean you won’t fall into a trap.
   

4. Craftsmanship Quality A mass produce guitar has to gone through few quality control check and it’s has to be QC pass before ship out for market. Check the way it is cut, sand, glue and set up. It’s bit complicated at first but for sure you’ll find something if it’s fakes such like hairy edge left causes by improper sand down, sharp edges at body and neck area or fret cuts, left unglued joint, improper furnish quality and lastly, if you can located mistaken machine head, output jack or volume/ tone position which commonly seen to fakes guitar. A fake guitar manufacturer have to cut cost by cutting the amount of craftsman work. That’s simple.

5. Material Quality Most of the guitar company using branded or branding their hardware or parts of their guitar such like machine head or pickup. Example, check the pick up if it’s using the same brand or model as you seen online and make sure that some pick up cover such as gold/ brass or aluminum color are not made with plastic by knocking the cover by something hard and if it’s plastic mean it’s a fakes, only black pole pick-up cover is plastic material. Identify the machine head brand and be sure because most of the cheap and fakes machine head look almost the same and lastly, try to check any other hardware assemble to that guitar such like the bridge part, knob and with permission to open the potentiometers compartment to check pot model because some guitar such like Gibson, only using their own brand pot and there’s a big steel plate inside to put the parts together for proper ground shielding. Lastly, print your online reference if you can’t remember of all the specs and detail of that guitar and no one will laugh when you want to be careful on what you’re going to spend.
   

6. Decal Identification Some unaware fake guitar counterfeiters mistakenly put wrong decal to different model. It’s good to check if the color or quality of decal use is the same to the original guitar decal, somehow the fake’s decal can’t be the same to original decal in color or the way they place it. Original manufacturer has a standard of doing this.
   

7. Serial Number For higher end guitars, serial number made to allocates and dated your guitar, some manufacturer such as Fender use easy format on their serial number such like E for 80’s, N for 90’s, Z for year 2000 and the first two digit for exact year its made. Please understand the serial number format for your own good.
   

8. Certificates or User Manual Expensive ranges guitar will include guitar certificates to owner as warranty, satisfaction, or for other reason, identify the quality of printing or paper use as certificates and compare it from what you check online and for manual or booklet printing quality always in very low pixel because of printing source (just color copies of original manual or booklet).
   

Listed Dealer or Distributor
The safest way out of being conned, go to listed dealer or distributor stated on the official website of your favorite brand guitar. But it’s okay to buy from any outlet that you wish. Just beware of all the above.

tHe chOice is y0Urs!!!