Safely you can assume just about any "mint" condition or new Gibson axe or parts for sale on Ebay are knock offs from china..thats right even the so called Gibson Pure parts too ..same goes for Ibanez, Fender, PRS, BC Rich all cheap knock offs ..DiMarzio Seymour Duncan Nike Bolle ..the lists go on and on and on ohh and on and on and on some more too.

Now alot of people I see state curiousity as their reasons for buying a Gibson knock-off, but for me it was simple,  after a short discussion with a sales rep at the local Guitar World shop the idea was to obtain a PAF Pro for the neck position of my real (lol to have to say that) 1991 Ibanez RG570R Ltd Ed. But even if I got the pup it still wouldnt be legitimate as you need that kind of body for those tones etc etc..in regards to the Les Paul ( god rest this holy mans soul lol) ..shaped guitars.  Now there is no way on earth I can afford to buy myself a genuine poster of a Gibson let alone a real  Les Paul so I figured maybe I could by a copy of a LP ..Ibanez, PRS and  too many others to mention make them and decent good guitars..hmm i can remember both an Ibanez and a Yamaha versions I had played in the late 70's or early 80's that were better quality instruments then gibbos were at that time.

In fact believe it or not alot of people would take even the "yankee" wiring out and replace it with quality wire made by like Japanese MOGAMI and  guitar pups were modded or replaced at will, and as really heavy rock and heavy metal became more the tones sought  it was almost as common as not for original ANY LEGEND GUITAR let alone Gibson parts to be left in the cupboard and just as likely for alot of that gear to be then later thrown out by some poor mugs mother probably lol.

So basically I have seen so many American Guitars modded using Asian gear I figured I might as well buy a Les Paul copy.  But I found that there was actual knock offs being sold (some, alot even as real) so I looked to China for a source a little closer to the manufacturer, I BOUGHT A "GIBSUN JIM BEAN" or a Gibson Jim Beam Les Paul knock off for AUD$315 it came with a logo'd Gibson Usa "MADE IN CANADA" stickered hardcase...sound familiar just change the jim beam paint job, and make it a black beauty, red flame sunburst, maple top, flamed. hollow body, lol a custom shop flying humpbacked JIMI PAGE SLASH ANGUS RHODES V MODELS ANY or whatever model you want lol and all the same quality it seems they actually come from 2 places that I know of  Quandong or jong or something and Tianjin forgive any mis-spelling. You need to purchase a minimum 6 of every/any model you want so if you want one you buy 6 and sell the other exact same model colour etc 5 , they cost like $75-$120 USD each.

My GIBSUN has cost me a further aud$450 to get to this stage, but I did get a couple of great deals on some actual real vintage parts, and basicaly when you get the Gibsun  theyre a serious waste of money  and would make a good wall hanging or decoration but thats about it, they do work but lol what a screeching howling POS screaming dead cat on a tin roof sounds.  Also it seems because of a basic guitar case design fault Tianjin cant ship the guitars to anywhere in the world undamaged. As well there wont be a part of the routing done right at all, all the hardware is the cheapest tinplate crap youve ever seen a sardine can made out of let along axe parts. Hahaha but always the optimist I fitted the bridge position with a DIMARZIO Steves Special and had a lil go ...hmmm and thought "sounds really nice nearly ..beautiful sustain and tone hmmmm...so now a few months later having almost customised everything except the paint job and having maybe 2-aud$300 left to go to complete it totaly I figured Id tell my yarn...2 days ago I played one of the best guitars Ive ever played full stop, and easily as good as any axe Ive ever played and seriously Ive put fingers to strings on too many to even want to remember. 

So as long as you know what to do you should be able to turn a GIBSUN into a decent all but body and neck "original Gibson Pure type parts" Gibson Copy that is almost impossible to tell from a genuine one to look at and even play if set up right and for about $1000-$1500... yes there is alot of other True Quality branded copies that wouldnt cost as much , but then people might end up modding those for a better sound anyway ..who knows. There is a second point here but..if whoever has done the "job" of replacing all the parts to make the axe legitimate and are selling for about $700-$1500 for the guitar..depending on how extensive a job done..then its actually probably not a bad buy..and you get the ego trip of seeing a "Gibbo" in your collections.

My camera batteries are flat otherwise I would post  pics so I will come back and edit and do it asap..you really need to see this guitar to believe it, if you have to, ONLY BUY AXES/GUITARS FROM EBAY USING PAYPAL... that way if your ripped off you can demand your money back and or legal avenues/actions be taken.

BUT BE WARNED......If the serial numbers are good, THE ONLY WAY TO TELL A FAKE FROM A REAL GIBSON IS THE TRUSS ROD. They are like Fender truss rods with small hex slotted heads almost hidden from veiw after removing the truss rod cover..and look dainty even as compared to a real Gibsons "industrial strength" truss rod.   All the other parts like machine heads pups strap locks nuts bolts etc can be bought new or secondhand and replaced on a chinese Gibson , even the truss rod could be too by a luthier. As can the other obvious "give away" to a fake..the shape of the Volume and Tone Pot and electrics cavity..the chinese are lazy and basically drill out the 4 holes and widen them... real Gibson cavities match the shape of the cavity cover ...a squashed rectangle or kind of diamond shape again all this I photograph and display here if possible.