Another Faked Tribute Legacy to look like a US G&L Legacy

I received an email from a guy named Will (not a member) seeking info on a G&L Legacy he bought off eBay.
This guitar had this serial number CLF11976. He had looked up the serial number in our G&L Registry
and found that this serial number was registered for two guitars: a Comanche and a Legacy.

Here are the G&L Registry entries: Click on this link.

Seeing these entries, I remember contacting both owners to get photo confirmation of each guitar's S/N.
I only heard back from the Comanche owner and confirmed with Memo at G&L that this serial number was
assigned to the Comanche.

When Will emailed me he had these concerns about this Legacy:

I had bought this on the understanding that this was a 2011 model, but having looked the serial number up on the registry on the guitarsbyleo website, it pointed to something else.

The guitar appears to be logged onto the registry as a 1999 model. Everything else about the description fits; black, rosewood fretboard, pearloid pickguard. However, there are a few aspects which I’m unsure about:

-Serial number is stuck on with watermark
-There is no dot on the back of the neck, which I understand is visible on all USA G&Ls from production
-The G&L logo on the front of the headstock, again, appears to be a watermark (see attached)
-Having taken off one of the tuners, there are two (not one) holes where it is held in place.

Please do let me know once you have heard back from your contacts, as it would be useful to get to the bottom of this,
and if this does in fact appear to be a Tribute then I will go back through ebay to resolve this.

Many thanks for your help with this

Will

Here are some photos he sent me:




I contacted Memo at G&L to look up this serial number:

Hi Craig,
The Comanche is legit …production date is February 12, 1999, black finish, maple neck , tinted gloss neck
The legacy with that SN could not be found so owner most likely registered incorrectly.

I then sent Memo the above photos and he replied:

Hi Craig,
I have a feeling it is a fake, I don’t see the “birthmark” on the back of the headstock. Any instrument made in 99’ should have the “mark”. The tuners look like Tribute, you can verify this by removing one of the tuners with a 10mm socket wrench and if it has two guide pins then for sure its a Tribute.

I contacted Will with the info from Memo and he replied:

Hi Craig

Thank you so much for looking into this. This probably explains why I was not particularly impressed with the guitar; but a bit of a lesson for next time.

Thanks for updating the registry, as I wouldn’t want someone to make the same mistake.

Many thanks,

Will

Summary of the changes made to the Tribute Legacy:

1. Sanding off the back of the headstock to remove the original serial number and country of origin.
2. Applied a forged serial number waterslide.
3. On the front of the headstock, removal of the "Tribute Series" under the G&L logo.
4. Removed the model logo waterslide.
5. Applied a forged US Model logo decal waterslide.
6. Applied a forged "guitars by leo" decal waterslide under the G&L logo.

Identifiers that indicate that the guitar was a Tribute Legacy:
1. No birthmark dot on the back of the headstock.
2. Tuners had 2 set pins for each tuner.

Other, since this was advertised as a 2011 guitar:
1. The serial number should have been on a metal plate screwed to the back of the headstock.
2. Serial number assigned to a 1999 Comanche and registered in our G&L Registry.
3. Legacy was already registered in the G&L Registry with a 1999 build year (with the duplicate S/N as the Comanche).

Hopefully Will will be able to get eBay to refund his purchase and remove the seller from eBay.

I will be updating the registry entry in our G&L Registry and include a link to this post.
I will also add a link of this post to the Buyer Beware: Doctored Tribute Series models ... post.

Hope this helps.

Great post Craig. I'd like to add that in this particular face the S/N has the wrong font, which was the first thing that struck me.


- Jos

Great post Craig. I'd like to add that in this particular face the S/N has the wrong font, which was the first thing that struck me.


- Jos

Thanks Jos. I also noticed the S/N with the wrong font, but did not have a photo of one handy and forgot to mention it in my post.
Your post clearly shows the differences.

Here are the front headstock decal differences:

2011 USA Legacy headstock:


The fake Legacy headstock:


Notice the differences on the fake guitar:
"guitars by leo" decal and the position of it under the G&L logo.
Legacy model name font different. And under the model name is "Made in U.S.A." decal.

2011 USA Legacy headstock:


The fake Legacy headstock:

.

Small correction Craig. The logo is legit and about the only correct thing on this headstock, but with a caveat. It must have been gotten by buylng excess decals you see at times on auction sites. The caveat? It dates the Legacy as being a 3-bolt, which the shown guitar most definitely is not. That logo was used in the early 90s when the Legacy was introduced, here seen on a 1993 Legacy with SSL-2 pickups:


Also note the difference in position of the G&L logo, the model decal, as well as the different string tree.

- Jos

2011 USA Legacy headstock:


The fake Legacy headstock:

.

Small correction Craig. The logo is legit and about the only correct thing on this headstock, but with a caveat. It must have been gotten by buylng excess decals you see at times on auction sites. The caveat? It dates the Legacy as being a 3-bolt, which the shown guitar most definitely is not. That logo was used in the early 90s when the Legacy was introduced, here seen on a 1993 Legacy with SSL-2 pickups:


Also note the difference in position of the G&L logo, the model decal, as well as the different string tree.

- Jos

Except that the fake Legacy was listed as a 2011 build.