X-rated Bob wrote
Codex7 wrote
Cat amongst the pigeons again - how good would these fakes play? Maybe they are GOOD fakes? ? If used only for personal use and never sold on again of course.
There's no profit for the fakester in getting materials, crafstmen, spraying facilities, electronics etc that are as good as Gibson and making a guitar to the same level of quality and then selling it dirt cheap.
This is it. It's a simple concept. Fakers sell these guitars for like $300. They are not worth $300. They use cheaper materials than a normal $300 guitar but charge $300 because people are buying the Gibson logo. It is not worth their while at all to make a good guitar.
There are some luthiers who make hand made copies and put Gibson logos on at the behest of their clients. I don't think that's ok. But those guitars nevertheless cost more than all but special edition, limited quantity, custom shop signature Gibsons (we're talking in the region of $4,000 - $9,000). While it's still bull, at least those guitars are in zero danger of damaging Gibson's reputation. But you see, in those cases, they're more expensive than an actual Gibson. Not cheaper.
Some fans of copies, like me, argue that some of the copy manufacturers can produce better guitars for less, because they are not charging for the brand name, and they must also maintain high quality to make it worthwhile buying their guitar instead of the branded item. Fakers have no incentive whatever to do this. Their reputation is nothing - they are using someone else's - and they can, ironically, charge for the name. And naturally they do. I've seen pics of some of these guitars stripped down and they make Epiphones look like Stradivarii by comparison (slight exaggeration, but they are made from poor materials, and rubbish components, because people are buying on superficial appearance alone.) These are cheap-ass guitars sold for more because of their stolen brand associations.
