How far should you go selling a fake ?

stratman323 said:

honeyboy said:

Like the MIM Fenders. Obvious fakes of the real (American) models.

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Incidentally, by whom is the state of Texas "occupied"

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Like Iraq, Texas was invaded and occupied by the United States.

One of the conditions of statehood for the Republic of Texas was that Texas could secede from the US at any time if agreed upon by the popular vote of Texans.

By popular vote, Texas legally seceded upon the start of the War of Northern Aggression, (American Civil War) and returned to its previous legal status as the Republic of Texas.

Upon conclusion of the war, the tyrant Lincoln sent US occupational forces to Texas, disolved the government and declared that Texas was a US state again.

Texas is the only state that flies its flag at the same height as the US flag.

Texan school children recite a pledge of allegiance to Texas each morning.

All statues on Texas state buildings have their backs turned to the North as a sign of protest.

Thanks for asking.

OK, thanks for that. Texas is an interesting place, I find it amazing that one state can produce such extremes. On the one hand, some of the best blues guitarists of the 20th/21st Century (I'm sure I don't need to name them here...). On the other hand, George W. Bush, & the odd one or two reactionary people... :roll:

I hope to visit Austin, Memphis & New Orleans next year - the music tour, as we're calling it. Maybe Chicago as well, though it's a long way up there.

I'm sure you won't agree, but I find the idea of a "pledge of allegiance" of any kind to be rather worrying. I wouldn't be happy pledging allegiance to either Old Liz or Blair/Brown/whoever, I have my own views, and we're supposed to be a free society

BillyWizz said:

Gibson have recently been pulling Les Paul fakes on ebay

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Gibson are the biggest sellers of Les Paul "fakes" :lol: Shoddy workmanship, bad finishing, uneven frets without proper crowning, heavy mahogany bodies with swiss cheese holes in them to make it light enough to use (from 2007 they are actually chambering them, the mahogany is that heavy) and neck joints that are complete crap. They sell these "fakes" as premium priced instruments to a gullible public 8)

BaggyPants said:

Gibson are the biggest sellers of Les Paul "fakes" :lol: Shoddy workmanship, bad finishing, uneven frets without proper crowning, heavy mahogany bodies with swiss cheese holes in them to make it light enough to use (from 2007 they are actually chambering them, the mahogany is that heavy) and neck joints that are complete crap. They sell these "fakes" as premium priced instruments to a gullible public 8)

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+1 !! BaggyPants

I'm able to document all this crab with facts and with pics.
(That's why I'm state all the time: Even every Tokai MIJ entry model does have better feature as every Gibson Les Paul Standard)
But, ... all this is legal ..... and Gibson may put its logo on the headstock .... :wink:

Jamieh said:

- Who do you tell at Fender (Gibson really don't care in the Uk) - even as a Fender dealer I don't know who I should tell if I spot it!

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For Fender fakes on ebay : [email protected]

For Gibson fakes on ebay : [email protected]


Fender are pretty good, some weeks they will not react, others they will pull the listing within an hour.

Gibson are getting pretty hot at the moment due to the Chinese fakes, recently they have been pulling around 20 listings a week from ebay UK and have managed a couple of court cases using Trading Standards under the 1930 Trademarks Act.


Both Gibson and Fender do not have to go through ebay to pull listings, as the VERO owner they can pull direct, hence why eBay dont bother taking any notice of the reports.


Ebay user names for :

Fender : fenderlegal ( read the about me page )

Gibson : gibsonlegal ( hmmmm strange one this, I would avoid ! )

BillyWizz said:

For Fender fakes on ebay : [email protected]

For Gibson fakes on ebay : [email protected]

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So what about Tokai fakes?

stratman323 said:

BillyWizz said:

For Fender fakes on ebay : [email protected]

For Gibson fakes on ebay : [email protected]

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So what about Tokai fakes?

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If Tokai registered its VERO interest with eBay then they could in theory pull them.

But I dont think they would have the nerve LOL !


Thats a bit like PRS pulling PRS copy's after the Single Cut fiasco :lol:

Maybe this is why we're seeing so many fake Tokais around now? Before I joined this forum, I couldn't understand why anyone would want to fake a Tokai when more money could be made faking a Fender or Gibson. Maybe this is one of the main reasons - there's nobody at Tokai who fights to protect the use of their name, so scammers can fake Tokais with impunity.

Some of us are trying to protect Tokai name stratman, and you can find how we pointed the fakes when we find any....

Sure, I know that, & I think you're all doing a great job. It just seems kinda funny that Tokai's name is being protected by a bunch of owners, enthusiasts and collectors, rather than the company that owns the name. :lol:

stratman323 said:

Sure, I know that, & I think you're all doing a great job. It just seems kinda funny that Tokai's name is being protected by a bunch of owners, enthusiasts and collectors, rather than the company that owns the name. :lol:

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Thats the irony. Tokai themselfs produce fake Gibsons and Strats. They just dont use the exact Logo.

So Tokai is the ideal brand to fake. It has a good rep, the guitars are fairly high prices and the majority of people dont know ( including me ! ) how to realy tell a good fake apart from a genuine Tokai.

Fenders legal guy once passed a comment regarding fake Tokais on ebay. " Let see how they deal with it " ? Says it all really.