How to Spot a Fake Gibson Les Paul in Seconds

Recently, we shared some incredibly popular advice from guitarist Kennis Russell—"How to Spot a Fake Fender Stratocaster in Seconds."

Russell made the video because, at some point, he bought a used Strat at his local guitar shop and soon realized it was fake.

Well, this sort of thing seems to happen to Russell fairly often, because that's also the back-story to his follow-up video, "How to Spot a Fake Gibson in Seconds," which you can stream below.

"I picked up a fake Gibson Les Paul Custom Goldtop at my local pawn shop." Russell writes. "Within a few seconds of playing, I realized it was a fake, and a bad fake at that. In this video, I compare this fake Gibson Les Paul Custom to an Epiphone Les Paul Custom and a Real Gibson Les Paul. Here are the things I identified as fake: poor binding, the truss-rod cover, the fret inlays, the bridge, the serial number, the headstock, logo, tuners and more."

Basically, if you have doubts about a recent purchase—or if you just want to be prepared for the future—tou might find some valuable information here.

For more videos by Russell, be sure to drop in on his YouTube channel, which you'll find in this general region.