New wiring (they use pot metal and crappy plastic wires)įull setup (fingerboard conditioning, intonation, action, pickup height, neck relief etc) New pots (I tracked down the real models and tried to get similar value pots) and switches New pickups (I had 2 sets of pickups suitable for each guitar) For the Gibsons, the pickups were actually legit Epiphones, and I compared them to a legit Epiphone LP Standard. Every other one had dead frets, a poorly cut nut, weakly potted pickups (more on that later) and horrible action. Right out of the box, only 2 of the Fenders and 1 Gibson were playable at all. I also have 2 lawsuit guitars (an old Edwards and a Greco LP copy) that I still treasure to this day.Ģ were Ibanezes (a Jem and an RG470, both with double locking floating trems)ģ were fake Gibsons (Chibsons) (An R9, a LP custom, and a Supreme)Ĥ were fake Fenders (1 was a fake Custom Shop Strat, 1 was the Eric Clapton signature Strat and 2 were Teles)ġ was a Rickenbacker (don't remember the model but it was a 6 string in fake Fireglo) The quality is mainly hit or miss, but at the basic level playable.īack to the topic: I bought 10 counterfeits (NOT copies/lawsuit guitars) over the past few years for "research" and promptly sold all of them. While there are loads of listings on Aliexpress, Dhgate, Tradetang, they all come from the same 3 or 4 factories.
![burny guitar made in china burny guitar made in china](https://jp-guitars.com/21-01-09/D-017.jpg)
Here's the kicker: These guitars are actually made in the same factory, in the same city, EVEN ON THE SAME PRODUCTION LINE as your garden variety Epiphones and Fender/Squiers (the legit ones). I live in Hong Kong (which is not actually a part of China but speaks Chinese) so I've got to know the industry. They come close but any guitarist can tell the difference upon close examination. The owners of these factories actually try (and fail usually) to rip off exact models of real Gibsons and Fenders. These are the guitars made in China, in super shady factories. What you were referring to with Dave from GnR is a copy. Such guitars are more often than not made in Japan, and are of a very high quality, and at a greater price. That's why these guitars are called "lawsuit guitars". Although the style is similar they delibaretly take some small measure to avoid lawsuits and indeed this is what happened in the '80s. They are copies and they are made in Japan. The BUNNY (Burny I think actually) Les Pauls and Grecos and Ibanez guitars are not counterfeits. I have bought many (close to 10) counterfeits.
![burny guitar made in china burny guitar made in china](https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--HaQjqLg3--/t_card-square/v1563636542/euzdoxk8c2udrnblggg4.jpg)
#Burny guitar made in china upgrade#
Counterfeits aren't too bad once you upgrade but can never beat the real thing. TL DR: Counterfeits made in China, copies made elsewhere usually.