I would think being a 2018, he would have all the receipts, paperwork, etc. That would be a good place to start. If he doesn't have them, I would walk away.
If those are pics of the actual guitar it is authentic. As Guitar101 said, the case and case candy are important. There is even the Gibson guitar tool in the pic of the case candy.
The fake Les Paul Customs I’ve seen had a smaller symbol on the headstock. About 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a real one. The real one should reach the pegheads as yours does, so one more indication it might be real. China could always improve their head stocks but it’s another thing to be aware of.
The serial is visible in the pic. For those who know more about the numbers than I do, it appears to be stamped '2015'. Would that be appropriate for a 2018 model?
They released the 2018 models in late 2017, as @BSTheTech mentioned.
@Rozz you’re right about the reissues, so who knows about this one? Maybe as a special run, it gets a different serial? On Gibson’s website, it’s not a specific year reissue, so perhaps that’s why it doesn’t have a reissue serial number. ES-355 VOS w/Bigsby
@jb welder I agree the stamping looks a bit weird there. Maybe someone might have goofed up with the year stamp?
I think it’s worth checking out in person to verify these details (or asking for more photos via Kijiji).
@Rozz you’re right about the reissues, so who knows about this one? Maybe as a special run, it gets a different serial? On Gibson’s website, it’s not a specific year reissue, so perhaps that’s why it doesn’t have a reissue serial number.
Yeah, you could be right jd. Gibson always seems to be doing 'special runs' for L&M, Sam Ash, G.C. etc. hoping to sell more guitars than they would normally...makes it tough to identify their guitars sometimes.
I don't live close to the seller so I cannot simply pop over and play it (I'm in a different province). Since the seller bought it used on Reverb, he must likely does not have an original receipt.
The aliexpress links scare the hell out of me!
TG
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