Got offered this LP in a deal...does it look legit?

Tiltsta

Tiltsta

Show me your frittatas
Staff member
Does this LP Custom look legit? I can't find any signs that don't look right.

Serial number checks out, along with the specs, to be a 2009 Gibson LP Custom made in the Custom Shop. Gibson says the serial number is legit. Nothing about it looks funny, beyond the aftermarket pick guard and knobs which should be black. The bridge is the right pinned model, the tuners look right, ebony board, inlays, logos, binding...it all looks OK and correct to me. If it is a fake they even managed to fake the right toggle switch and weird binding ply choices of Gibson for front and back and headstock. I haven't seen fakes this good yet. I mean in even has the inlay tooling marks on the edge of the diamond inlays common to customs. Anyone see anything amiss with this????? I'm waiting on some more pictures.

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if the seller has some back ground selling, i.e., Reverb, eBay, etc., then ask for some feedback history, if you're nervous ............
 
Looks legit to me. the usual tell-tale Chibson signs are nowhere to be found. That said, the fakes will get better...
 
That pickguard makes the whole guitar look terrible lol. Sounds like you've done your homework and it checks out. I have a black LP custom that's only a few years older than this one, if you want me to check out anything on mine for you, I'd be happy to. Only glaring differences are the color and mine has 3 pickups.

Any idea if this has a maple top? I think most customs don't but I'm no expert.
 
BlockInlay said:
Any idea if this has a maple top? I think most customs don't but I'm no expert.
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Most production LP Customs have maple tops. They started using maple tops on Customs in '68, when they were reintroduced, and still do today.

The real-deal '50s Customs had mahogany tops, as do the Historics and other '50s RIs.
 
This year would be a maple topped mahogany body with a mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard.

This is basically a LP Custom built in the custom shop, but a regular production model and not one of the historic reissue models. I think the LP Custom went from a normal USA production model to a custom shop model in 2003. They changed a few things on them, but they are still very much a modern maple top custom and not the original "black beauty fretless wonder" models of yore.
 
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Wyatt said:
Most production LP Customs have maple tops. They started using maple tops on Customs in '68, when they were reintroduced, and still do today.

The real-deal '50s Customs had mahogany tops, as do the Historics and other '50s RIs.
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Ok, yeah that jives with what I've read and subsequently forgotten. My LP is a 50's reissue that predates the whole R7, R8, etc terminology. Mahog top.

Regardless, @Tiltsta if you'd like me to check anything on it, it would be a good excuse to get it out of the case.
 
Get a photo of the pots. Ask the people on TGP if those are the right pots for that year.
 
You are compelled to trade for that guitar and liberate it from that atrocious pickguard. Sheesh. That thing should be dragged in front of The Hague.
 
Peen Simmons said:
You are compelled to trade for that guitar and liberate it from that atrocious pickguard. Sheesh. That thing should be dragged in front of The Hague.
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Indeed, it is awful. The off tone gold knobs are bad, but the pickguard is really awful. Luckily, it comes with the original parts.
 
jp_nyc said:
Get a photo of the pots. Ask the people on TGP if those are the right pots for that year.
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I’ll have to look at that, plus the wiring quality. I know how to read pot codes, so I don’t need TGP, but it is still an excellent idea.
 
Love the guitar. Hate the pickguard.

Did Gibson ever make a white LP Custom that came stock with chrome hardware? Just curious.
 
Tiltsta said:
I’ll have to look at that, plus the wiring quality. I know how to read pot codes, so I don’t need TGP, but it is still an excellent idea.
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It’s not just the codes, it’s the brand. Gibson has used different pots over the years.
 
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