Another Shipment of Counterfeit Guitars

[Chris Pile]

What did you pay for that?

Most of the bidders dropped out at $200. I finally jumped the bid to $500 to shake out the rest, and then some asshole kept bidding another $15 until around $800 I got pissed and said loudly, "$1100", and the whole place went dead quiet. If it had been real, it would have been a bargain. I loved the thing, but I have standards and wasn't going to keep something illegal.

The auction house flinched the next morning, but when I started showing all the details and whipped out my business card - they quickly realized the error of their evil ways. As you well know, I can get pretty obnoxious and I was turning red and doing a lot of hollering. They knew I meant business, and gave me back my check. Hopefully the Customs authorities sawed the neck off a couple days later.

 

[Mincer]

Most of the bidders dropped out at $200. I finally jumped the bid to $500 to shake out the rest, and then some ******* kept bidding another $15 until around $800 I got pissed and said loudly, "$1100", and the whole place went dead quiet. If it had been real, it would have been a bargain. I loved the thing, but I have standards and wasn't going to keep something illegal.

The auction house flinched the next morning, but when I started showing all the details and whipped out my business card - they quickly realized the error of their evil ways. As you well know, I can get pretty obnoxious and I was turning red and doing a lot of hollering. They knew I meant business, and gave me back my check. Hopefully the Customs authorities sawed the neck off a couple days later.

After inspecting it, how did it compare to more legit LP copies like the Fernandes and Tokais?

 

[Aceman]

Legit LP copies? Like Tokais and Fernandes, and Burny and Orville?

That's what China should be making!

 

[Chris Pile]

After inspecting it, how did it compare to more legit LP copies like the Fernandes and Tokais?

More legit? Since I haven't personally seen any Fernandes or Tokai LP copies, I can't compare.
In the short amount of time I had it in my hands - I was convinced it was genuine.
The auction house wasn't about to let me open up the control cavity or pull the strings to inspect the pickups beforehand.
It didn't take 15 minutes at home to show me the error of my ways.

I forgot to mention, the top and back were veneered, but if you looked around the edge of the guitar - it was 3 pieces, and the grain looked funky - probably not mahogany and certainly not well matched. Another thing I should have noticed right off - the TOM studs were the large Asian studs.

At a quick glance, it looked like a $3500 reissue.

 

[alex1fly]

If it was a nice guitar intended for personal playing, I wonder why not remove the counterfeit markings. I'm considering doing that on this knock-off Tele I picked up; someone put a Fender decal on it, but it's clearly not a Fender (no serial number, fretboard looks like it's been hand-sawn) and there's no good reason to have it on there besides having the finish look a little funky where I'd be sanding.

I get the reticence if it was intended for sale or shop display, though.

 

[Chris Pile]

It was a nice guitar intended to deceive and secure large amounts of cash from someone not on the ball. You know anyone that suspected it was fake would have bought it for cheap, and then listed it as authentic to make some bucks.

 

[Aceman]

It was a nice guitar intended to deceive and secure large amounts of cash from someone not on the ball. You know anyone that suspected it was fake would have bought it for cheap, and then listed it as authentic to make some bucks.

See - that argument does not fly unless China is selling them at that price. China sells them for $300

Now - the Auction guys certainly intended - but did they know?

Its not that easy.

 

[Chris Pile]

Now - the Auction guys certainly intended - but did they know?

Ace - you are not stupid. You KNOW there are middle men, with markup every time there is movement of the item.
And I've already established that the auction house has a track record of selling counterfeit items.
They knew it was fake, and if you'd seen their stupid faces when I was berating them you'd know that THEY knew they'd been caught red handed.