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Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 11:17 am
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Roadie
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Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:49 am
Posts: 201
Location: chicago il.
I had no idea all this fakery was out & about, but now that I've read your posts I consider myself fore warned.
sparky


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Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
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Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:33 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:33 pm
Posts: 1084
Location: NoHo in SoCal
In a classic book on antique fakes I've had for years ("Antique Fakes and Their Detection" by Raymond Yates), the author says that the number of fakes you might find depend on:

1. the relative cost of producing the fake, in conjunction with
2. the expertise of the buyer, and
3. the profit to be had from carrying it off.

Faking a valuable vintage guitar could be risky because it should sell for a lot (the profit motive's there) but interested buyers will often know their stuff cold (expertise of the buyer speaks against faking). This would also be true if the methods needed to make a plausible copy required a lot of expensive machinery and skill.

At the other end, I might fool buyers of $99 guitars but what would be the point in that? Sure, I might pass off even a crude fake but wouldn't most people at that price point just go to the store and get a new one with a warrantly? And if I sold it on EBay, I'd probably have to reduce the price so I wouldn't be making enough to bother.

I'd guess (as in furniture) that the bulk of the fakes would be in the intermediate range. Something not so rare as to attract serious experts but common enough and with enough variance so that I could get by with a fair fake that I could make for a modest amount and yet sell for a decent profit.


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Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:39 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:55 am
Posts: 302
Location: Oneida, NY
Sparky: No alarm.... just be careful with second-hand items off places like eBay. I'm sure MOST are 100% legit. The China Scam is something you should read, in the list on the left at eBay. Those are pretty much Les Paul copies. Rare when they copy something else, but even then, they call them a Gibson.... dumb jerks. I've seen their pics of Grestch, Fender and other copies labeled as "Gibson"..... what idiots.

Fact is, ANY guitar can require 'repair' or refurbishment of some kind every so often. It used to be the domain of music stores & luthiers only, but anymore, guitarists of all levels do many things on their own. I guess it's tempting to the ego to 'upgrade' both legally and 'illegally'. Only an aspect of human nature that probably won't go away as long as such attempts at ANY kind of counterfeiting prevails among those who can't afford the real thing. It's all a matter of respect & personal ethics.


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