I took some good shots, but these are far superior to mine.

There are many types of forgery guitars on the market. Some of them are done on purpose and many of them are done innocently & unsuspectingly by their owners.

About 11 years ago a good friend of mine decided to sell his early Les Paul. This guitar was a very rare example of a Les Paul because of the color and the quilted top. He has owned this guitar for almost 20 years so both of us are certain that the guitar is authentic, however over the years he had made a number of changes to the guitar. He swapped out one of the original PAF pickups for a Dimarzio in the 70’s, He changed the nut to brass in the 70’s. He replaced several of the pots in the 80’s and in the 90’s he had to replace the bridge. Luckily he never did anything with the tuning pegs or it would have been a major problem, because holes would have been drilled.

He brings the guitar to me because now he wants to a PRS. He tells me he wants to get strong money. I told him that no one would pay what he wanted with all those changes. So he now wants to put the guitar back to original. (this happens all the time). When this guitar is all rebuilt no one not even me will be able to tell the difference. Anyone who is foolish enough to make a statement like “They can’t fool me” or “I can always tell” is living in a fools paradise.

I have been going to “Vintage” guitar shows for about 21 years. It seems to me that there are many more guitars available today to buy than there were 16 years ago. How can that be? I mean how is it possible for dealers to have 15 to 20 vintage Strats in 1999, when in 1991 there were only a few to be found. What’s up with that!!!

Ed Roman
Ed Roman Vintage Guitars
Las Vegas