Brian Howard's guitar building & repair blog

COUNTERFEIT PARTS

Why cheaper isn’t always better

By Brian Howard Luthier

So you found a deal on E-bay on some parts at a super nice price. But are they what you thought they were? Or maybe you don’t care and knowingly buy counterfeit goods (I hope not!!). And sometimes you pay full price and still get cheap fake stuff from what appeared to be a legit source…… But parts is parts right? NO! Parts are not all created equal. That’s why you are replacing those cheap stock tuners or bridge. And it’s not just the bigger things. It can literally be anything! I see faked D’Addario strings on a semi frequent basis brought in by bargain hunting customers. I will update this from time to time with new examples as I come across them . But let’s start with those strings…

On the right we have genuine D’Addario strings. The ball ends are brightly powder coated and have a solid painted look.

The counterfeits on the left have anodized ball ends and the color is very see through and more of a tint applied to a brass ball. You can see differences in how he strings are wrapped around the ball and locked back on themselves. The forgeries do not hold tune well as this section is not secure enough. They also will not intonate well if at all due to variances in string diameter over the length of the string. So even if you got them below my wholesale price what good did it do you? They are trash and not even usable for musical instruments.

Or how about wasting your money on these fake gold plated Grover tuners that stripped their gears before the strings ever got up to concert pitch?! Yep they never even saw a single note played on them before going to the scrap bin. Good old E-bay! Again the correct part is on the right and the counterfeit on the left. Notice the dull gold plate and partially buffed away logo on the fake. The gear cover is just brass it looks like.

The washers are another dead giveaway. The plating is not only flawless on the genuine parts but they have a nice bevel on the washer that the fakes do not. Basically just plated hardware store stuff. Cheap hardware, especially screws are a tell tale sign of fraudulent parts.

Even the press plug is much cruder on the fakes.

Thanks and I hope you find these articles helpful.

Brian Howard, Howard guitars. www.howardguitarsdelaware.com