websites like AliExpress...

[Wiltonauer]

I’m all for clowning on Gibson when they do something clown worthy, but I’m not down with counterfeiting. The counterfeit builders and merchants can all go pound sand. If you can make a great knockoff, why would you want to put it out there with Gibson’s name on it and have them getting credit for your work every time someone sees the guitar but doesn’t realize Gibson didn’t build it? Sell it with your own trade dress, then we’ll talk.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I have a Chibanez on my workbench for a forumite/customer, I can’t tell you how much it irks me to no end to see this happen, people spending good money on a fake. Some people do it on purpose because they want that name on the headstock, at the cost of quality.

 

[nightsprinter]

I don't own any knockoffs, but according to all I've seen, all you have to do is request whatever custom order you plan on getting without any badging on the headstock. The youtube guy has done that from time to time.

But anyway, I don't want a Gibson or anything that resembles one.

Unless someone knows who currently has David Gold's black and white SG3's. Because I will buy one of those right here right now.

 

[Wiltonauer]

Fools and their money.

Depending on how you look at it, there are at least two kinds of fools involved:

1.) Those who just want the name on the headstock and pay the money to have the “right” company put it there… as well as build their “there” while they’re at it… but don’t care that much about any real or perceived quality differences.

2.) Those who just want the name on the headstock and don’t mind selling off their own integrity for exactly the price difference.

The first group probably has ancestors who had beautifully stocked liquor cabinets. The second probably has ancestors who were moonshiners. Both think they’re the savviest guitar buyers around.

Surely there are other types of fools as well, including one or more groups that I fit into.

 

[Nobody]

Unless someone knows who currently has David Gold's black and white SG3's. Because I will buy one of those right here right now.

David Gold from Woods Of Ypre? RIP

 

[nightsprinter]

David Gold from Woods Of Ypre? RIP

Yeah. He sold the 2 guitars in question well before he passed away and I've been passively wondering what happened to them ever since. My family would really like to buy one of them.

 

[Nobody]

Yeah. He sold the 2 guitars in question well before he passed away and I've been passively wondering what happened to them ever since. My family would really like to buy one of them.

I wish you luck

 

[Jebe-]

I used to play WoW. One time I tried to buy WoW gold from a sketchy website. My credit card info got stolen, my account got hacked, and blizzard customer service told me to fuck off when I asked for help recovering my gear. It was a good lesson.

This is why I always wonder how people will give their credit card information to some random counterfeit builder in China where you don't have any rights as a customer.

 

[SalsaWood]

Fuck China.

And my phone was made in Korea, before I get inundated with that trope.

 

[fabronaut]

This is why I always wonder how people will give their credit card information to some random counterfeit builder in China where you don't have any rights as a customer.

FWIW, sites like AliExpress seem to operate much like eBay or Amazon's third party seller system. They provide the infrastructure for listing items and take a percentage cut or whatever from the transactions.

I can't see them having any incentive to share credit card information with the sellers on their platform, since they want control over taking their cut, keeping sellers on their system, and giving customers some recourse against fraud / counterfeits / junk. (Granted, your contact information is probably out there to some random seller as soon as you buy something that AliExpress doesn't process themselves through their own distribution centre. Almost certainly way dicier than some rando on eBay or Reverb, but it is what it is.)

I've bought a few odds and ends from AliExpress and DHgate over the years, typically things that I know some jagoff is marking up anywhere from 3 to 20 times the price on Amazon or retail. Back when I was a mild stoner, I was able to get the same cheap glassware for ~$10 - 20 shipped directly to me that someone would sell in a shop for upwards of $80... It was the exact same unbranded or pseudo-branded stuff. The head shops outright state that they provide no guarantees regarding glass either, so if you got a bad one and it cracked from thermal shock, you're fucked -- and you paid more to get fucked.

Rule of thumb with sites like that is to look for stores that have been around for awhile, have a significant number of purchases, a rather high 4 - 5 star rating, and are marked as "preferred" or "shipped by AliExpress" or whatever. In particular, the "shipped by" option would be a safer bet as far as the item having tracking etc. Somehow, China has figured out how to ship ~$10 items overseas while including shipping... You might not get tracking and it may take a week (or a month) to show up. The site prompts you to let them know if you didn't receive the item. They want your repeat business and a bigger slice of your dollar, so they do have incentive there to keep the customer happy.

While it is a roll of the dice, I haven't found much difference between buying certain items a couple of links earlier in the manufacturing / distribution chain. If you pay a significant premium on Amazon, odds are you can return it if it's a dud, but you're probably screwed after the 30 day window if anything goes wrong. Debatable if it's worth the markup. I think it depends on what it is. I generally don't bother and roll my eyes at all the drop shippers / proxy sellers tacking on a significant markup and adding nothing for it for a 50 - 70% price increase... and that's a huge percentage of the stuff on Amazon.

I've had success as of late with some basic electronics like uncommon USB cables (which would have an insane markup at retail) and Linux handheld hobbyist devices for playing retro games and messing around. I'm a lot more wary of guitar parts, but some of the stuff -- if you find the right supplier and it's not yet another counterfeit -- is solid. Legitimate Wilkinson tuners with the two stacked holes for a natural "lock" twist are some of the best I've encountered outside of premium locking ones, as it's an elegant design. China can make quality products, just like anywhere else. It's holding them accountable and ensuring you get what you expected / paid for that can be difficult.

Sidebar: it's funny that AliExpress has managed to find ways to reintroduce pop-up like crap (embedded in the site -- Brave browser and ad-blocking plugins won't help much there?) and sidestep filtering in inboxes for marketing emails.