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A very common e-mail I receive these days, usually reads something along the lines of ... "I came across an Ace Frehley guitar for under $700. Can you tell me if it's a real Gibson"? Sure I can ... No. Remember the old saying ... If it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
I'm not entirely sure exactly when these Chinese-built guitars began surfacing, around the world, but it was sometime in 2005 or 2006. Consumers who didn't recognize the guitars as being counterfeit, thought they were getting an incredible deal on an American made Gibson guitar that had been built for the Asian market. Sadly, this was completely false and many, many unsuspecting people handed over their hard earned cash for a guitar that, in my opinion, was just this side of the text book definition of 'fire wood'.
The guitars say "Gibson" on the headstock. They have a 'split-diamond' headstock inlay and block inlays on the fingerboard. In the case of the Ace Frehley models, they have Ace's face on the front of the headstock and the lightning-bolt inlays on the fingerboard. 5-ply (W/B/W/B/W) binding in all the right places. Pickguards, toggle switches, speed knobs and metal jack plates. Flip the guitar over and it has "Made in USA" and a serial number stamped into the back of the headstock. The machine heads say "Grover" on them and the guitars come with a brown, hardshell case that has "Gibson" screenprinted on it. Cool !?!?! Ya ... not really.
From this point on, I'm just going to focus on what to look for as it pertains to the Ace Frehley counterfeit models that are in circulation. Below that, I've posted a link to Gibson's website and the page that contains their information on the topic. I hope this stuff helps you out but please feel free to e-mail me if you're still not 100% sure.
Chinese-built Ace Frehley Les Paul counterfeit guitars - What should I be looking for ?!?!?!?
1.) The serial number: Gibson USA built the Ace Frehley Les Pauls between 1997 and 2001. This means that an authentic Gibson serial number will reflect this. The serialization Gibson used, at the time, has the last 2 digits of the manufacturing year (i.e. 1997 = 97) as the first and fifth digits of the serial number (i.e. 93367333). So, on an authentic Ace Frehley Les Paul, the first and fifth digits of the serial number can only be one of the following five combinations ... 9 & 7 (1997), 9 & 8 (1998), 9 & 9 (1999), 0 & 0 (2000) or 0 & 1 (2001). Many of the counterfeit models I've seen, have first and fifth numbers that are incorrect for the Ace Frehley models.
2.) The color scheme: Gibson USA, Ace Frehley Les Pauls were only available in one color option; Cherry Sunburst. Any other color you come across is most likely a counterfeit model.
3.) The case: All Gibson USA, Ace Frehley Les Paul cases have a black exterior and a deep blue interior with the deep blue, silk shroud that has Ace's screenprint signature on it.
Each of these guitars is a counterfeit, Ace Frehley model. The blue one is even a Left-hand orientation.
Here's the link, I mentioned above, to Gibson's page detailing the counterfeit guitars. It's very helpful and has a lot of specific information of what to watch out for.
I hope this helps everyone out !
Serial Number
First and fifth digits would make this guitar a 2005 model
Headstock Veneer
The head is too wide at the top ... the 'Gibson' logo is too low ...
Ace's face is too low as well
The Color
This color would be OK if this was an Epiphone model, but it's not
