Every great product and innovation inspires copies. Whether it’s modern rock bands ripping off old blues musicians or off brand cereal looking and tasting suspiciously like a name brand, copying something successful has become a sort of standard business practice for many. Instruments, in particular the iconic Gibson Les Paul, are often ripped off. But what’s especially malicious about the process is that people try to pass fake Les Pauls off as the real thing. Protect yourself from this dishonest practice with the guide below.
The truss rod cover is the first thing you should look at when you’re trying to determine whether or not a Gibson Les Paul is fake. On a real Les Paul, it will be bell shaped, and black with a white outline. There usually isn’t any writing on it, but some Gibsons have an inscription in cursive lettering that says “Les Paul” along the side with smaller print “Gibson” below it. The worst fakes have solid block lettering saying just “Gibson” vertically. Additionally, fakes will often have three screws securing the truss rod cover. Real Gibsons always have two, without exception. If you see an odd looking truss rod cover, steer clear.
The second thing to check out when you have suspicions about a Les Paul’s authenticity is the bend where the neck meets the headstock. If you’ve ever played a Gibson, you’ve probably noticed that the headstock angles away from you when you’re playing. Authentic Gibsons have a relatively sharp angle where the neck meets the headstock. Many fakes, meanwhile, remain flat all the way through.
The most subtle thing to watch out for on the headstock is the Gibson logo itself. Copycats have gotten pretty good at recreating the logo that runs across the top of the headstock in recent years. On a real Gibson, the logo will start with the bottom of the “G” sitting right next to the tuning head of the guitar’s D string. The lettering, from left to right, will slant upward with the “n” right above and a little to the left of the G string tuning head. Though the lettering itself may be hard to differentiate, copycats often misplace the logo. Usually, it will be placed too high or without enough slant on a fake.
The final cosmetic detail that copycat Gibsons often fudge up is the mother of pearl inlays. The shape of the inlays on an authentic Les Paul is trapezoidal. If they’re blocks, run away as fast as you can. The less obvious alternative is pearl inlays that aren’t actually inlaid into the fret board. To see for yourself, get your face parallel to the neck. If the inlays are raised up, it’s a fake.
Before you make an investment as large as a Gibson guitar, it’s worth putting a little elbow grease into being sure it’s real. Countless people have squandered thousands of dollars on instruments that are practically worthless in comparison. If you have your hands on a Gibson you are considering buying, start your inspection by taking off the truss rod cover. Some fakes have all the cosmetics of it (the two screws, lettering, and bell shape) correct. But the truss rod itself will often be different. On an authentic Gibson, you will see a metal nut that holds the truss rod in place. Many fakes simply don’t have it. Instead, you will open the truss rod cover to see a Teflon surface completely lacking a visible nut.
If the truss rod checks out, the next step is to open up the electronics cover on the back. Unscrew the lid and lift it off completely. An authentic Gibson will have a roughly curved diamond shape to it. The electronic pots (or circular shaped receptors) themselves will be polished, and the wiring will be well organized. Fakes, on the other hand, often have a mess of wires sitting in a clover shaped basin. If the wires look as if they’ve been placed hastily at all, it is cause for concern. The wires themselves may also provide some clues. If they have a plastic covering, it is likely that the guitar isn’t authentic.
If you’re comfortable enough with guitar equipment, the last thing you can do is to check out the inside of the pickup cavity. You’ll have to remove the strings, unscrew the pickup covers, and take out the pickups themselves; so make sure the potential seller is comfortable with this before you start. Assuming all has gone to plan and you’ve removed the pickups successfully, have a close look at the cavity. On a real Les Paul, there will be no paint. All you will see is the wood’s natural coloring. But on a fake, the cavity will usually be painted black.
The fact is you probably won’t even need to see the guitar itself to realize it’s a fake. This is especially true in electronic markets like eBay.com and Craigslist.org. There, the old adage about being a smart consumer holds true: if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. As a rule, extremely underpriced Gibsons or guitars that are shipped from China are almost always fakes. So remember, discretion is your most powerful tool in avoiding the huge amount of inauthentic Les Pauls in today’s guitar marketplace.