Is it ok to talk about Chibson here
- Thread starter Robb
- Start date
Headache
Ambassador of all that is Heavy
I will share my 2 cents worth.
I was intrigued with the whole Chibson thing so a few months ago I ordered one.
I was mainly looking for for a beautiful Les Paul that I could gig hard and beat up on the cheap!
I was mystified that a country could get away with making straight up clones and not get in trouble.
I was wondering if the thing would show up, and if it would be a spray painted 2x4 or an actual playable guitar. To my surprise, it was actually a pretty solid player. There were a few tell tale signs that it was not perfect copy ha ha and there is a lot of fun in playing detective on the internet. (Some of y'all are very good at it too!)
Fit and finish were good, feel was good, it sounded like the junk pickups that were in it. It felt and played like an LP
I swapped all the hardware, tuners, pickups and now it's a pretty solid guitar.
I liked it enough that I risked to order another one.
Same deal. But the second one really looked right, and is much harder to figure out that's it's a fake.
As I learned, if every single part on the guitar is manufactured in China, then they can import them, if they were to use a real part anywhere, then customs will seize it. Even the case.
If you want a Gibson shaped guitar for 300 bucks and not worry about it being stolen, gigged too hard, or destroyed, then this is a viable option. Heck, it may even fool a whole lot of fans too... (Which are generally pretty easy to fool anyhow , amirite?)
I do NOT consider Epiphone to be a cheap knock off to be lumped into the same conversation as the Chibson. I have owned a dozen Epiphones over the years and truth be known, a couple of them are even "better" than many of my "Authentic Gibsons"
(Considering the fact that I upgrade pickups in every brand of guitar)
Gibson gets a lot of hate on the interwebs, especially since they started suing everyone in sight over trademark and copyright infringement. So people have strong and also varying opinions on things involving them.
1. I love my Gibson guitars,
2. I'm not very keen on their business practices,
3. In general F China.
4. The Chibsons I own are middle of the road players.
That's my take on things. YMMV.
I was intrigued with the whole Chibson thing so a few months ago I ordered one.
I was mainly looking for for a beautiful Les Paul that I could gig hard and beat up on the cheap!
I was mystified that a country could get away with making straight up clones and not get in trouble.
I was wondering if the thing would show up, and if it would be a spray painted 2x4 or an actual playable guitar. To my surprise, it was actually a pretty solid player. There were a few tell tale signs that it was not perfect copy ha ha and there is a lot of fun in playing detective on the internet. (Some of y'all are very good at it too!)
Fit and finish were good, feel was good, it sounded like the junk pickups that were in it. It felt and played like an LP
I swapped all the hardware, tuners, pickups and now it's a pretty solid guitar.
I liked it enough that I risked to order another one.
Same deal. But the second one really looked right, and is much harder to figure out that's it's a fake.
As I learned, if every single part on the guitar is manufactured in China, then they can import them, if they were to use a real part anywhere, then customs will seize it. Even the case.
If you want a Gibson shaped guitar for 300 bucks and not worry about it being stolen, gigged too hard, or destroyed, then this is a viable option. Heck, it may even fool a whole lot of fans too... (Which are generally pretty easy to fool anyhow , amirite?)
I do NOT consider Epiphone to be a cheap knock off to be lumped into the same conversation as the Chibson. I have owned a dozen Epiphones over the years and truth be known, a couple of them are even "better" than many of my "Authentic Gibsons"
(Considering the fact that I upgrade pickups in every brand of guitar)
Gibson gets a lot of hate on the interwebs, especially since they started suing everyone in sight over trademark and copyright infringement. So people have strong and also varying opinions on things involving them.
1. I love my Gibson guitars,
2. I'm not very keen on their business practices,
3. In general F China.
4. The Chibsons I own are middle of the road players.
That's my take on things. YMMV.
BFT Gibson
Ambassador of Originality
Thanks for new song idea # 3 lol
Yeah, to your point, counterfeiting is a huge issue. Some of the biggest markets are clothing and jewelry.
I don't think it will ever be stamped out. Now, that does not justify it, but it is the sad truth.
I'm curious what you mean by "the head stock shape is not a genuine Tele." Are you saying that the headstock shape is actually somewhat different from an actual Fender Telecaster shape, or do you mean it is not a Fender neck?
The neck may not be a trademark infringement, even if the headstock exactly matches the Tele shape. Fender licenses some companies to use the Strat and Tele headstock shape. For example, Mighty Mite and Warmoth are both licensed by Fender to make necks with those shapes. So, these necks are totally legit to use. Of course, it would be out of bounds to add the Fender logo and represent it as a Fender product, because it isn't. But, the shape alone may actually be fine if it comes from a company licensed by Fender.
Yeah, like I said, the concept of damage and theft were the main things that made me think about Chibsons back when I was gigging more heavily. Now, to be clear, I wasn't sitting around mulling it over at length and seriously considering getting one.
In fact, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that I remembered these ideas. Many years ago when I first became aware of the whole "Chibson" thing, I would read from time to time on other forums where a person would defend getting a fake because of damage or theft concerns. So, fast-forward many years to me now gigging and hauling gear around, these ideas that I had read about earlier came back to mind. That's about it.
I've also seen what I call, the "Stick It to the Man!" rationale. That is, I've seen Chibsons defended by insisting that Gibson charges an arm and a leg for their products but has crappy quality control, so they deserve every sale they lose to an imposter who can make a guitar nearly as good, but charges exponentially less money. I've never taken that attitude, but that's another justification I've seen.
It’s a Saga Kit guitar. Nothing is Fender. Someone else assembled it. I bought it off eBay for not a lot of cash. It was ugly. He’d painted the body with a brush. I sanded it down to bare wood. Stained and cleared it. The headstock is a sorta rectangle as it come out of the box. The guy proceeded to carve it more or less like a Tele. It was bad. Angular. Pointy. I used a sander to soften the angles and make them more curvy.
eclecticsynergy
Ambassador of Electric Synergy
When I saw that headstock, I flashed on the Distortocaster...
eclecticsynergy
Ambassador of Electric Synergy
A bandmate's beautiful '69 goldtop got stolen after we played CBGB back in the day.
Ever since then I've been a little nervous about bringing nice guitars to dive bars.
And my favorite guitars are far more valuable now than they were back then.
So in the early 2000s I bought two Chinese copies, a Les Paul and a Strat, for hazard duty in rough neighborhoods
Fixed them up a bit; they sound good & play well.
I've got a number of vintage MIJ LPs and Strats too, but IMO that's a different category than the cheap counterfeits.
The MIJs are real guitars, just about as good - though not as valuable - as Gibsons & Fenders of the same era.
And the headstocks don't say Gibson or Fender; they say Tokai, Burny, Edwards, Greco, and Orville.
Ever since then I've been a little nervous about bringing nice guitars to dive bars.
And my favorite guitars are far more valuable now than they were back then.
So in the early 2000s I bought two Chinese copies, a Les Paul and a Strat, for hazard duty in rough neighborhoods
Fixed them up a bit; they sound good & play well.
I've got a number of vintage MIJ LPs and Strats too, but IMO that's a different category than the cheap counterfeits.
The MIJs are real guitars, just about as good - though not as valuable - as Gibsons & Fenders of the same era.
And the headstocks don't say Gibson or Fender; they say Tokai, Burny, Edwards, Greco, and Orville.