Beware if you are Jem hunting on Denmark Street.

[March]

There is a fake Jem doing the rounds. It's priced at £1399 and reckons itself to be of the white/gold variety (Vai's preffered choice of the last 10 years or so).

The neck does not feature the scallops, the body is horrific, looks like it has been knocked up in someones garden shed. The trem is wrong, the pickups are not DiMarzio Evos let alone any other form of DiMazrio (£5 cheapies), the trem is not an Edge of any form. Pickguard is cut incorrectly, monkey grip looks like it was cut by a 2 year old.

What really sickens me is someone will probably be taken in by this piece of cr@p. To the knowing eye, it's spotable from a mile away, but to the unsuspecting player who does not know the Ibanez range and only wants to own the same guitar used by their hero, this is fraud.

Sooooo, if you plan to go down to that overpriced street looking for an example of this very instrument, be careful. This one would have trouble commanding a pirice of £150, let alone £1399.

[maliciousteve]

did you inform who ever's shop it was in that it's fake? and that it's illegal to sell a fake Jem as a real deal Jem.

[jt]

:D Maybe you should drop Ibanez an Email letting them no what you suspect & why. See what they say....

 :D  8)

[Twinfan]

You should tell the shop your suspicions.  It might be an innocent mistake?

[Davey]

i agree.. did you talk to the owner/manager/salesman

[Andy RV]

It's not one of these is it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beautiful-Ibanez-musical-Guitar_W0QQitemZ300004884466QQihZ020QQcategoryZ33043QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Twinfan]

Those Ch-ibanez guitars really look the part don't they?  Frightening.

[jt]

:D There`s F**k loads of these cheap cr@p Chinese guitars all over Ebay at the moment.

 :D  8)

[Muso]

To my eyes that Ibanez Andy posted in the link looks like the real deal? Its an amazing fake, I mean I had the real deal version of this guitar and I can't tell from those photos.

I really wonder what they sound like?

Oh yea to the main guy who started this thread, why didn't you tell the store workers/manager about the bogus fake?

hmmmm

[gingataff]

Nah, that pics ok but you can see a few parts that are obviously bogus:
The headstock slightly wrong (too chubby) the logo is at the wrong angle, the monkey grip is too big, the bridge is a cheapy all gold affair, nothing like an Edge, the heel screw ferrules are gold but they should be black, I didn't check the Lions Claw but that's probably rough, you can't see the inlay but I bet its all plastic rather than the plastic/abalone/maple that it should be and the jack socket is too close to the strap buttons. Am I too picky?:twisted:

bet it sounds like pants too, though some BKs might make it better

I'm really surprised that dealers on Denmark street would get taken in by this though, they are usually pretty canny. By the way, does anyone know if that Ibanez RG is still for sale in Rockers, the kind of pink/purple one with 'Biax' pickups that was a prototype for Vai?
I read on his website that it was sold for charity, now someone wants 2K for it!

[Davey]

Nah, that pics ok but you can see a few parts that are obviously bogus:
The headstock slightly wrong (too chubby) the logo is at the wrong angle, the monkey grip is too big, the bridge is a cheapy all gold affair, nothing like an Edge, the heel screw ferrules are gold but they should be black, I didn't check the Lions Claw but that's probably rough, you can't see the inlay but I bet its all plastic rather than the plastic/abalone/maple that it should be and the jack socket is too close to the strap buttons. Am I too picky?:twisted:

yep.


you can spot it pretty easy if you know what to look for

[Afghan Dave]

By the way, does anyone know if that Ibanez RG is still for sale in Rockers, the kind of pink/purple one with 'Biax' pickups that was a prototype for Vai?
I read on his website that it was sold for charity, now someone wants 2K for it!

Yes, I think it is. I saw it again a couple of weeks ago, it's been on sale for ages.

I can't believe anyone would buy it for any reason other than charity so I think Rockers made a poor purchase there.

[Elliot]

My experience of Denmark Street is that actually attempting to talk to someone who works in one of those shops (which all seemed to be owned by the same person) either results in a curt, rude response or them silently walking away.  With that in mind they probably don't care if they are selling fake rubbish - they probably got stung themselves and decided to get their money back.

[dave_mc]

that sucks if they're trying to fob off a counterfeit.

I don't like Denmark street. Last time I was there, I was trying out a guitar, and another guy came in to try stuff, and the owner of the shop basically asked me, no tact whatsoever,

"are you actually thinking of buying that?"

with the implicit (or more accurately, pretty obvious) overtone of "if you aren't, eff off so someone else can try stuff!" ( the sales assistant was nice, he had plugged me into the setup at the start)

Anyway, I lied that I was (heck, you don't walk into a shop thinking "I want X guitar", you walk in thinking "if I try something nice, MAYBE I'll consider purchasing...", but maybe I'm different to everyone else), so the other guy got plugged into a different amp, he was trying some kind of vox tonelab type jobby, and proceeded to try to drown me out.

Dickhead.

Anyway, I know they have high rates etc., and are probably under more pressure to make a sale than the shops that I'm used to frequenting, but if you treat prospective customers like cr@p, how are you going to get sales?

Yeah, so anyway, I'm no fan of Denmark Street, and if they do have a fake "Jem" for sale, it doesn't surprise me, quite frankly.

:drink:

[gwEm]

word, denmark street service can really suck - so much rudeness and over inflated prices. sometimes you can get a nice assistant, but is rarely.