Just got word from the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s management that a storage unit associated with the band has been broken into and a few unique and valuable pieces were stolen. Here is the list.

1.  1955 Fender Esquire guitar.   Serial # 8371
Yellow body with a blond maple neck and black pick guard
Original Fender case w/ a red rose painted on the lid

2.   1968 Ampeg fretless bass guitar.  Model AMUB-1
Black and red body w/ ebony fret board
Scroll top machine head
Precision bass pickup instead of the original
Not the original bridge, The replacement bridge is made by “Bad Ass” and the name is on the bridge.

The initials  ’MB’  might be carved in the top F hole
Blue road/flight case w/ THE CALL stencil on the lid

3.  1964 Fender Precision bass guitar.  Serial # 123018
Flat black finish with a rosewood neck and black pick guard
Not the original pickups
Original black Fender case

4.  1966 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean guitar
Pick guard is missing
Black pickups, not silver PAFs
Original gray Gretsch case

5. 1940′s Gibson ArchTop Serial #3537

Contact the Los Angeles Police Department if you see any of these.

police report # 100127002256

Keep an eye out.

Please follow us at twitter.com/gearsecure, myspace.com/gearsecure or facebook for updates.

This equipment has been reported stolen. If you see these items, think of your safety first. We advise you not to purchase the item from anyone claiming to be the owner. If you feel safe with pursuing it further, contact your local law enforcement, referencing the above case number.

A post in a forum lining to us (thanks for linking to our article, by the way) led me to a new source for counterfeit Les Pauls. I’m going to focus on two, a white Custom and a Zakk Wylde, but this site has all sorts of Les Paul knock-offs. Like usual, I don’t want to send anybody to this site, so I’ll keep the name a secret to everybody but the trademark holder.

Here’s the white Les Paul:

Looks fairly good, though the back bout is a little wonky maybe. It is hard to tell, but it looks like regular tolex to me, instead of the Gibson snakeskin. The writing looks a little blurry on the case, but that could be the low quality image. Let’s look at another.

Again, I think the back bout is a bit off, and I don’t recognize that Gibson sticker as anything recent. The red smudge is where I blurred the seller’s logo. Often times, the binding on these guitars will not have the proper number of layers, but we can’t tell that from this image. The biggest giveaway is coming.

Gibson serial numbers are stamped into the wood and painted over, with the exception of several Reissue models, which use stamped paint. The paint on these is usually irregular, splotchy and a little off of a perfectly level line. On a painted white Les Paul, the serial number is hardly legible. If we try to decode the serial number, we find it was made on the 200th day of ’05 and then we come up a digit short, since after July of 2005, they went to a 9 digit serial number.

Time to check out the Zakk

The bulls-eye is in the right place. Case is still obviously not a Gibson.

Serial number is just a few off of the last guitar. Hmmm… Let’s move down the neck a bit.

Wait, is that a nice shiny finish on the back of the neck? Zakks are finished, then the back of the neck is sanded to raw wood.

This site sells these guitars for $374, about the same as a medium end Epiphone Les Paul. I saw one of these on a classified site (actually identified as a copy) for over $700, just so you know the markup on the counterfeit you’re buying from that guy.  For $375, you get a questionable guitar with no warranty and no one to stand behind its craftsmanship. Better to go with the real deal.

We have a report of a counterfeit Gibson Zakk Wylde Signature Green. While we have no photos, we have some very good description of the guitar.

In this particular instance, the things that tipped off the store that reported it were the fine details.

- The truss rod cover was “not right” but close.

- The Gibson Logo wasn’t slanted like an authentic Gibson.

- The neck and headstock didn’t have the same angle as an authentic Gibson.

In this case, two people were trying to sell this guitar to a store. If the store hadn’t noticed, it would have lost a lot of money buying a worthless guitar.

Location: A residence in Baytown TX

Ibanez ART300 Black Caiman
Serial Number: 1201s08030809
Note: Sticker on back reads: “Make me a Sandwich”

Also taken: Ibanez SZ520QM Gold Amber Burst (no serial number available) with Zakk Wylde EMG pickups, “KR” engraved on backplate, sticker on back reads: “It’s way strong”and a Crate Powerblock Amp Head.

Contact: Harris County Sheriff
Officer Lobos
(713) 221-6000
Case Number: HC09000472

This instrument has been reported stolen. If you see this instrument, think of your safety first. We advise you not to purchase the item from anyone claiming to be the owner. If you feel safe with pursuing it further, contact your local law enforcement, referencing the above case number.

Please follow us at twitter.com/gearsecure, myspace.com/gearsecure or facebook for updates.