A message from Epiphone:

[zep]

And now, the official response from Epiphone:

Dear Epiphone Customers,

The image of the guitar below is NOT an Epiphone guitar. While it might have "Epiphone" on the headstock, it is a COUNTERFEIT.

As you can see, this unsuspecting person purchased their guitar in Korea. Just last week we were notified that Korean police (as they have done many times in the past) raided the infamous Nakwon Arcade in Seoul, Korea. This musical instrument mall is notorious for purchasing and selling counterfeit as well as OFF-QUALITY or REJECTED guitars produced by factories in Korea. Because they cannot export them into the USA, Europe, Japan, etc., these factories sell them "out the back-door" within Korea and ultimately, to unsuspecting customers.

Epiphone was and is NOT the only brand being illegally made and sold in Korea. There are and were other famous guitar brand names ceased by the police and facing the same counterfeiting problems.

As a result of this inherit market problem, Epiphone does not currently have nor have we had in the past, an active authorized Korean distributor. We have verified that we have NO RECORD of that guitar with that serial number being sold by our company.

Epiphone does NOT use nor have we EVER used particle-board or any other similar materials in our guitars. With 131 years of quality and integrity on the line, there is NO WAY we would put that at risk by using inferior materials.

On several occasions in the past, we have worked closely with the Korean police to locate and identify counterfeiters in Korea. This has led to many guitars being confiscated and in many cases, arrests. While we wish this was not the case and we are doing all we can to stop it, this type of illegal activity is hard to eliminate completely. Therefore, if you do travel to or live in Korea, please understand there is a big risk when purchasing a brand-name guitar or other musical instrument.

If you are purchasing a new Epiphone from an authorized dealer in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan or other "export" country, rest assured that these are high-quality instruments worthy of the name Epiphone - carrying our limited Lifetime Warranty and backed by the Gibson Musical Instruments.

Thank you and if you have any question or concerns, please email me personally at [e-mail].

Best Regards,

Jim "Epi" Rosenberg

[CAFeathers]

Excellent response. Two thumbs up for Epi!

[supedupviper]

ahh thats good to see they responded to this!

[hcoll]

...excellent.......

[heliman]

I am surprised it took them so long to respond, but I am very glad they did. I feel sorry for Blissful and the countless others that purchase their instruments in good faith only to find out they are of mediocre quality, at best. I also feel sorry for Epiphone for having to deal with it. I guess that's the price you pay for being successful.

Respectfully yours,

Heliman

[zep]

Whenever I log on theres something new, so here it goes - the followup message from Epi:

As a follow-up to the recent Forum postings regarding the use of "particle-board" on our guitars, we must state again that this is simply NOT true. If you read my previous post, you will know that this guitar is a COUNTERFEIT purchased in Korea.

As further evidence of this misinformation, we are posting images of a REAL Epiphone Les Paul Custom guitar taken from our inventory today and cut-up.



(Note the MAPLE cap and Mahogany back.)



(Note that the serial number of the COUNTERFEIT guitar headstock shown in previous posts has 1 less serial number.)

As a result of this misinformation, we are forced to re-examine the benefits of allowing and leaving such potentially harmful and false information on our forum. Furthermore, when you consider the time spent on this issue, we even question whether allowing ANYONE, regardless of motivation, to communicate directly with our customers is wise. After all, hundreds of loyal and dedicated Epiphone employees and their families rely on the strength of our company. This is something not to be taken lightly.

On the other hand, censorship goes against our core beliefs, After all, freedom of speech and expression is something we, as musicians, hold very dear. So after careful consideration, we will NOT be removing this post at this time.

What we WILL be doing is asking all loyal customers and fair-minded readers to help us communicate the above information to others. If the Internet is good at communicating MIS-information, it's equally as good at communicating the TRUTH. And ultimately, the truth will prevail.

Please... spread the word.

Thank you,

Jim "Epi" Rosenberg

-----

Just goes to show that it's important to look before you buy. If there are no Epiphone dealers in Korea then it's not surprising that someone was duped. I think everyone needs to calm down a bit though, even if you aren't 100% convinced about what Epiphone has said today, just be considerate before you go around flaming people and companies - there are still lots of people on the "official" forum who are still yelling at Epi and it's making them quite nervous to see people who believing some girl they haven't met before rather than the head of a company.

Let's just wait and see what happens. Check out your guitars, look in their pickup cavities, don't go out and buy one immediately if you still aren't sure, but at least keep this place as "Epifriends," not "Epiconspirators."

[Irish Mike]

Makes me happy to own, an EPIPHONE!


Irishmike

'Blues is good stuff'

[tekrek]

I am glad to see a response from Epi!!!!!! Just as I thought.....A Hoax Or this poor girl bought a Nock Off....
I said it before Epi you will still get my hard earned $$$$

[Smooth]

Although this is quite serious, we (some low level guys like me, not management) had a good laugh about this at the plant today. We saw this going on this past weekend and had a pretty good idea of the outcome that was to follow. In 5 years on seeing the insides of just about every Epiphone model available i have never seen ANY evidence of particle board, i have however see lots of veneer. I would hope they help the person out by issuing a replacement guitar but they surely do not have that obligation to do so. Sorry i didn't reply sooner but as i've said in the past i can't always comment on things and i believe this isn't over by a long shot.

[gearhead41]

Buyer Beware... <sigh>

BUT

I hope that Jim Rosenburg does the "right thing" and helps her out. THAT would be a PR winning move in my opinion...

[zep]

yeah, buyer beware...I just made a post that sounds really simple, but it goes to show that a lot of people don't do a lot of in depth research before buying stuff, buying online is in and of itself sort of risky, and no one that I know of opens up all the cavities and checks everything out.

Epi does need to do a few things to get everything on the right track though:

1. Disclose a lot more info on their materials: If they would say that the flame top is a veneer but that it is the only way to keep costs down I really don't think people would mine. After all, as long as that 3/8 of an inch is good wood, whats the difference?
They just need to say more and use less hard to read typeface and abbreviations.

2. Fix the forum and online guitar community: well, no eazy way to do this before #1 is completed. Brining back the "General" forum or making an off topic would be beneficial and maybe *hold your breath on this one* censoring Epi flaming on their guitar/amp/acoustic/customer service forums - its not necessary and it hurts business. There needs to be more posts like Heliman's giant info center where people can learn, and also a section for review that post positive and negative info on Epis (pickup selector anyone?) so that it is objective, yet inspires people to buy their product.

You often get what you pay for, and I believe that Epis are well worth it, but they need give more information and clear out some of the horrible PR going on - it started with the cardboard allogations, but has since moved on to just flaming (see the Epi cardboard hat on their forum) and people who are trying to find some reason to be mad about and are thus saying that Jim Rosenburg's response is corporate BS and continuing the argument.

Hmm, that was a lot. I just think that Epi needs to be more open about things and that the guitar community needs to get over the "knock off" incident and focus more on providing useful info.

[samicksg]

Glad to hear it from the man himself. Good on Epi! As said, Epis are great value for your dollar

[Steelpriest]

I am very glad to hear all this so quickly... So the girl really bought a counterfeit Epiphone. D'oh... I really appreciate the story to end like this. Though I have been in great doubts meanwhile. But fine, we heard the answer and should be happy with it and should stop discussing conspiracy therories and suspicions. Personally I would like to apologize to Epi/Gibson for thinking more than one time they really used cardboard. But all this wouldn´t have happened if they would give more information (more detailed information) concerning the materials used for Epiphone guitars. As I said before, it is (or it shoud be) clear for everyone who purchases either a "flame top" or a "quilted maple top" that it is only a thin veneer over a solid top. But the specifications they give in their catalogues and website are very ambiguous, for example this mahogany/alder thing. With more information concerning this point no one would have probably suspected anything... By the way: Even my Hamer Vector I owned did only a have a thin veneer for it´s flamed maple top. It looked beautyful but had no effect on the sound, and... this is a guitar in the 1300 $ range made of solid mahogany (only veneered for a nicer look). Well, I hope this incident will turn out fine in the end and I second the thought it would be a brilliant idea if the Epiphone/Gibson company would hand this girl a "genuine" Epiphone to show all the world "you can rely on Epiphone". It would be a clever advertising gag and could be used in a real positive marketing campaign... for example: If you want a Les Paul and have no money for a Gibby buy at least an Epiphone if you wanna have a solid guitar... The only thing I have to ask in the end is the following: Why the heck do some shady companies manufacture guitars out of pressboard anyway? The market is full of priceworthy guitars made of solid wood... I dare to doubt that Agiles or Staggs are made of pressboard. Anyway, I am very glad and I breathe a sigh of relief...

[jeje]

Actually I have difficulty believing a big company like Epiphone would put cardboard in their guitars.. Its like amazon.com would be skimming off the top, stealing from customers' VISA cards; if it was discovered, they'd be f*cked by the bad rep.. Or am I being naive? Seriously though, a company can of course do that, but someones bound to notice sometime.. and then it's over and out.

[Steelpriest]

It would have been over and out indeed, if this guitar would have been an Epiphone... ;D Fortunately it wasn´t...