Guitar Authenticity Check

Guitar Authenticity Check is a must-to-do thing when we buy a guitar, whether it’s new or pre-owned one. Why? because counterfeit is one thing nobody likes it, include us, guitarists. Unfortunately, this issue has been among us in decades, and it’s really important for us to take serious measurements about this.

personally, and professionally(!), I don’t hate customized guitar by luthiers, I kinda like the way they set their own standards on how a guitar is supposed to be. But I really hate if my friends (or even myself) found out that they paid TOO MUCH for fake guitar.. and one more thing, there’s almost nothing i can do about this counterfeit issue.

BUT, i think i can help a little by sharing my notes about Guitar Authenticity Check. Recently I helped my friend buying a guitar and the result was quite great. It’s Epiphone Les Paul 100 guitar, cherry sunburst with pickguard, very lovely.Epiphone Les Paul 100 (body bridge)

Epiphone Les Paul 100 (headstock backplate)

I knew (as everyone else does) that Epiphone is one of leading brand in guitars, and for couple times i found epiphone parts such like backplates were sold separately, yes, it has counterfeit-risks.

so I’ve checked all detailed parts and found out few details which might very useful for us. Here’s the pic: Guitar Authenticity Check on Epiphone lespaul 100 guitar parts

although there’s no serial numbers carved or printed on headstocks and neck, I found it labeled under the bridge pickups, yup, there you have it. I’ve checked the serial number on epiphone serial number decoder at guitardaterproject.org and this guitar is made in Indonesia on november 2010 by Samick Factory. quite nice info right? also i found out “Epiphone” brand carved/molded on stop bridge, tune-o-matic bridge, below pickups, even on mono jack socket. well done, Epiphone.

 

based on those, I made some notes, at least for my own standards, when i want to buy a guitar

 

Guitar Authenticity Check points

  • Get the guitar images and other info from its official website. there we will get its specs, and the closest guitar model looks
  • Get the sound samples from videos/youtube reviews. we can also get the guitar physical appearances there
  • compare it directly by try the guitar first before we decide ANYTHING. nothing beats the real sound and the playability/actions when you need to decide whether buying it or not
  • bring your friend who is also a guitarist to get more proper considerations
  • always choose trusted seller, if it’s not possible, ask the seller to provide the guitar authenticity info and proof. remember, it is you who hold the money, keep that in mind always

those words above just might be not enough, but i think those could be useful as basic considerations. good luck and have fun playing guitar! 🙂

Relic Guitar, The DIY Art of Aging

Relic Guitar is an itch for guitar lovers. Guitar relicing idea is always contagious. Sometimes we just love to see an old guitar with fully working parts, decent actions and playability which are difficult to find. Or the vintage image on guitar is so sexy, so we feel good when we play it. The senses and vibrations from old wood are just irresistible and I fell for those reasons.

 

I bought an old-cheap guitar for this. It’s a strat branded “vantage” on its headstock.From what i’ve learned when i got it on my hands, this guitar actually has a decent neck profile, while its body is plywood. Yes, it’s a plywood body guitar. It came so dirty with motor oil smell on it.

I read some articles on the internet, saying this guitar is korean made  while it was on matsumoku (japan?) era. the headstock is similar to other matsumoku guitars product.

well, I’m not good at conclusions, here’s the pics when i first got it:

Vantage Stratocaster vie 10

My best guess for this guitar series is Vantage stratocaster vie 10. the body and neck were good, but not for the other parts. so i change them with new ones and did relicing the guitar. basically i just messed up with it 😀 so here the results:

relic guitar Vantage Stratocaster vie 10 before after
relic guitar Vantage Stratocaster vie 10, before and after

 

does it look good? well, for me it’s just an amateur job done by me for the sake of curiosity. The pickups were default and I’m so happy with the way this DIY relic guitar sounds.

I’m not interested explaining about how i done this project, but I DO have something to say after doing this.

here’s some thoughts on relic guitar :

 

  • The Art of Aging Guitars is NOT that easy. To make guitar looks old and worn is one thing which is different from destroying things. We need to research on how it’s made; the materials, the finishing types, then we do research on how make them look aged, not destroyed.
  • Guitar parts are NOT CHEAP. surely we can find cheap parts anywhere on the net, but the durability and low quality cheap parts are just making thing worse. Arrange your budget for DIY relic guitar project.
  • Do this project with proper amount of time. rushing it will make us loosing the learning moments. take some espresso and begin reading relic’d guitar stuff. it will help us to get exact image for the guitar.
  • Know our limits. if we just don’t get it about things, ask to a luthier and get educated. This is the real purpose of this project. knowing deeper and understand the closest real value of a guitar and compare it to the way it sounds and played. If we don’t get it, let other people educate us.

well, this relic guitar project is the most intensively fun, entertaining project I’ve done so far. I remembered when i wanted this project result would look like Steve Ray Vaughn relic SRV stratocaster guitar, but I’m glad i didn’t. this relic guitar design looks much lovely with my sweat on it