Fake? I think so.. whats you opinions?

darkmavis

darkmavis

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Jan 20, 2015
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Hi all. this guitar is being touted as an employee guitar. I have voiced my FAKE vibes since he posted it on facebook but hes now trying to hawk it on various internet sites. before I ring the big red alarm so to speak, i just want to confirm I am correct. you never know! He did show some inside the cavity's where there was nothing written or no modcat either but he seems to have removed them! if i can get them I will post.

update! I have received this off him regarding the serial number.

It's what prs call a employee guitar every few years (5 I think) the guys there get to make a guitar for themselves and the woods etc they have access to depends on how long they have worked there. I bought it 9 years ago from a big collector who had 2 of these. I'm trying to sell it in a few places including trading it in at GAK guitar store even they've offered £2,200. But would rather sell privately. The guy had 2 of these guitars and I know the story behind the serial no. Which with these turns out to be completely made up and his other guitar was bright red turned out the guy had a corvette and painted his guitar the same color and that serial number was the registration plate. This guitars serial no. Is also random and refers to the guys daughters birthday and the 4 at the start is the year it was made so kid was born on 24th Aug 99 and it was made in 04. Proving it's authenticity is difficult and GAK are doing there research and I'm also in contact with PRS customer service trying to get some kind of proof also they say the serial no. Doesn't match USA records but then there not surprised as like I said there completely random. It's a lovely guitar with a one piece maple top the only thing I don't like is the 5 way rotary pickup selector is as a knob but that's easily changed. Hope this helps.

now from what i know that serial number stuff is nonsense? Also added a cavity photo. nothing in there and the cnc holes look wrong to me. the hardware looks real though?










https://photos.smugmug.com/TTPGP/For-Fun-Chris/Fake-prs/i-cHjWQFH/0/X2/20170120_104501 (1)-X2.jpg
 
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It's an odd one but.. Could be legit. Some of the early employee guitars got crazy.
 
update! I have received this off him regarding the serial number.

It's what prs call a employee guitar every few years (5 I think) the guys there get to make a guitar for themselves and the woods etc they have access to depends on how long they have worked there. I bought it 9 years ago from a big collector who had 2 of these. I'm trying to sell it in a few places including trading it in at GAK guitar store even they've offered £2,200. But would rather sell privately. The guy had 2 of these guitars and I know the story behind the serial no. Which with these turns out to be completely made up and his other guitar was bright red turned out the guy had a corvette and painted his guitar the same color and that serial number was the registration plate. This guitars serial no. Is also random and refers to the guys daughters birthday and the 4 at the start is the year it was made so kid was born on 24th Aug 99 and it was made in 04. Proving it's authenticity is difficult and GAK are doing there research and I'm also in contact with PRS customer service trying to get some kind of proof also they say the serial no. Doesn't match USA records but then there not surprised as like I said there completely random. It's a lovely guitar with a one piece maple top the only thing I don't like is the 5 way rotary pickup selector is as a knob but that's easily changed. Hope this helps.

now from what i know that serial number stuff is nonsense? Also added a cavity photo. nothing in there and the cnc holes look wrong to me. the hardware looks real though?
 
Body and headstock shapes actually look really close, if not legit...serial number way off though...especially the font/script.
weird blank space beyond the nut on the headstock??? Neck PU ring hanging over upper access cut-out????
 
Other than the pickup cavity looking like something that fell from a Chinese Junk departing the shores of Aliexpress and the askew serial number there is not much I can see that is suspect in the photographs shown here but I may have overlooked something. The seller's story sounds quite fanciful. Could be total BS, or not. Either way I would not consider buying this guitar.

Edit: And of course, if it were legit PRS would have a record of it.

Edit again: Compare the spacing of the two lower pots. As genuine as a nine dollar note.
 
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Is it me or are the bird inlays kind of a mish-mash of different styles at the different frets?
Fake or no, not very appealing to me - no offense.
 
no problem, i think its hideous too. i just hate the fact that someone may fall for it and buy it
 
Hmmm... if I had to choose I'd say fake but it about the best fake I've seen (other than being really gaudy).

My reasoning:
The owner says it's an 04 but it has winged tuners. Now maybe the employee went for the retro look, who knows. No MODCAT is ok for an employee guitar but empty cavities are still a problem. Usually those who work on them still initial the cavities. It does have PRS pickups and hardware so in order to be fake they would still have had to harvest the hardware from another PRS. That seems odd. The biggest reason I say it is fake is the south east corner of the neck pickup ring in the photo. It is always about an 8th of an inch from the half circle cutaway. Always. It is one of the most consistent things about PRS CNC work. In this case it appears the ring actually extends into the cutaway. Maybe it's just the angle but I don't think so. I've never seen a PRS do that. I'm also nervous about the control cavity. No ESD paint. There are depressions for the controls instead of a flat bottom. The wire from the input jack is yellow, and that oversized ground wire.

I could be wrong but those are my observations along with the ones others have said.
 
Are the pots/knobs holes recessed properly? I can't really tell with those gaudy knobs on there. I smell a rat on this one as others do. And wings on an '04? I dunno.
 
Looks pretty good until you see the back of the headstock (tuners and serial# way whack) and under the pcikups (not a single mark or sticker).
 
Hi guys i work at Andertons in the uk and someone emailed me a picture of this actual instrument asking about trading it in but the photo wasn't great, please let me know where it supposed to be based because i also wondered if it was a scam. Darkmavis was this offered to you in the uk or is it elsewhere in the world as this could also determine a bit more about this guitar. I believe we where emailed from someone wanting to part exchange it last weekend and it was brought to my attention early in the week
 
It's a bit long winded Paul. Here goes.


The lad says he's in essex. So it's in the UK.

He posted it on the PRS UK fabpage on Facebook and pretty much everyone told him it was fake. He said he'd been offered 2k at a guitar shop for it but would rather sell privately. He the put the guitar on eBay eventbough everyone told him to wait for the not from PRS. After protracted conversations on dates and issues he deleted the thread, I tracked it down again on preloved where he gave me the story above. I'm 98 Percent sure it's a fake but he did say he's waiting on PRS getting back to him. I personally would not take it. It's my opinion it's a better fake than usual with genuine parts. The CNC holes and cavity routing are giveaways for me. Well that and the serial number is totally random.
 
There are several things that bug me about this one. One thing I don't think has been noted yet is the holes in the bridge pickup rout that allow for the pickup height screws. They're round and look off-center. I'd expect them to be oblong. And what's with the white paint in that rout, plus the back cavity? Speaking of the back cavity, I'm not sure the routing is normal.

Question about employee guitars, though: Does the employee see the guitar through the entire production? For example, if John Doe the body sander wants to experience other aspects of building and/or wants the guitar made by his own loving hands, could/would he have been the one to rout, spray, buff, serialize it, and wire it up? If so, that may account for some of the aspects that don't look up to snuff.

The fact that there is no record of the SN might actually be okay. If some counterfeiter took a production SN, PRS should have a record. 2004 was well into the MODCAT era, so records should be thorough on 2004 production guitars.

I would definitely want to see many more and much higher quality pictures. Particularly, I want to check the heel, belly cut, and output jack. I would also want to see the neck pickup rout to check for writing and to examine the neck tenon. Also, a close look at the birds.

So many aspects look legit PRS, it seems unlikely that is a fake unless someone poured heart, soul, and real money into making a very detailed replica. Employee guitars are mysterious, so I guess it could be a clever ruse, but that's a rather over-complicated way to try to make a few bucks.
 
Looking at the back of the guitar the body shape is incorrect from the upper horn to the lower horn(i have loads of core PRS guitars at home here) the finish on the back of the body looks horrendous and is certainly nothing like what would be used on a PRS. I'm very sure this is a hand built fake thats been really well built by someone but has not been done 100% correctly. The upper frets don't look like they have been put in straight and it all doesn't line up with the body properly on the front where the neck and body meet. It also looks like there is filler or glue around the edge of the birds. Also the strap buttons are incorrect and when you start to look at it it all becomes more obvious. I have personally been dealing with PRS guitars for many years and own a large amount of them to be able to spot when something isnt legit, if I'm wrong then i will swallow a bit of my pride but i would be willing to bet this isnt a genuine guitar.
 
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