Brand Fakes

[Steve.Toscano]

Has anyone had to deal with the unfortunate issue of fakes of their instruments showing up overseas? And if so what have you done about it?
I've had 2x reports of fakes* of mine showing up recently. Im guessing theres not a lot that can be done legally (they have appeared in the middle east).
While im a little chuffed that someone would do this, it also pisses me off as buyers of these guitars are getting ripped off, and the quality of these guitars are nothing like something i would produce.

* = fake might not be the right word, more so guitars with my logo and name on the label but otherwise dont resemble anything like my guitars.

ps. I keep a good database of all instrument's i've made along with several hidden identifying features, anyone reading this who might be unsure of legitimacy please feel free to get in touch.

[asgilbert]

Hi Steve,
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
However not for the customer or your brand in this case...
Might need to publish the serial numbers and guitars you have made on your website. At least you will have made a genuine attempt to stop the fakes.

Andrew

[kiwigeo]

Has anyone had to deal with the unfortunate issue of fakes of their instruments showing up overseas? And if so what have you done about it?

What do you do? Send George....

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[Allen]

I've had 2 clients purchase my instruments after having purchased blatant copies made in Thailand that were so poorly constructed that they came looking for the real thing. That was about 8 years ago now and I've not seen anymore pop up so perhaps they were a victim of their own ineptatude.

Anyway I didn't loose any sleep over it.

[Steve.Toscano]

Might need to publish the serial numbers and guitars you have made on your website. At least you will have made a genuine attempt to stop the fakes.

I've kept a database of all my instruments, including unique internal marks since day 1. However i dont think publishing serial numbers is a good idea - especially for such a small time maker. I would think it would only make it easier for someone to copy then.
These fakes that have shown up have very different serial numbers ie not even close to my range.