Now, more than ever... in this economic environment... watch out for the Scam. I have gone shopping for guitars on Ebay and been burned at least twice, and always by guitars I had never had any previous experience with. I thought (incorrectly) that if I knew all about Telecasters and Strats, that I would also by default know about San Dimas Charvels. I knew enough about them to get taken. When I took one of these hack jobs to my luthier, he told me that some whiz (probably the guy who sold it to me... even though he denied it over a Bible) had slapped it together, with the intent to defraud some sucker (me). I also had the bad luck to purchase a 1987 PRS, with a 'sweet switch' that had come from Radio Shack, and a pair of pickups that came off another guitar altogether (of course, they were the more common variety pickups). On page 88 of the latest Guitar Aficionado there is a wonderful piece about spotting forgeries. People like this take lots of time to fool even the most savvy of buyers. Granted... nobody is going to try to forge a 1999 Made-in-Mexico Fender Tele -yet... we are talking about higher-end stuff. Please... please...please... don't buy this stuff. Save yourself money. If you don't know the difference between Pearloid inlays and Modern inlays on a Gibson Les Paul... don't trust some guy who is just a big 'unknown quantity'... instead, you should go to a respectable dealer you already know is honest. There are also lots of dealers who place big splashy ads in the magazines, who pull this stuff... so watch out... don't get taken.
