How to tell real from fakes?

[Genoscidal]

How do you tell REAL fenders from the fakes?
How do you tell a REAL ibanez from fakes?
Same goes for all other guitars..

Please chip in if you guys know.. =)
i hope itll benefit a lot of people.

 

[3notesAbar]

In all honesty, your question is huge. From what i know, there is no real trick in differentiating reals and fakes at a glance, especially if the fake is made to bluff vintage buffs. But mostly, you'd have to look at:

www.google.com

and...haha..kk. Headstock shape of guitars made outside of China (very important). I may be wrong, but i think some 'hit-and-run' manufacturers can be quite 'gangster' and just clone the same headstock shapes.

Decals. if you are looking at Vintage fenders for instance. the decade eras i.e. 50s 60s 70s 80s+90s (i think) have distinctly different fonts (and words) for evolved models. Have to research.

Apart from these mentioned... I think its pretty easy to spot a Gibson from a Givson la...haha.

 

[detroit_red]

The price(duh), unless you're buying second hand and the ppl wanna trick you. But i still don't see how you could buy a fake without knowing it ...

 

[subversion]

the best way to avoid getting a fake is to ask an informed person to inspect it for you before you commit to the purchase.

 

[almondx]

hey detroit_red suppose price be the only factor that can distinguish a well made imitation from the real one, it would be then logical to sell the imitation at the same price of the real one, where the profit comes from using cheaper materials to build? hence then both being of the same price now we cannot distinguish them anymore.

i'm saying this because i remember reading somewhere before that there is just too large a number of guitars being passed of as true blue vintage (not reissues) right now as compared to the number of guitars which were manufactured during that period. i think this is pertaining to fender strats especially. gotta go find that website again.

 

[detroit_red]

Yeah i know that, but usually people who sell fakes in the shop, like in china for example, would price it at much lower. But for 2nd hand guitars in singapore, i've seen fakes but they really look fake. So how to tell? I dunno ... :lol: I just can tell ...