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Is the truss rod cover a replacement too? What does the front of the headstock look like? From what I can see everything on it looks legit, except that stamp. Bridge, tailpiece placement, cavities, pickups, even the stamped serial number. Mine had a sticker in '01 and it was shortly after they moved...

The serial look Chinese but more/better pics would help confirm

Seconded

I'm more than a little surprised about the comments re: neck thickness. I took the opportunity to look back over some old forum posts and couldn't find anything definitive, although a number of them seemed to suggest there was some variation between different years/models. My own experience was that...

It would help to have pics of the headstock (front and back), bridge, and electronics cavity.

Build quality will be as good as anything Gibson USA ever put out, and will be more consistent. The old stuff has rarity appeal but quality has not diminished over time. Specs - non weight relived mahogany body, full thickness maple cap, thin poly finish, 'medium' neck tenon (goes to the end of the ...

It's not fake.

But it is made in China.

300 sounds like a good price bit it depends on local markets. Where in the world are you?

Very strange answer. Why would he care about a setup if he's selling it? The new owner will obviously have their own setup preference and would have to fork out that money again to have their own work done.

The guitar may be legitimate but the seller is clearly someone to be cautious about.

When you say pegs do you mean the plastic button on the end? You might have some luck on ebay if you just want the keystone tuner buttons but it might be easier to just replace the whole unit. The model number you need for a direct replacement on Japanese models is Gotoh SD90-SL, but any Kluson styl...

That particular 150 was discussed on the forum very recently. It's had some pictures added which prove it's the real thing. The 150 is a higher spec guitar with features that can't be modded (lacquer finish, long tenon etc). For that price it's definitely a better deal if you can stomach the conditi...

I think it's real, but it's been modded within an inch of its life. Literally all the hardware looks like it's been changed, right down to the pickup rings. That top join would never happen on a burst finish and the back colour looks wrong. Goldtop refinish maybe? Something's been done to the finish...

It's definitely a MIJ, made in 2005. The flame top looks right to me and the wear & tear suggests a softer lacquer finish, but there are some potential red flags. One, there are mods - pickups, truss rod cover, could there be anything else which muddies the waters? Two, no fret edge binding. Maybe i...

Today I learned!

Can you explain what a "batwing" is please?

Ok, I'm starting to get really confused about what it is you're actually looking for. If I refer back to my first post where I narrowed you down to two choices (MIJ or MIC) and skim through everything written since, you've now added the criteria that you want something similar to a MIJ ObG. Well in ...