Rep guitars and Chinese ebay

[mojo2001]

Been thinking about picking up a guitar and happened upon rep Gibsons on ioffer. Anybody ever try one of these? Like rep watches they often have a few glaring errors but otherwise look pretty damn good. Of course, they probably don't sound like real Gibsons but I suspect they are decent for the price (e.g. $225 + 100 EMS for a hollowbody).

Anyway, while digging around on the topic I found eachnet.com, which is Chinese ebay. Seems ebay.cn sold out to this outfit or there is some sort of a partnership deal. Aside from 100s of fake Gibson Guitars, there are a lot of wild and wacky rep watches on eachnet.

Not too many Rolex---probably for legal reasons, but a lot of IWCs, Omegas, and whatnot--including some real offbeat stuff. Well worth a visit for entertainment. Lots of PATEK PHILIPP such as the pictured gem...

 

[Faber]

i have bought a replica gretsch....its a really nice sounding guitar....made all of maple , but you will need to change the tunning pegs and personally i have upgrade the humbucker...the one that came on it was a regular one...so with a better pick up it will sounds great....

cheers

 

[mojo2001]

I found that I used to have to do work on real American Fender Teles and the like to get them to sound how I wanted, back when I used to play.
Might pop for one and plan to work on it like I did my MBWs.

Also spotted an unusual rep on eachnet.com...a rep Tissot PRS516. Nice watch but what is the point when you can get a gen for $250?

Might sell my gen PRS516 and buy a Rep Gibson 335 8)

 

[doctorron]

Thanks for bringing this up. Very cool. I just checked out the site. How the hell do you guys read it?

 

[bob1919a]

Gah, not even Chinese eBay sells replica condoms! Darn it these buggers start to get expensive! :evil:

 

[WackoBirdKeeper]

Been thinking about picking up a guitar and happened upon rep Gibsons on ioffer. Anybody ever try one of these? Like rep watches they often have a few glaring errors but otherwise look pretty damn good. Of course, they probably don't sound like real Gibsons but I suspect they are decent for the price (e.g. $225 + 100 EMS for a hollowbody).

Anyway, while digging around on the topic I found eachnet.com, which is Chinese ebay. Seems ebay.cn sold out to this outfit or there is some sort of a partnership deal. Aside from 100s of fake Gibson Guitars, there are a lot of wild and wacky rep watches on eachnet.

Not too many Rolex---probably for legal reasons, but a lot of IWCs, Omegas, and whatnot--including some real offbeat stuff. Well worth a visit for entertainment. Lots of PATEK PHILIPP such as the pictured gem...

Just get an Epiphone. Why bother with those reps. The epi's are a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[sexybeast]

ya think they have 1 of these?
hxxp://cgi.ebay.com/50th-Anniversar...ryZ47072QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[mojo2001]

>>Just get an Epiphone. Why bother with those reps. The epi's are a lot of bang for the buck.


I thought Epiphones ARE reps :twisted:

Anyway they have Epi reps too...that is a rep of a rep.

Don't know about the gold Les Pauls but did see some cool silver black ones...you can only look at eachnet for 20 minutes then you start getting a headache...

WAIT here's a Gold top on ioffer.....the seller took $115

http://www.ioffer.com/i/Gibson-Les-paul ... r-30023271

 

[mojo2001]

>>>Gah, not even Chinese eBay sells replica condoms! Darn it these buggers start to get expensive!

I don't know man...there is an eachnet seller named "Rolex_Dick"-- check with him

 

[brtelec]

Epiphones are not reps. They are Gibsons more affordable line. It is just like buying a Stratocaster. There are a number of versions in different price ranges but they are all part of Fender brands.

 

[mojo2001]

I was joking about Epiphones being reps...but they are offshore "copies" of USA Gibsons.

I am really not sure how diferent the rep Gibsons are from Epis...although I can go play an Epiphone before I buy it.

Anyway an Epi 335 costs $600 and a Chinese copy Epiphone 335 costs $185+ 100 EMS.

Of course, the Epiphone comes from Gibson Inc and probably has some QC-- and you gotta deal with some Trevor type dude to get the CN copy, but maybe the discount is worth it.

And can Epiphone sell me one of these???:

 

[mojo2001]

Here's a badass rep Les Paul...nice eh?

 

[WackoBirdKeeper]

Epiphones are not reps. They are Gibsons more affordable line. It is just like buying a Stratocaster. There are a number of versions in different price ranges but they are all part of Fender brands.

Thank you. You beat me to it. An Epi is to a Gibson like a Tudor is to a Rolex. Now, everyone here should understand!!!

 

[Rider]

You don't really even have to settle for a Chinese rep anymore. There are a lot of guitar manufacturers who blatantly rip off the strat or every gibson design and simply change the name. Usually they aren't all that hot but good for smashing on stage. See stagg. A lot of vintage Japanese lawsuit copies made in the 70s are actually worth some change today and were pretty nice instruments. I dunno chinese reps today are ok but a nice japanese fender isn't too much more expensive and I am always surprised by the craftsmanship.

 

[WackoBirdKeeper]

You don't really even have to settle for a Chinese rep anymore. There are a lot of guitar manufacturers who blatantly rip off the strat or every gibson design and simply change the name. Usually they aren't all that hot but good for smashing on stage. See stagg. A lot of vintage Japanese lawsuit copies made in the 70s are actually worth some change today and were pretty nice instruments. I dunno chinese reps today are ok but a nice japanese fender isn't too much more expensive and I am always surprised by the craftsmanship.

I personally own an Ibanez lawsuit era ES175 copy. I have kept it in real nice shape, and when I bought it, it cost me $225.00 brand new BEFORE Gibson won the lawsuit. I was recently offered $1,500.00 dollars for it in a Sam Ash store. The fellow that saw it and asked to play it is a well know Jazz guitarist. He told me he rarely sees these, but he has never seen one in such good condition before. I'm told it is worth more than that today.

 

[time_bandit]

Speaking of guitars, you might notice that Fender sells two main lines of strats, those from the US factory and those from the mexican factory. Did you know that Fender also has a factory in Japan? They used to sell them in the US but no longer do. Why? The quality of the Japanese strats was equal to, and many times superior, to the US made strats at less than half the price.

 

[Deltick]

Okay, back to the original question:
I have 4 Chinese Gibson Les Paul replicas and one ES335.
I think they are totally cool. About the same quality or better than an Epiphone LP that I also have.
The only complaint I have had is that on some the nut needs a little work. But no big deal.
The actually sound and play great for the money.

 

[mojo2001]

I guess it comes down to the old rep conundrum...once you're up to $300 with shipping, that money will buy you a lot of pretty interesting gens. So you have to really like the style or feel like you are getting something special with the rep.

Three hundred skins will buy a wide variety of really nice Yamahas, Samicks, Epiphones, etc. --including many you can play before buying. So I am not sure that I would pay $300 for a rep les Paul unless I wanted a particular finish, when I can buy a Samick LP that I know kicks booty.

$300 for a Gibson rep sounds a lot more palatable for a full hollow jazz box or the Johnny A custom...something different.

I really don't care what my Guitar says on the headstock, but I wouldn't want a near perfect watch rep with the wrong name on it.
Anybody who plays guitar has or knows somebody who has a "no-name" guitar that is way better than it has any right to be. I had a $75 Samick puke green strat that really came alive in my hands and blew away an American Fender that I picked out among many. So ya never know...

Which leads to the other dilemma in rep guitars...a geetar is a bit more individual and has a unique personality aspect that a watch doesn't. For me at least, I'd be looking for something special design wise or cosmetics wise to put me over the edge.

 

[amptor]

Why not just buy a peavy?