Ebay Gibson, fake???

[pjm]

Hi Guys,
Need some help in identifying this LP Gibby neck and body. Cheers
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Gibson-bass-body-and-neck-/261317251795?pt=AU_Musical_Instruments_Instruments&hash=item3cd7b8d2d3&_uhb=1

[Highlander]

Serial number is rather shoddy looking and the logo looks rather odd...

[Granny Gremlin]

I just think it's had all the holes plugged and been refinned a couple times is all.  Could be legit.

It's worth the opening bid, but without seeing it in person I dunno if I'd risk any more.

[uwe]

Neck certainly looks legit. All in all, it could be an LP DeLuxe (not a Special due to the inlays, not a Standard due to the uncarved top) with the front pup plugged and the rear pup cavity enlarged to accomodate a wider pup.

[Dave W]

Could be real but obviously altered if it is. Too many unknowns for me at any price.

[uwe]

The frets are worn - whatever this was, it has been played quite a bit and not lightly either. Who knows, someone might have even - yeeeeeeks! - slapped with it.

[OldManC]

Epi LP Special










That pickup cavity doesn't look like any Gibson I know of but it does look like an Epi and various Chinese copies I've seen.

The pickup cavity looks original to me (meaning it doesn't look like two holes were filled to make it a single pickup bass).

Didn't Gibson only recently start using that headstock shape on LP basses again? The 90s models were thinner and the 00s were even thinner than those. That headstock looks like my 70s era EB basses.

[uwe]

Might have been an Epi body indeed, the cavity seems to indicate it.

[Granny Gremlin]

I don't think you can judge by the pup route - the holes/routes in the body easily be  filled/changed and hidden under a refin.

[OldManC]

I don't think you can judge by the pup route - the holes/routes in the body easily be  filled/changed and hidden under a refin.

From the front maybe, but inside the cavity? Who would go to the trouble of masking it from the inside? That photo doesn't look like anything's been modified in there.

[Granny Gremlin]

multiple refins maybe (most recent masked the cavities, earlier ones didn't); that puke green doesn't look original to me.  It's also the same colour as the inside of the pup route.

[pjm]

Here's a reply from the seller to my questions.

"I bought this bass few years ago from friend in sydney.
I play short scale bass these days, I took parts of this bass to put on my other bass project.
its nice bass, straight maple and rosewood neck with mahogany body."

[Daniel_J]

I can't say what it is, but I don't think is a real Gibson. Black plastic nut and generic TRC gives it away. A shot of the truss rod's nut would probably end all discussions.

[Dave W]

Here's a reply from the seller to my questions.

"I bought this bass few years ago from friend in sydney.
I play short scale bass these days, I took parts of this bass to put on my other bass project.
its nice bass, straight maple and rosewood neck with mahogany body."

Definitely not a Gibson, then. A real Gibson LP Deluxe or Special would have a mahogany neck.

[Highlander]

There looks like the body had a forward route for a cable drilled out before the neck was fitted which does lead to a potential conclusion that a neck pup rout may have been filled in prior to a refin... otherwise, what would be the point of it...?