smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
Soo that pawn shop I visit multiple times a week has had a black Gibson Les Paul Classic Faded in there for almost a year, in a little glass case with a few other "nice" guitars... I always thought it was a nice looking guitar, but the entire time it's been there it's been tagged at $1,600 which is not crazy but not really good either. So I never really messed with it other than just kinda eyeballing it and going "hm".
I was in there this past weekend and it was still there, still $1,600. On a whim I went in there again after work last night (it's only a couple blocks from my apartment) and they had *just* marked it down earlier in the afternoon... to $480 (70% off). I have seen 70% off tags on a lot of other items that have been there for a while but I thought at first that it must be some kind of mistake. "There's gotta be a catch", I thought. Headstock got cracked, they found out it's counterfeit, something like that.
So I ask if I can check it out and the guy was like "yeah we just marked that down, a few minutes ago a guy said he was coming back tomorrow to get it but I told him we can't hold it." (I know the guys that work in there and I don't think he was just blowing smoke about that, they're pretty straight up with me.) So he gets it out of the glass case and I sit down to check it out. No breaks, no cracks, and actually it's in remarkably clean shape overall. I check the serial number, it's a 2011. So I start looking for signs that it's fake, using both my knowledge of Gibsons (and how to spot fakes) and some googling of similar models. Everything looks correct - serial number, tuners, how the binding meets the neck from the body, the Gibson inlay... I'm almost certain it is genuine at this point. Plus, why would anyone counterfeit a Les Paul Classic Faded? They're nice, but not worth counterfeiting - especially not to this level of accuracy.
So I'm like "I'll take it, does it come with a case?" and he is like I think it does, he goes out back and returns with a slightly beat but still quite nice brown Gibson USA case (another sign it's not a fake). I can barely contain myself as he rings it up for $519.60 after tax. I get home and open it up and the pickups are likely aftermarket (Burstbucker Pros) but everything else looks as it should (Gibson branded pots, etc.) I got it home and gave it some fresh strings and a setup (it didn't need much more than a truss rod tweak and some intonation).
I still can't really believe it... I woke up this morning and had to check that it wasn't some weird dream. I could flip it but I think I'll keep it just because of the crazy deal I got on it. Wow!
I was in there this past weekend and it was still there, still $1,600. On a whim I went in there again after work last night (it's only a couple blocks from my apartment) and they had *just* marked it down earlier in the afternoon... to $480 (70% off). I have seen 70% off tags on a lot of other items that have been there for a while but I thought at first that it must be some kind of mistake. "There's gotta be a catch", I thought. Headstock got cracked, they found out it's counterfeit, something like that.
So I ask if I can check it out and the guy was like "yeah we just marked that down, a few minutes ago a guy said he was coming back tomorrow to get it but I told him we can't hold it." (I know the guys that work in there and I don't think he was just blowing smoke about that, they're pretty straight up with me.) So he gets it out of the glass case and I sit down to check it out. No breaks, no cracks, and actually it's in remarkably clean shape overall. I check the serial number, it's a 2011. So I start looking for signs that it's fake, using both my knowledge of Gibsons (and how to spot fakes) and some googling of similar models. Everything looks correct - serial number, tuners, how the binding meets the neck from the body, the Gibson inlay... I'm almost certain it is genuine at this point. Plus, why would anyone counterfeit a Les Paul Classic Faded? They're nice, but not worth counterfeiting - especially not to this level of accuracy.
So I'm like "I'll take it, does it come with a case?" and he is like I think it does, he goes out back and returns with a slightly beat but still quite nice brown Gibson USA case (another sign it's not a fake). I can barely contain myself as he rings it up for $519.60 after tax. I get home and open it up and the pickups are likely aftermarket (Burstbucker Pros) but everything else looks as it should (Gibson branded pots, etc.) I got it home and gave it some fresh strings and a setup (it didn't need much more than a truss rod tweak and some intonation).
I still can't really believe it... I woke up this morning and had to check that it wasn't some weird dream. I could flip it but I think I'll keep it just because of the crazy deal I got on it. Wow!
